Qingdao Folk Customs

Dwelling (also known as "shelter") is one of the most important conditions for people's survival, as it is a place for them to protect themselves from the wind and cold and to rest and reproduce. Due to the influence of the region and environmental conditions, the type and style of housing varies from place to place in China, and so do the customs of housing.

The structure of rural houses in Qingdao is similar to that of houses in the northern part of China, which are built on sunny slopes and are oriented towards the sun and the shade, relying on the mountains and the water. Houses for the earth, wood and masonry structure, a column of 3 to 5 questions, and the left and right neighboring houses connected to the wall, the roof for the "human" type (also known as "double running water type"). There are main houses, east and west compartments or inverted houses, and each family forms its own courtyard. Most of the houses are triple courtyards.

Villages vary in size from a few to hundreds, and in recent years there have been a number of large villages with thousands of households.

After 1897, Germany and Japan occupied Qingdao. With the harbor and municipal construction, a large number of farmers flocked to the city, at that time, the West Town area built i0 civilian homes, Taitung Town, Nanshan, Zhongjiawa and other places have appeared a number of shantytowns. These homes built without planning, low and dark houses, poor environment, in addition to the "human" type roof, but also appeared in many one-sided slope houses, people used to call "Daosi cap". Because of the living environment, conditions change, some of the thousands of years inherited from the living folklore can not continue down.

Since the 80's, the government implemented; day city renovation project, the 90's and the implementation of housing projects. Now, civilian homes and shantytowns have been built into residential neighborhoods, buildings, beautiful environment, people living conditions have greatly improved.

During this period, the old-fashioned housing in the rural areas of Qingdao has been replaced by beautiful residential buildings. The development of living from purely practical to aesthetics-oriented. Some modern building materials were widely used, and building clusters also appeared in many villages.

->Village

Qingdao's rural areas, in addition to a very small number of people living in the "mountain nunnery" to see the mountains, more often gathered together to live, and thus constitute different sizes of the building complex, called the "village", "Zhuang" or "village". "

Village, Zhuang or Tuen.

The roads in the village, the big one is called "street", mostly east-west, called the front street, back street. In large villages with many streets, the name of the street is given to the family name, such as Zhangjiajie, Wangjiajie.

Smaller roads called "Hutong", more family names, hall names, village celebrities or trees for the name, such as Songjia Hutong, Fulei Hutong, Xiewu Hutong, the old acacia tree Hutong, etc.; a very narrow road called the "sandwich road"; the place where loafers often gather to gossip, called the "lazy man's nest". The "Lazy Man's Nest" and "Old Man's Nest".

Some village names are very distinctive and interesting, such as Laixi Zhanggezhuang because there is a man surnamed Zhang settled here and got his name, this person is bold and helpful, the neighborhood people respectfully referred to as Zhang, the name of the village also became Zhanggezhuang. Because of the homophony of "Ge", "Ge", "Ge", later appeared like Zhou Gezhuang, Xia Gezhuang and other village names. There were many villages named after their family names, some of which were directly called "Yuejia" or "Zhaojia", while others were added with "脸", "屯", "沟", "", "", """ and """" in their names. ", "ditch", "store" and other words, called "Liangjiatu", "Yujiatun ""、"Wangjiagou"、"Xujiadian "etc.

Some villages are named after the characteristics of the people who built them. Caixi has a Li beard Zhuang, because the Qing Jiaqing years, a man called Li Ke with this village, he has a long beard, known as "Li beard", day long, the village is called "Li beard Zhuang". Later, some people feel that this name is not elegant, the early years of the Republic of China, the village name has evolved into today's "Li Huzhuang".

There is also the occupation of the person who built the village for the village name. Chisan has a Soeto Village, because during the Ming Yongle years there were several salt households with a stove burning salt to settle here, the Song Dynasty called the salt households "Soeto", the village is also called "Soeto Village".

Many villages are named after myths and legends. Laoshan has a female nuns mountain village, because the village south of a "old nunnery" temple, the temple's main god known as "female nuns", the legend is that the "list of the gods" in the Zhao Gongming Marshal's sister, people will be the village name as "female nuns mountain The name of the village is "Nun Mountain". Dengying Village is the legend of the Qin people Xu Fu in order to get the medicine of immortality, and thus embarked on a journey to the immortal island of Liuzhou and named. Laoshan Santa Claus village name, not only from a beautiful mythological story, but also because the village in front of the sea there is a boulder shaped like an old man.

