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Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival opens in Longyan

By Wang Yifei ( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2014-06-20

The 4th Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival, a sub-program of the 6th Cross-Straits Forum, was held from June 15 to 17 in Yongding county, Fujian province, and included nine activities. There were a total of 348 participants from Taiwan and Mainland China.

Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival opens in Longyan

Rao Yingqi, president of the Taiwan Cross-Straits Hakka Cultural and Economic Association, gives a speech at the opening ceremony. [Photo by Lu Ting/ China Daily Fujian Bureau]

Rao Yingqi, president of the Taiwan Cross-Straits Hakka Cultural and Economic Association, says said in the opening ceremony that he cherishesfelt a special close attachment to Longyan, and comes came to share the hard-won peace and development between both sides of the Strait with gratefulnessgratitude. He also called on the cross-Straits Hakka people to persistently work together to strengthen communication and cooperation between the two sides. In front of a Tulou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a performance that exhibited the special customs shared by the Hakka people on both sides was given.

More than 530 performers took part in the show, which began with the Weifeng Gong and Drum Band, a Lion Dance Team, and special Hakka performances from Taiwan and villages and towns in Yongding county. Yongding is home to the Hakka people, one of the most important places for them to live. Apparently more than a million Yongding people live in more than 100 foreign countries, and over 550 thousand Taiwanese are descended from Yongding, making the county especially important for cross-Straits relations, a national cross-Straits communication base, and a famous hometown for overseas Chinese.

Yongding is also the ancestral home of Mr. Hu Wenhu, a patriotic leader of overseas Chinese, Mr Wu Boxiong, honorary president of Kuomintang, and various others. The Hakka people in Yongding combine the cultural legacy of local ethnic minorities with inherited Chinese traditional cultures, forming a unique Hakka culture that’s kept alive in the customs and activities in Yongding. The various and wonderful local customs that have existed in Yongding for thousands of years, attract and fascinate visitors from both China and abroad every year.

Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival opens in Longyan

Participants from Mainland China and Taiwan at the opening ceremony of the 4th Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival on June 15 [Photo by Lu Ting/ China Daily Fujian Bureau]

Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival opens in Longyan

Special Hakka Performance – Buffalo to Welcome Spring on the Hillside at the opening ceremony of the 4th Cross-Straits Hakka Tourist Festival on June15. [Photo by Lu Ting/ China Daily Fujian Bureau]

Edited by Brian Salter

 

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