What are the traditional New Year's Eve activities in Tongxiang?

The traditional activities of Tongxiang's New Year's festivals are making New Year's cakes, writing spring couplets, tasting snacks, and folklore activities.

Tongxiang's folk culture includes big banner flag, Tongxiang kite making skill, Sanzhenzhai brine making skill, Gushu cake making skill, pounding rice cake making skill, Wuzhen water pavilion building art, high stick boat acrobatics, Tongxiang silkworm song, Pu silk weaving craft, Tongxiang bamboo carving, Tongxiang shadow puppets, Wuzhen incense market, Tongxiang gray molding, Tongxiang triple jumping, Heshan straw painting, peach kernel carving and so on.

Introduction of Big Banner and Tongxiang Kites:

The Big Banner is a traditional folk performing art in the rural areas around Tongxiang, which began in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, and has a history of more than 150 years. According to the town of Ma Xi village 89-year-old Shen Yongtian recalled, big banner flag performance is a custom passed down from his ancestors, he was also performed when he was young, is the same village than his older than 30 or 40 years old Shen Zhongmao, Shen Qingshou, and other people taught.

Tongxiang Kite Making TechniqueTongxiang kites are made with great care. Bamboo is split into gimlets, each about 0.3 centimeters thick, polished, and cut into different lengths according to the shape of the kite. The gabions are tied with cotton yarn, and the curved part of the gabions is smoked with a lamp to slowly make them curved and tied into shape. Use a small amount of Styrofoam for some parts. The eagle kite is divided into several parts ligated separately, and finally made and inserted together, and the dragon kite is connected with a line.