A cultural performace on the opening ceremony of Labor-Selling Festival in 2010.
The annual Labor-Selling Festival is set to kick off at Dongkeng Township of Dongguan on March 6 this year.
In addition to the most popular water shooting carnival, organizers have also programmed a large-scale opening ceremony, lion-dance performances, folk art and cultural performances and cuisine fair which boast local cuisines in Dongkeng as well as from other parts of China.
To make this year's carnival special, the organizer has invited some cultural performances from Tumushuke, a sub-prefecture-level city in the northern part of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Guangdong Government assigned the task to Dongguan last year to provide aid to Tumushuke.
The popular water shooting carnival of Labor-Selling Festival in 2010.
Origin of the Festival:
The festival dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Every February 2nd of the lunar year, the peasants from Dongkeng and nearby gathered under the big Banyan tree of Dongkeng Village and waited for the rich to hire them to plow or do other work. If chosen by the employer, the employee would be drenched with water; thus the term "water-pouring".
Eventually the practice matured into what was known as the "Labor-Selling Festival". After the Reform and Opening-up, people's living standard improved, and the "Labor-Selling Festival" evolved into the "Turning-Over Festival" and most recently has become known as the "Water-Pouring Festival" for celebrating a good and happy life.
