Stilt walking, yangge dancing, sugar-coated figure and carrying the statue of City God are the most popular cultural activities staged in the temple fairs in North China. However, the Beijing Road Shopping Street in Guangzhou will witness the first Canton Temple Fair on the Lantern Festival, which will last for a week.
It is said that themed as "Canton Temple Fair, Happiness Appointment", the Temple Fair will be held between February 17 and February 23 (to wit, commencing on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and ending on the twenty-first day of the first lunar month), lasting for a whole week.
The temple fair will create a regional festival atmosphere in the cultural and commercial tourism area of Beijing Road Shopping District, covering a wide range including the Zhongyou Square of City God Temple, Zhongshansi Road (between Wende intersection and Beijing Road intersection), Fuxue West Street, Beijing Road, Huifu Food Street, Dafosi Temple and Wuxianguan temple.
On the morning of February 17, the Lantern Festival, the opening ceremony of the first Canton Temple Fair will be held in the Zhongyou Square of City God Temple. Special folk cultural performances, handicrafts production display of intangible cultural heritage and traditional commodity exhibition will be staged every day after the opening ceremony.
On the night of the Lantern Festival, exhibits of lanterns will be held in Wuxianguan Temple. Folk art parade will be staged on February 19 (namely the seventeenth day of the first lunar month) to bless for the Ram City. As the press has predicted, the statue of City God will he carried out of the City God Temple for parade.
The closing ceremony of the Temple Fair will be held in Wuxianguan Temple on the afternoon of February 23 (to wit, the twenty-first day of the first lunar month) (Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)
