Folk Culture

Folk culture represents the quintessence of the Chinese moral culture. Ningde City has given birth to a variety of folk culture with distinctive local characteristics and even extensive known and risen to be a splendid "Light of Eastern Fujian" owing to its profound and far-reaching historical accumulation and diverse humanistic and ecological resources. In the long process of history, folk culture has been incorporated in every aspect of social and production life in eastern Fujian and become a treasure of eastern Fujian culture.

Moving Iron Branch in Shacheng, Fuding: Moving Iron Branch in Shacheng, Fuding, commonly known as "bar (Gang in Chinese)" and "pavilion (Ge in Chinese)", dated from the Qing Dynasty during the reign of Qianlong. It represents a traditional folk activity to celebrate the Lantern Festival by Yujia, Shacheng. In its early development stage, it was of bamboo and wooden structure with the bar carried by man. One layer is about 2-3m high, known as level pavilion. As time goes by, steel tubes or bar iron are welded into a crotch shape. After artistic processing and decoration, a multi-layer 7-8m high structure comes into being. The space between layers is known as "transition branch", which is fixed on the thill for handling. After absorbing such performance modes as folk literature and art, traditional drama and acrobatics, it has evolved into an excellent performance art. Moving Iron Branch in Shacheng, Fuding has been incorporated in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

Fuding Binghua: Originated from the period during the reign of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, it was initiated by folk artisans to embellish mooncakes. The early Fuding Binghua was in paper-cutting pattern, known as Baizihua. Then, it was changed into hand-painted pattern, known as Tuanhua. The early years of the Republic of China saw the presence of  wood-carving Binghua. Afterwards, it evolved into stone sealed one and watermark-engraved wooden one. The content is mainly based on themes of operas and its forms are very novel with clear lines, including beauty style, eight-view style, eight-fruit style and round style. It has rich and lively colors, dominated by red, yellow, green and pink. Binghua is well-liked by the mass and also represents a kind of auspicious figure to send mooncakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival. It can be displayed in the hall and for interior decoration. So far, it has evolved to a special folk custom. The craftsmanship of Binghua has been enrolled in the List of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage of the province.

Fuding Marionette Opera: it is an opera to perform historical stories and traditional dramas by puppets. As a kind of traditional operas in Fujian and Zhejiang, it rose at the end of the Song Dynasty and got heat during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is known as "Seven Lines" in folk. Fuding Marionette Opera has gained great popularity owing to its exquisite puppet props, skillful performance techniques, unique artistic style and integration of various traditional opera means. In May 2009, Fuding Marionette Opera was incorporated in the List of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage of the province.

Fu'an Pingjiang Opera: Pingjiang Opera comes into being after evolvement from the Siping-tune "spoken part" popular in the late and Ming and early Qing Dynasties and in combination with the "Loading story" ("驮故事" in Chinese) art performance in Pingnan. Pingjiang Opera is one of the predecessors of Fujian Opera and also a unique local opera in eastern Fujian. It is performed by Fu'an dialect in a primitive, rough, simple and popular form. The band employs "scabbard board" solely supported by gong and drum to render the desired rhythm and later by Jinghu, Maohu, flute, suona horn and other orchestral instruments. The simple stage costume of actors is mainly made of embroidery homespun. In terms of makeup, only "Xiamentao" is used for facial embellishment. Its popular characteristics have made it deeply favored by the public. Fu'an Pingjiang Opera has been incorporated in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

Forging techniques of She silverware: The forging and craftsmanship of silverware in Fu'an can date back the Ming Dynasty and represents the silver forging craftsmanship in Fujian. The making technique of She silverware represents the outcomes of local silver minerals and She customs. The unique craftsmanship, complicated process and orderly inheritance have made each piece of silverware the embodiment of the wisdom of inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. The process includes melting, chiseling, carving and corrosion processing, etc. Products are characterized by being pure, creative, fine and dynamic. Lin Shiyuan, a contemporary craftsman, has studied and improved the silverware forging process and thus improved it. The forging craftsmanship of She silverware has been enrolled in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

Pingnan Pingjiang Opera: it represents a traditional opera with 400 years of history. As the predecessor of Fujian Opera, it is mainly characterized by utilization of Fuzhou Tuguan dialect in both the spoken and singing parts. With some actors singing on the stage helped by those on the backstage, the ancient traditional folk singing mode of "one speaking joined by the mass" comes into being, similar to rammers' work chant and yangko. Pingjiang Opera is a high-tune one stating opera contents by traditional local dialect and represents an exclusive local opera in Fujian. It originated from Pingnan and was spread in Ningde and Fuzhou. It can be said that it is one of the predecessors of Fujian Opera. After absorbing local folk songs and slangs, Pingjiang Opera is dominated by contents related to romance, marriage and labor life. It is deeply loved by the mass. In 2008, upon the approval of the State Council, Pingnan Pingjiang Opera was incorporated in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

Siping Opera (四平戏 in Chinese): it is also known as 四评戏, 四坪戏, 四棚戏 and 四蓬戏 in Chinese. It was evolved from Yiyang tune, one of the four tunes popular in the middle Ming Dynasty. So far, it has been inherited by  Longtan Village, Pingnan County, Fujian Province and Yangyuan Village, Zhenghe County. Pingnan Siping Opera has always kept its tradition of using "Tuguan dialect" in both spoken and singing parts. Those on the stage solely sing, while those on the backstage employ the high-tune tradition for vocal accompaniment. Its singing tune is Qupai-styled. Successive singing is another characteristic of it. Its melody is sonorous and intense, plain and smooth. In addition, it is also featured with accompaniment of rolling singing and speaking, popular lyrics, free tunes, and phonation dominated by natural voice, alternated by false voice and mass accompaniment. Further, a large number of performance elements of Zaju in the Song and Yuan Dynasties have been absorbed and as a result it is called as "the living fossil of China's opera" by drama experts. Siping Opera has been enrolled in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage.

Fish protection customs in Carp Brook, Zhouning: Carp Brook in Puyuan has 800 years of history. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the ancestors of the Zheng family in Kaifeng, Henan, moved their family to Puyuan to avoid chaos caused by war. Need of brook water made them to breed carps to decontaminate and purify water in the brook. In order to appreciate carps' merits, carps are deified based on fairy tales and also the fish funeral customs were initiated at the same time. Generations of villagers all comply with the old maxim in caring carps as a member of the village. Carp care and protection has become a common practice and it is a miracle indeed of sustained breeding of carps in the brook so far with villagers' protection. The fish protection customs in Carp Brook, Zhouning has been enrolled in the List of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage of the province.

Zherong Paper Cutting: as a traditional folk art of Ningde, Fujian, Zherong Paper Cutting is closely related to folk activities. Most paper cutting craftsmen are female. There is no unified expression technique but the characteristics of Central Plain Culture are inherited. As a national brand, Zherong Paper Cutting savors strong local characteristics and nation features and also unique cultural taste. In addition to the simple and unsophisticated, powerful, rough and enjoyable styles, paper cutting works do not pursue symmetry, and have varied Yin and Yang changes. The language of paper cutting art is vividly revealed on paper, showing no artificial embellishment, thus achieving the similar and dissimilar traditional artistic effect. In 2008, Zherong Paper Cutting was incorporated among the first batch of expansion projects in the List of National Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage by the State Council and then in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in 2009.