Worship Ceremony for Yellow Emperor transmits Chinese Civilization

 

photo/Tang Qiang

When visitors come to the Yellow Emperor's Hometown Scenic Area in Xinzheng, Zhengzhou, Henan, they walk through the Root-seeking Gate,step on Xuanyuan Bridge,and visit the Guli Shrine, It's like traveling through the history of human time.While looking up at the majestic Yellow Emperor statue in front of Xuanyuan Hall,a feeling of reverence arises.

On this land, 8000 years ago, our ancestors in Peiligang started farming here. 5000 years ago, the Yellow Emperor was born here, then he gradually unified the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River region, opened the embryonic form of China, lit the dawn of Chinese civilization,which became the historical starting point of the Chinese civilization lasting over 5000 years.

photo/Zhao Weiping

Worshiping the Yellow Emperor on the third day of the third lunar month is the tradition of the Chinese nation, and it starts from the beginning of Spring and Autumn.

Since 1992, the folk worship of the Yellow Emperor activities determined as the Yanhuang cultural tourism Festival by the Xinzheng Municipal government.

In 2006, the grand worship activities of the Yellow Emperor were sponsored by Henan Provincial People’s Governmentm, CPPCC Henan Committeee, Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, All-China Federation Of Taiwan Compatriots and Association for Yan Huang Culture of China, and undertaken by Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Government, CPPCC Zhengzhou Committeee and Xinzheng People’s Government.

photo/Huang Yuyang 

In 2008,the worship ceremony was listed on the national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council.

Approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, since 2015, the ceremony has been held every year as a "reserved" project, which has become a vivid practice of promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional Chinese culture.

For more than ten years, The grand ceremony of ancestor worship in the hometown of the Yellow Emperor has showed the pride and cohesion of the Chinese people around the world.

The Chinese from all over the world not only visited the birthplace of the Yellow Emperor to pay their respects to the ancestors of humanity and participated in the ceremony but also spontaneously held the "Worship the Yellow Emperor Together" activity overseas on March 3, which greatly strengthen the sprites of the Chinese at home and abroad.

In recent years,the online ancestor-worship platform has become very popular among Chinese people around the world.

Zhengzhou, the young city with a long histor, shows its great vitality and strive to build a modern national central city.