Zhengzhou’s annual ancestor worship grand ceremony in honor of Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor
A great event from the past decade to shape the city’s great profile and bring a sum of over 1000 billion yuan investment
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Now, Zhengzhou has been well-known among hundreds of millions of overseas Chinese people as one of the country’s oldest cities but also the best metropolis to link the central China to the world.
Starting from the early 1990s, Zhengzhou’s annual ancestor worship grand ceremony in honor of Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, has been one of the biggest events among billions of Chinese people to worship their ancestors and endorsed by the State Council from 2008 to be listed among the National Intangible Cultural Heritages.
Actually, thanking for the annual ceremonious ritual to pay homage to Huangdi, or Yellow Emperor, the city has attracted a sum of capital investment of more than one trillion yuan (153.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the past years flocking to Henan province, following various activities on economy and trade related to the ceremonious ritual during the annual period, according to the local media.
In the past 14 years, the state-run grand event would help Zhengzhou stand out and at the center of attention of the world and attract a total of more than 200,000 Chinese people from home and abroad to visit the city, the origin place of Chinese civilization established since Neolithic Shang Dynasty, and now a successful model of new engine to drive the country’s economic growth under the fast urbanization.
The guests, who had ever attended the annual event, included celebrities from the cultural, scientific and sporting communities across the world, senior officials at province-and-ministry level and various social groups in Hong Kong and Macao.
At the coming April 9 Saturday, March 3 in the lunar calendar, more than 20,000 Chinese people – domestic or overseas – are expected to gather in Xinzheng, county-level city of Zhengzhou for the worshipping ceremony of this year.
Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, a legendary hero who lived 4,000 years ago, is believed among Chinese as their common ancestor. Every year on the third day of the third month on the Chinese lunar calendar is the birthday of this Chinese common ancestor and also the day when Huangdi (or Yellow Emperor) united the nation and established the first nation in the country’s history, according to folklore.
“Same Root, Same ancestors and Same Origin; Peace, Concord and Harmony”has been always the theme of the grand ceremony in the past years and also the trend of Chinese history for all Chinese people to seek common ground and self-identity on the earth.
As part of the National Intangible Cultural Heritages, the annual worshipping ceremony in Xinzheng include nine major grand worshipping rites, which descendants of Huangdi (or Yellow Emperor) have held since the epoch of Spring and Autumn: 1, firing salute guns; 2, wreath- offering; 3, lighting incense sticks; 4, paying a courtesy to the ancestor; 5,reading eulogies; 6, singing odes; 7, dancing performance; 8, blessing for the homeland; 9 celebrating harmony between heaven, earth and human beings.
Through the nine impressive worshipping rites, every Chinese at the scene would be touched soulfully and proud of his or her motherland and history of China.
The grand ceremony, held at Xingshi Square in Xinzheng city, is jointly organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Association for Yan Huang Culture of China, All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, Zhengzhou municipal government, and Xinzheng city government.
The 10th China (Henan) International Investment & Trade Fair, sponsored by the People’s Government of Henan Province, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, is to be held during April 20-23, 2015.
A decade are long enough to make a tree bloom and fructify. Just as what efforts the government of Zhengzhou city, capital of Henan province did in the past ten years to forge the annual ceremonious ritual to pay homage to Huangdi, or Yellow Emperor, into the greatest event of its kind across the country.
Besides various economic and trade activities, there would be series of events in April as showcases for Zhengzhou’s achievements and attractions in arts, culture and history, including International Forum on Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) culture; Calligraphy masterpieces of famous overseas Chinese artists; Short Film Competition on theme of ‘Root in the Central Plains’; and Cross-strait Film Festival.
Besides, two well-executed filmographies talking about the birthplace of Chinese culture, “ the Emperor Xuanyuan” and “the epic of Yellow Emperor”, invested and support by the municipal government of Zhengzhou, is being shown at the China Central Television Station and the mainland cinemas in April. The “Emperor xuanyuan” is a 3D movie showing about Xiong’s ethnic tribal leaders led by Ji Di across the Yellow River, fighting animals, Chiyou, 5,000 years ago, eventually unified China’s mammoth epic story. The film is set in one of the artistic, ideological and commercial blockbuster, also China’s first ancient theme of the epic movie. Yandi is the world known as the Emperor Shen Nong in the film.
The "epic of Yellow Emperor”is an 78-episodes cartoon TV drama showing how Yellow Emperor united and established the first nation in the country’s history, based on solid historic documents and fairies. It’s the first animation production of its kind fitting for all Chinese at all ages who are interested in exploding and understanding well the birth of Chinese culture and history.
Zhengzhou is the earliest habitat of the Chinese nation and the birthplace of the Chinese civilization, nourished by the Yellow River. With no doubt, the city is one of the best places to represent China’s history and traditional culture and a major exporter of Chinese culture.
Visits to these tourism attractions well-known in the world - Shaolin Temple, Song Mountain, Xuanyuan Temple, and Chenjiagou village, the birthplace of Chen-style tai chi and a living historical town - will give visitors a snapshot of the critical role Zhengzhou and the areas around the city have played in creating and maintaining Chinese culture and civilization over the centuries.
Meanwhile, Zhengzhou is modernizing and globalizing itself, and the feeling is palpable as the new meets the old. The city and its inhabitants have also changed with the times, become more open and communicative with people from outside the country.
Now, the city is on its way to become a new showcase for the country’s modern culture and innovation in arts and culture. The Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park, under planning, is one of the most important projects among the municipal government’s efforts to grow cultural and creative industries.
The municipal government of Zhengzhou is planning to construct the International Cultural and Creative Industry Park in Zhongmou County, and turn the project into the “oriental Orlando”.
It will be the first and biggest of its kind to reach all people living in the Central Plains Economic Zone , which encompasses Henan and parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui and Shandong provinces, covering as much as 289,000 square km or 3 per cent of China's land area. At the end of 2011, the region's population totaled 179 million, or 13.3 per cent of the nation's total.
The Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park is under planning and designed and mainly used for three main themes: Culture and creation; Fashion traveling; and high-end business, according to local authorities. By 2020, it will occupy 132 sq meters of land and attract 30 million tourists across the world yearly in future.
According to official data, the total fixed investment of the Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park reached more than 5.7 billion yuan in the first eight months of last year, nearly 17 per cent up than 2014, with 2.9 billion yuan of direct investment by other provinces, seeing over 95 per cent of year-on-year growth.
Costing 3.5 billion yuan, the Huaqiang culture and technology industrial base, which is located in the Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park with two big theme parks, had already attracted 3 million tourists last year, with gross income of 523 million yuan.
Besides the Huaqiang Park, growing international film and entertainment giants are thinking of stationing in the Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park. On November 19, the Walt Disney Company (China) signed a memorandum of understanding on the strategic partnership with the provincial government of Henan in launching electronic business project in the Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park to sell and promote Disney’s products to urban citizens in Central Plains Economic Zone.
On October 31, a tourism project , Jianye and Huayi Film Town, invested by Chinese film giant Huayi Brothers, started construction at the Zhengzhou International Cultural and Creative Industry Park. The film town, which will cost a total investment of 15 billion yuan, will feature replicas of scenes in popular mainland films. It is expected to start operating in early 2018.
In sum, you should come to visit Zhengzhou in the coming lovely April, either for seeking cultural identity and heritage, or looking for business opportunities from the city’s latest development in cultural and creative industry.