Trying some pot luck

An entire village eating from the same big pot is a rare phenomenon these days, but potluck prevails in Yangshulin, a village in Huairou District.

Yangshulin nestles among green hills and blue waters in Liulihe town, an hour's drive north of downtown Beijing. Women wear brightly colored headscarves, and go door to door collecting beans, rice, corn and vegetables. All these ingredients are cooked in dishes and porridge served to villagers and visitors at the weekend Huairou Taghechian Manchu Folk Custom and Culture Festival.

The potluck custom, called lianqiaofan, has a 300-year history. On the 16th day of the first lunar month every year, villagers gather in the village square to dine on porridge, into which the women put wrapped needles and ancient coins. Those finding them in their dish are signified as particularly clever and deft. Senior villagers feed sparrows before dinner to avert bird damage to the crops in the coming year.

Last winter, 1,000 people, including citysiders, villagers, folk custom researchers and travelers came to sample village potluck with friendly country folk amid a strongly rural ambience. Potluck was listed as one of the most memorable tour items of the whole festival.

"Head as far north as you like to the more remote villages here, but you won't meet any folk more simple, honest, friendly and hospitable," Liu Xuemei, a local official, assured us. She went on to speak of the various folk performances, Manchu traditional sports, craft workshops and specialty markets that are held in more than 100 villages of the five towns in the district, and the throngs that visit them.

Huairou district is a main Manchu ethnic minority region, whose 20,000 Manchu-population is spread over five towns. Each town has its distinct landscape, ranging from white birch forest, wild goose-inhabited lakes and rivers as well as a section of the Great Wall beside a ginseng plantation. The area is said to have supplied the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Manchurian court with wild birds, poplar poles and rouge.

For more information, call 69695592/13693115738.

Chen Xiaorong

(China Daily 06/07/2008 page6)