Neiguanying Town: Provincial-Level Intangible Cultural Heritage "Jingjie (Street-Cleaning)" Folk Custom Lights Up Spring Festival

2025-02-10 Source :Gansu Belt and Road Portal By :Chai Yongjun

A Shehuo performance, folk culture awakens the rich festive atmosphere; a calligraphy brush, the scholar's treasure inscribes New Year blessings; a "Jingjie" ritual, intangible heritage performances extol the new era... On February 8th (the 11th day of the first lunar month) during the Spring Festival of the Yi-Si Snake Year, the provincial-level intangible cultural heritage - Neiguanying's "Jingjie" folk custom activity was successfully held. The bustling streets of Siguan Sanjie were teeming with crowds, as nearly 50,000 people from four surrounding counties and eight townships gathered here to immerse themselves in the profound cultural heritage. A "street-cleaning" troupe performed by over 500 people grandly and mightily wound its way forward amid the sounds of gongs, drums, and music.

Jingjie, the grandest Yangge Shehuo performance held during the Spring Festival in Neiguanying Town, is also a folk custom activity unique in form. This tradition originated during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when Prince Su established the Neiguanying. During the Lantern Festival, feudal princes would patrol the town, coordinating with princely processional guards to clear the streets and maintain public order.?Hence, the activity of "Jingjie" (street cleaning) started to prevail and has been passed down to this day, accumulating a history of over 600 years.

In recent years, to achieve a positive interaction between ICH preservation and socioeconomic development, while maintaining the bold, grand, and solemn ceremonial style of the traditional "Jingjie" (Street Cleaning) folk activity, Neiguanying Town has continuously explored modern connotations of ICH. The town integrates elements such as policies and regulations, local culture, characteristic industries, and rural civilization into the activities, revitalizing traditional charm with contemporary vitality to promote creative transformation and innovative development of ICH. The fusion of tradition and modernity, intertwined with culture and emotion, has seen the time-honored intangible cultural heritage inspire local communities to improve their livelihoods and enrich their minds through inheritance and development. The intangible cultural heritage thus rejuvenates with new vitality and radiates new splendor in modern life.

 

 

 

 

Editor:伏娅敏