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Pudi is the home town of Jessie Lu and home to a little known temple festival. In Jessie's hometown stands a temple
which is more then 100 years old. The temple was destroyed around 1970 but in
1990 floods demolished what was left at the time.
In 1999 the people in the village decided it was time to rebuild the temple.
People started to look in the history of the village and realized the temple
brought good luck and happiness and they wanted the temple back where it
belonged. For the villagers the temple is, as Jessie says: "a peach and
happiness symbol."
The temple in Pudi Village
To celebrate the rebuilding, the village made 2nd February festival day. It
is the celebration of the day that the temple has been rebuild.
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Collecting money for the festival |
Mr. Feng Shui said: "The Pudi village looks like a phoenix on top of a hill,
ready to fly out to find a dragon as a husband." So the village chief organized a team of young boys from the
village who went to the Li river in front of the village.
The boys were to perform a lion and dragon dance, accompanied with drumming.
Then they brought a claypot with water to temple. The dragon was invited to come
to the temple and marry the phoenix. During the ceremony lots of fireworks were
used to bring good luck and drive out the evil spirits. Special food was offered to
the dragon and the phoenix as they are indeed a magic couple!
That night the village people had a wonderful dinner, celebrating the
marriage of the dragon and the phoenix. The couple was entertained with a
local opera performance.
Since 1990, every year the marriage of the dragon and the phoenix is
celebrated. Many people from surrounding villages come to visit and pay tribute
to the dragon and the phoenix with offers and fireworks. Every year a local
opera is performed. In the Pingle country, the Pudi Temple Festival is now very
famous.
Spectators at the opera
Celebrations and activities at the festival
Every family in Pudi pays Y20 (about US $3) to have a local opera play be
performed in the village. The village gives them free accommodation and food.
There are two shows a day, one before lunch and one after dinner at night.
During the day, the village organizes a basketball competition (remember,
basketball is because of superstar Yao Min very popular). The winner of the
competition earns a gold medal and Y1000.
The basketball competition
During the day the village is very busy. Many people from surrounding
villages visit to pay respect to the temple and enjoy the opera and the
basketball competition. Usually the men prefer the basketball competition while
the ladies and children enjoy themselves with the opera.
The local Chinese opera in Pudi Village
After the opera and basketball competition, all visitors can go to one of the
local houses and enjoy a free meal. To reward the host of the house were they
will have lunch, the visitors will bring a present to show their gratitude to
their hosts.
In 9 years time, the festival in Pudi Village, not far from Yangshuo has
grown out to a big event. Our guide Jessie Lu brings guests, if any at the time
around to the festival to let them enjoy this typical local temple festival.
This article was written by Jessie Lu, edited by Peter for including in the
Yangshuo Travel Guide.
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Back to our list of other Chinese Festivals
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