During the National Day holiday in Quanzhou, the immersive "Songjiang Formation" performed multiple joint performances, where traditional martial arts and modern aesthetics collided

China News Service, Quanzhou, October 6 (Reporter Sun Hong) The flags are flying and the gongs and drums are clanging. During this National Day holiday, the immersive "Songjiang Array" performance was held in multiple joint performances in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, the hometown of overseas Chinese. The collision of traditional martial arts and modern aesthetics brought an audio-visual feast and sensory shock to citizens and tourists.

On October 5, an immersive "Song Jiang Array" performance was staged at Wuli Ancient Street in Yongchun County, Quanzhou. Photo by Chen Zhipeng

On the afternoon of the 5th, there was a drizzle on Wuli Ancient Street in Yongchun County. More than a hundred performers, wearing hairpins and garlands, transformed into "Liangshan heroes" and lined up to enter the venue. The classic formations such as Qinglong Formation and Bagua Formation are transformed in turn, and various weapons are rising and falling, each move is vigorous and vigorous, recreating Quanzhou's folk style of "sticks and hands beating, the most wonderful thing in the world". Spectators along the street held up umbrellas and formed a sea of ​​umbrellas, reading together the ancient martial arts formations from Fujian and South Africa that flow with the blood of Southern Shaolin.

Songjiang Formation originated from military warfare and "Water Margin", and is a combination of traditional folk martial arts and military practical skills. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, farmers in Quanzhou, Fujian Province were fond of practicing martial arts. During temple fairs, they would dress up as Liangshanbo heroes, visit villages and clubs, and perform various township regiment training and military infantry combat martial arts formations, commonly known as "Tao Songjiang". In the process of Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan, the "Songjiang Formation" also played an important role and gradually evolved into a martial arts and dance combined with performing arts formation that was loved by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is a cultural memory shared by Fujian and Taiwan.

On October 5, the "Songjiang Formation" was unveiled at Wuli Ancient Street in Yongchun County, Quanzhou. The picture shows the "Hairpin Knight". Photo by Chen Zhipeng

The Songjiang Formation in the rain, with each sonorous step, demonstrates the passion and character unique to southern Fujian. The performance was also interspersed with folk stunts such as fighting in Gaojia opera and green lions spitting fire. A variety of cultural heritage elements from Fujian and South Africa blended and collided. The sea of ​​umbrellas on both sides surged, and the vitality of intangible cultural heritage was written in everyone's footsteps.

After the fixed-point performance, the team marched from the cross street to Wucuo Bridge. Accompanied by the sonorous drumbeats, vivid intangible cultural heritage folk customs walked off the stage and flowed through the fireworks streets. It is reported that this exhibition combines the "Songjiang Formation" with the folk custom of hairpins, allowing the martial arts spirits of southern Fujian to encounter the cultural heritage of Wuli Ancient Street, further enriching the cultural tourism industry of the ancient street.

Including the "Songjiang Array", during this year's National Day, Quanzhou will take "Quanzhou has things and roam slow life" as the main line, coordinating urban and rural cultural tourism resources in various places, and creating a cultural tourism matrix that integrates intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, rural leisure, coastal vacations, and markets. A series of activities that are interconnected and outstanding across the region run throughout the National Day holiday, continuing to release the unique charm of the world heritage city, allowing tourists from all over the world to immerse themselves in the warmth of Quanzhou’s fireworks and its thousand-year cultural heritage. (over)