Some villages are named after the old garrison military or official canton, such as Aoshanwei, Xiongyasho, Yingshang, Huangguantun, etc.; some are named after temples and ancient homes, such as Miaotou, Jiazitou, Miaodong, Shifuyuan, etc.; some take the name of villages for their geographic environments, such as Bumpingling, which got its name due to its topography resembling a dustpan; and there are also names of local trees and flowers at the time of the construction of the village, such as Peach Grove, Zaoyuan, Liushuutun, and Rodgou.

In 1979, Qingdao began a census of geographical names, and duplicated and indecent village names were adjusted. The names of villages and the characters used in village names were standardized and normalized.

->Courtyard

Qingdao folk live in their own courtyard, which is commonly known as "patio" or "yard".

In the past, many people preferred to have two courtyards, one at the front and one at the back. The front yard was large and was the main venue for the family's weekday activities. In the yard, they built pigsties, toilets, and planted flowers and trees such as pomegranates and moonflowers. The backyard is very small, not very useful, just to block the back window, that the back window facing the street "not a place to live". Nowadays, with the change of concept, coupled with the precious land, few people have a backyard.

The wall around the yard is called the "courtyard wall", and in the old days it was mostly made of stone. In the street wall, inlaid with "nose" of the stone, used to tie mules and horses, called "hitching stone". Lime or mud is smeared on the top of the courtyard wall, called "hitting the head of the wall". The top of the courtyard wall was plastered in a semicircle and called "Monk's Head". Nowadays, the courtyard wall is mostly built with stones, bricks on top, and cement smoothed on the outside; some of them are also built with bricks or cement in geometric patterns, called "flower wall". The courtyard wall shall not be higher than the eaves.

The street courtyard wall is left at the gate, commonly known as "street" or "street door". Street door is mostly south or east, Hutong also west, but rarely north. The street door should be higher than the entrance of the neighboring door, which is called "diagonal door". The gate is usually painted black, but for those who are famous in the old days, it can be painted red. There are two doors, each with an iron door ring, and the left door ring is connected to the door's "rocker", which can be rotated to close the door at will. Some people's homes are equipped with iron rings on the door - called "door scratching" to lock the door.

The upper part of the door to repair the doorway, the old gate and the doorway are symbols of wealth, rich people's doorway to repair the prisoner's corner of the flying eaves, decorated with "dragon head", "Shou dog" and other auspicious objects, the gate is tall, colorful paintings and decorations. Ordinary people's gates, doorways are very simple, doorways with more grass felt, some gates do not have the door around, called the "earth door".

Most of the gates are built with a shadow wall, commonly known as the "wall" (brick screen), on which is written the word "blessing", or painted with deer, cranes and other patterns, a search for auspiciousness, and two for decoration.

->Housing

Folk live in cottages. In the old days, the house structure for the ridge, with beams, pillars to form a skeleton, the upper wall grass roof, wooden invasion of the windows (ask a stone wall tile roof). A house 3, 4, 5 sets of rooms, sitting child towards the south of the room for the "main house", sitting south towards the north of the "inverted house" - the east and west sides of the "compartment" were called The rooms on the east and west sides are called "East Room" and "West Room" respectively. In the middle of the main house, there is a "main room", and the two sides of the house are called "east room" and "west room", and then inwardly, there is a "suite room". In the main room, there are two stoves, which are connected to the kangs in the east and west rooms for heating the kang in winter. In the old days, a small square hole was left on the wall between the main room and the east room, which was called "lamp nest", and oil lamps could be put inside the hole, so that one lamp could illuminate the main room and the east room, and the lamp oil could be saved. Some people also call it "mother-in-law's eyes", said from the square hole can see the action of the stove room for the mother-in-law to monitor the daughter-in-law with. In the main room above the board or sorghum straw roof, also called "canopy", can be used to store groundnut in winter. The east and west rooms are often decorated with paper cutouts of bats and flowers, called "Yangpang".

Families with large populations usually have the eldest living in the main house and the youngest living in the compartment. If you live in a house, the elders live in the outer room and the younger ones live in the inner room (suite), the elders live in the east room and the younger ones live in the west room.

The inverted house is generally used for living under people, ordinary people pile up sundries, tools or firewood, and people with status use it as a guest house, which is called "guest house".

