The winter solstice is the highlight of the Suzhou calendar. In Suzhou, there is a traditional Xi of "the winter solstice is as big as the year". The reporter learned from the press briefing held in Gusu District on December 19 that in order to promote the culture of the ancient city and further highlight the cultural connotation of "Winter Solstice Big Like Year" business, charity, blessing, cold relieving, food, health preservation, intangible cultural heritage, etc., the 9th "Winter Solstice Big Like Year" folk cultural activities will last from December 21 to December 24. Among them, the opening ceremony will be held on the afternoon of December 21 at the Xinyi Plaza on Guanqian Street.
Since 2015, Pingjiang Street in Gusu District has deeply excavated the folk culture of "Suzhou Winter Solstice Xi", innovated the integration of culture, business and tourism, planned dozens of series of activities with the theme of "Winter Solstice" such as "Winter Ceremony", "Winter Solstice Gathering", "Cold Elimination Competition", "Winter Solstice Ceremony" and "Group Culture Conference", and collected and launched image markers such as "Winter Solstice Big Like Year" logo and theme song to create a "Winter Solstice Big Like Year" activity brand. In November 2023, "Suzhou Winter Solstice Xi" was selected into the fifth batch of representative items of provincial intangible cultural heritage in Jiangsu Province.
With the theme of "Grand Canal Gusu Folk Culture and Tourism Festival, Winter Solstice and Big Year" and "Double 12 Gusu Consumption Season", the event was hosted by the Management Committee of Suzhou National Historical and Cultural City Reserve, Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and Municipal Bureau of Commerce, and undertaken by the Propaganda Department of Gusu District Party Committee, Suzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Management Office, Gusu District Education, Sports and Cultural Tourism Committee, Gusu District Economic and Science and Technology Bureau, and Pingjiang Sub-district Office. According to Zhu Liujun, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of Pingjiang Street, the opening ceremony will condense the Xi of the winter solstice in old Suzhou in the form of a sitcom.
Kicking off with the opening ceremony, there are also "one exhibition and three episodes". "One Exhibition" refers to the Winter Solstice Folklore Exhibition in the living room in front of the view. The exhibition will last from December 21st to December 25th, which will deeply restore the Xi customs of the winter solstice in old Suzhou, and at the same time review the wonderful moments of the past "winter solstice is as big as the year", the origin of the winter solstice, and the Xi customs in various places in the form of **. The exhibition hall also has a beauty and display check-in area, a tea break area, and an interactive area for citizens and tourists to rest and take pictures. The "three episodes" refer to the Winter Solstice Intangible Cultural Heritage Market, the "Gusu Consumption Season" Warm Winter Market and the Pingjiang Health Market and the 3rd Bread Art Market.
As an important part of the "National Intangible Cultural Heritage into the Ancient City", a total of 40 representative projects of intangible cultural heritage participated in this intangible cultural heritage tourism market. There are not only Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings, plate buckle production skills and other intangible cultural heritage of Suzhou, but also Zhejiang Longquan celadon and Chaozhou Dancong tea skills from afar. In the intangible cultural heritage food area, in addition to Suzhou-style noodles, Suzhou-style rice balls, Suzhou-style cake dumplings and other Suzhou-style snacks, you can even taste Guangdong Chaoshan noodles and other local specialties, so that citizens and tourists can visit and taste enough at one time.
As a part of the activities of the Gusu consumption season, the Xuanmiaoguan "Gusu Consumption Season" warm winter market has been opened on December 16, time-honored food products, new Internet celebrity products, agricultural and sideline products from the north and south are all on the scene, as well as traditional Chinese medicine sitting in the hall free clinic, Gusu District Federation of Literary and Art Circles calligraphers on-site writing Spring Festival couplets and other convenient services, is the best choice for stockpiling New Year's goods and shopping.
In addition, the Winter Solstice Pingjiang Health Fair and the 3rd Bread Art Market will be launched in the Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District from December 22 to December 24, combining the old Xi customs of winter solstice health preservation with the new ideas of contemporary youth health preservation, introducing traditional Chinese medicine health consultation, and recruiting young artists, cultural and creative talents, and online celebrity baking, to fully promote the construction of a youth development city, so that the ancient city and young people "go both ways".
Correspondents: Yan Jie, Shi Tianren, Yangtze Evening News, Purple Cow News reporter, Zhou Xiaoqing.
Proofread by Li Haihui.