1. Badachu temple fair
Dates: Feb 8-13
Venue: Badachu Park, Shijingshan district
Admission: 10 yuan
A grand performance will include 108 people reenacting a scene from the Qing Dynasty, when the emperor dressed up for a cruise and prayed in the temple during Lunar New Year. The performance will be put on twice a day from Feb 8 to 13. A series of cultural activities showing traditional customs can also be seen at the fair.
2. Changdian temple fair
Dates: Feb 8-12
Venue: From Hufang Bridge to Heping Gate in Xuanwu district
Admission: Free; Folk custom zone: 2 yuan
This fair digs deep into Beijing's "New Year atmosphere" and offers special Beijing snacks, folk handicrafts and the "scholar's four jewels" infused with traditional customs. The fair is colorfully inspired by old Beijing Spring Festival temple fairs.
3. Shijingshan Temple Fair
Dates: Feb 8-14
Venue: Shijingshan Amusement Park, Shijingshan district
Admission: 10 yuan
Since 2000, the annual Shijingshan Temple fair has been a foreign-style temple fair that has the flavor of a foreign carnival parade.
A majority of the goods available at this year's fair will be from Europe. There's also a float parade featuring Cinderella, clowns and a music car. Beijing snacks will be sold and intangible cultural heritage exhibits will be on display.
4. Daguanyuan Temple Fair
Dates: Feb 8-12
Venue: Daguanyuan Park, Xuanwu district
Admission: 40 yuan
The park will continue a performance of the opera Concubine Yuan Paying a Visit Home, which was adapted from a chapter in the classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions. The performance will be staged twice a day starting at 9:30 am and 1 pm.
5. Longtan Temple Fair
Dates: Feb 8-12
Venue: Longtan Lake Park, Zuoanmennei Dajie, Chongwen district
Admission: 10 yuan
This year the fair's theme will be the Winter Olympics and will highlight the cultural characteristics of winter sports. The park will be divided into five sections, including an intangible cultural heritage display, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei culture show, interactive zone, Beijing culture display zone and Winter Olympics themed zone.
Those in attendance can enjoy a flower fair, acrobatics show, Quyi performance, photo exhibitions and other activities. Parents can ask for a bracelet for their children that will help find youngsters if they get lost during the fair.
6. Ditan Temple Fair
Dates: Feb 8-12
Venue: Ditan Park, Dongcheng district
Admission: 10 yuan
The location of the city's busiest temple fairs since 1985, Ditan (Temple of Earth) Park is the site of the altar where sacrifices were formerly offered to the earth god.
This year's fair will add more cultural elements, including reenactments of traditional Qing Dynasty ceremonies to worship the God of Earth, Qinqiang Opera and Huangmei Opera performances, a folk flower fair, and photo exhibitions.
Source: China Daily