Compartment summer heat and winter cold and stubborn style and light and poor, so the folk have "East Room West Room, filial son of the children", rich people do not live in the East Room, winter under the warm, summer is not cool, "the proverb. Rich people's compartments more under the people, used to raise large livestock or stone mill for mill-

Build a house (Qingdao people called "cover the house") is the family's big event, in the old days, to see the feng shui, choose the base of the house, An doorframe, to do the beams and rafters have to go through a variety of ceremonies and activities, which are the beam ceremony is the most lively, grand. On the beam time are generally set in the "positive" to the noon", when friends and relatives have to come to help or congratulate, congratulatory gift is mostly a piece of red cloth, called "hanging red" - beam oak to be affixed to the "on the beam of good luck! "and other words on the beam oak should be affixed to the horizontal cape, but also tied to the chopsticks, tied with a red rope on the copper money, hung on the red cloth and other ornaments, in order to seek good luck. On the beam, the house around the firecrackers, the main room in the middle of the square table, set up offerings, lit red candles, by the master of the family to build a house kneeling. Laixi area in the beam, the two carpenters, masonry masters will also sing songs while throwing down some of the dragons, phoenixes, tigers, butterflies and other shapes of the small vitality, attracting children to loot. After the ceremony on the beam on the day after the master to host a banquet in the new house, friends and relatives, craftsmen and helpers, food and wine are generally very rich.

Nowadays, the old custom of building a house "to see the feng shui" and "to make offerings to the gods" has been abolished, but the beams and purlins are still popular in sticking the cross-checks, vertical couplings, and firecrackers and other customs for good luck.

Beginning in the 70's, rural housing construction by the production brigade (village committee) unified planning, streets, houses gradually to achieve a neat and tidy layout, houses are mostly masonry walls, tile roof, glass windows. Cooking room, sleeping room, meeting room set up separately, compartment house is mostly cement flat roof, used to sun grain or summer night cool.

After the 80's, the old straw houses are basically extinct, and some rural areas have been buildings in succession, and the living conditions of farmers have greatly improved. In residential folklore, there are many taboos, but more with superstitious colors, such as in the past there are places in the lunar calendar in May to avoid cover the house, said May for the evil month, cover the house home to die, obviously no scientific basis; residence door taboo against the hills, rivers, avenues, wells and graves, said that this will be the evil and inauspicious, if you can't avoid it, you have to hang the door on the "bagua mirror "Crack; home base can not be straight through the street, can not face the temple word, such as can not be avoided, to be outside the mansion in a corner of a small stone tablets, engraved with" Tarzan Shi Dare Dang "5 words; build a house with the wood, avoid using the pulling of wood, acacia wood, because of the" Flood ", "acacia" stained with "fire", "ghost" two words, fear of inauspicious. In the yard also avoid planting mulberry, willow and poplar trees, commonly known as the former not planted mulberry, not planted after the willow, the yard is not planted "ghost clap". Because "mulberry" and "funeral" homophonic, go out and see "funeral" is not auspicious; willow does not bear seeds, fear of childlessness and extinction; planting "ghosts beat hands The planting of "Ghost Clapper" (referring to the poplar tree) is feared to attract ghosts and make the house unsettled. Nowadays, few people believe that there are ghosts and mysteries, but farmers still do not plant the above three kinds of trees inside and outside the yard.

Qingdao Folk Festivals

Jet Traveler 2006-3-25 Source:

Festival Name

Time

Tianhougong Folk Festival

First to 30th day of the first month of the Lunar New Year

Qingdao Radish Festival, Lantern Festival

9th to 15th day of the first month of the Lunar New Year

Haiyunan Sugar Ball Festival

Sixteenth to eighteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar

Qingdao Cherry Blossom Festival

Late April

Cherry Blossom Journey - Japan Week

Late April

Spring in Qingdao. -Music Week

Late April

Zhanshan Temple Festival

Eighth to tenth day of the fourth lunar month

Laoshan Beizai Cherry Festival

Early May

Qingdao Tourism Festival

Sea of Qingdao

Jul July

Qingdao Summer Art Festival

Mid-July

Qingdao Summer Art Lantern Festival

July-September

Qingdao Beach Culture and Art Festival

September

Qingdao Beach Culture and Art Festival September

Mountain and Sea Love-Newly Wedding Tour

October

Dazeshan Grape Festival

September

Qingdao Golden Autumn Chrysanthemum Festival

October-November

Golden Autumn and October Chorus Week

October

Laoshan Tourism Culture Festival

July-September

Qingdao Beach Culture and Art Festival

October

Laoshan Tourism Culture Festival

November

Qingdao Tourism Industry Bar Culture Festival

December