介绍:
Kite flying, listening to Chinese opera, and praying to Daoist gods and goddesses for happiness and prosperity were and still are important aspects of people's lives in China's capital. They're also some of the most prominent folk customs in Beijing that have been passed down through the generations for hundreds of years.
For tourists and people who are planning to move to the city, it would be useful to learn about these traditions. And that's why I recently headed down to the Beijing Folk Custom Museum.
I am here at the gate of the Dongyue Temple, the location of the Beijing Folk Custom Museum. The traffic is quite busy here; you can see cars traveling bumper to bumper on the road. But, at the temple's entrance, there are very few people. Above the entrance, there are three golden characters engraved on a blue background. This, I'm told, is the name of temple.
So entering the gate, we see a stone bridge with no water running below it. On the left side of the bridge, there's a white horse and there's black horse on the right side. There's a wire fence running across the sides of the bridge with red wooden tablets tied to it that have auspicious Chinese phrases or wishes written on them.
The black horse on the right side is actually a bronze wonder donkey and it's the riding animal for the God Wen Chang. Being a supernatural animal, it has the head of a horse and the body of a donkey, the tail of a mule. As the story goes, touching the animal could cure diseases and prove to be highly effective. It used to be a well-known customary practice for the Beijing folks to come into the temple and touch the bronze donkey for good fortune.
On this side of the bridge, you can also see some sculptures of gods and goddesses of Chinese folklores and they look like they're having dinner together. Some of the gods and goddesses look pretty gruesome, like they have horns growing on top of their heads, forked tongue, round eyes popping out of their skulls. Some of them look ghoulish because they have a fairly pale complexion and almost all of them have weapons of some sort in their hands or claws.
This dragon god is holding a long saber. And here's one with a bat that has spikes on it. In ancient times, people believed that these gods and goddesses are in control of their destinies and would administer rewards or punishment to them. The punishment can range from a simple cold to disease or cancer to a full blown plague. So I suppose most people would pray to them so that they wouldn't unleash their wrath on the city.
Of course, there's more to folk customs than these fear-mongering gods and goddesses. A lot of traditions we see in China now actually originated hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Mr. Ye is an expert in Beijing folk customs. He says the temple is a great place to showcase Beijing's long and illustrious history.
"Through this platform, we can display the many aspects of Chinese culture. At the same time, the folk artists in the city also can show off their talents."
One of the oldest traditions that you can still see in the streets of this city is wood carving. In the exhibitions here in this temple, you can see a variety of wooden figures �C from this one of a girl with braided hair to a rabbit with big bulging eyes to this one of a tiger.
Another important aspect of lives in Old Beijing and for some members of the older generation in present day is listening to Beijing opera. This pastime is represented here with the numerous colorful opera masks on display. Wang Hongwei is visiting the temple with his friends. They seem to be very interested in a display of dough figurines.
"The details in this dough figure are very vivid. I think it's very helpful for young people to come here and learn about all these traditions."
I agree with him. I also think that everybody, especially young people, could learn a lot by coming here to the Beijing Folk Custom Museum at Dongyue Temple. The temple has also held a lot of cultural activities in every Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival and other traditional festivals.
So enrich your life in Beijing or your visit to the capital of China and come to the Dongyue Temple during one of these festivals.
For Studio+, I'm Doris Wang.
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