The 14th Wuzhen Temple Fair is Opening Soon

The year of 2014 is the 14th Temple Fair in Wuzhen scenic zone. This year it is from March 29th to April 20th, 2014, totally 23 days. Tourists will see performance both at Wuzhen East Scenic Zone and Wuzhen West Scenic Zone.

Different from the previous Temple Fair, this year will see two new activities. One is private theatricals which was an entertainment party with hired performers held at home on auspicious occasions. With the development of tourism, Wuzhen restores this folk culture and has the performance at Ya Ya Teahouse during the Temple Fair. The other new activity is walking the silkworm flower door which will be held on the opening ceremony.

It’s a folk culture for Wuzhen natives to have Temple Fair in the purpose of praying for the harvest of cocoon, as silkworm breeding is one of the main industries in Wuzhen. With long established and rich cultural history, there is a broad range of performance for tourist to have fun. On the opening ceremony, a memorial ceremony will be held for Silkworm Goddess, which attracts hundreds of local people coming to Silkworm Goddess Temple to burn incense and pray for cocoon harvest. Followed by opening ceremony, tourists are encouraged to pause and enjoy all aspects of the temple fair activities including silkworm Goddess parade, bamboo dance, dragon dance and boat pageant.

It’s also a carnival for local people, as it’s leisure time before the busy silkworm breeding. People all come out to the square to watch performances. A variety of traditional shows such as puppet shows, magic shows, kongfu shows and monkey tricks are presented to brighten up the festival.

People who are interested in Wuzhen cuisine, it’s a good opportunity to have a trial of spring food. Different kinds of food and snacks are offered at temple fair. In March, when everything turns green, a variety of seasonal food is presented to serve tourists. Sautéed vegetable with mushroom, steamed salty pork with spring bamboo shoot, and sautéed fish in vinasse are famous food of all time especially when green grass are growing everywhere. In Wuzhen, there are other four famous food, such as sautéed whelks, sautéed local vegetable with bean curd, dried Tofu slice with local vegetable, and scrambled egg with Chinese chives.