Ren Yan, a reporter from People's Daily Online, interviewed Shi Yao, a staff member of the scenic spot

Where can I find the strong flavor of New Year? Naturally, it is an ancient city with strong historical and cultural charm! Yesterday (February 5), it was the first day of the first lunar month. The ancient city of Pingyao was full of lanterns and tourists. In the atmosphere of bustling northern New Year and rich cultural atmosphere of Shanxi merchants, everyone visited the ancient city, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, watched folk customs, tasted food, and experienced the strong flavor of the year.

Yingxunmen in Pingyao Ancient City

"Tourism+culture" helps upgrade the charm of the ancient city

Shi Yao, the office director of Pingyao Ancient City Scenic Area Management Co., Ltd., told reporters that this was the 30th Spring Festival she had spent with the ancient city. Since 2006, Pingyao China Year has been successfully held for 13 times. Over the past 13 years, Pingyao China Year has been a theme of one year, constantly integrating the industrial resources of "tourism+culture", which has not only enriched the festival cultural life of local people, but also attracted tourists from all over the country and the world. She said that the theme of the 2019 "Pingyao China Year" is "Welcome to Open Pingyao". In response to the call of Pingyao County, this year the company specially held a series of activities in Yingxunmen Square in the ancient city, "National Reunion Celebrates the Spring Festival and Happy Pingyao China Year", until the end of the 15th day of the first month.

It is understood that this series of activities will be divided into main venues and sub venues. The main venues and sub venues will jointly present dozens of performances and interactions, display the rich and colorful Shanxi folk customs, and bring tourists and citizens a different Spring Festival experience. During the event, the main venue will be non-stop during the day and night, and the activities include the five blessings in the day, the national reunion, the Chinese zodiac New Year celebration, the Chinese Indian noodle show, the old Pingyao bronze man show, the Pingyao courtesy and the night flash show.

"Fu", "Lu", "Shou", "Xi", and "Cai"

Live sculpture art performance, four old Pingyao bronze men interact with tourists on site.

The actors dressed up as cute puppets of the Chinese zodiac to show the tourists charming songs and dances.

Two national special first grade bakers held the "India bread throwing contest and Shanxi noodle throwing contest" on the spot.

The performers wear representative traditional costumes of all ethnic groups and perform representative dances on the spot.

Flash show at Yingxunmen Square at night

County Taiye Patrol Street

The county magistrate judges the case

Street View of Ancient City South Street with Crowded People

According to the effective data provided by Pingyao Ancient City Scenic Area Management Co., Ltd., as of 4:00 p.m. on February 5, 2019, the total number of people received in the ancient city during the Spring Festival of 2019 (February 5, 2019) was 5409, 2.17% on a year-on-year basis. Among them, 4230 people bought tickets, 19.39% on a year-on-year basis, and 1179 people were free of tickets, - 32.67% on a year-on-year basis.

Feel folk customs and inherit the essence of youth customs

The local culture of "Nian" in Pingyao is not so strong. The local people still follow the traditional folk customs passed down from their ancestors. Ms. Li, a native of Pingyao, told us that Pingyao people started the countdown of the Spring Festival just after entering the lunar month, and various festival customs also foreshadowed the coming of the Spring Festival step by step, such as eating popcorn on the first day of the lunar month, drinking Laba porridge on the eighth day of the lunar month, and worshipping gods. On the evening of the New Year's Eve, people will also use coal to make a small hollow tower, put firewood in it to light a fire, or symbolically put a piece of charcoal with the word "prosperous" on the red paper in the courtyard, which means that the new year is prosperous and happy. At the beginning of the first lunar month, the atmosphere of the New Year reached a climax, steaming steamed buns, making dumplings, setting off firecrackers, exchanging greetings between relatives and friends, and folk activities began All show a auspicious and festive Spring Festival, and the excitement will not slowly subside until after the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month.

After nightfall, the streets of the ancient city are brightly lit and crowded

Mr. Hou, a police officer who worked on the scene, told the reporter that it was usually the first day of the Spring Festival when the ancient city began to enter the tourist peak period. All the on-site duty personnel had to work from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, and only had a break during lunch time. He said that tolerance is the ancient city and the essence of Pingyao people's inheritance for thousands of years, because every year as the Spring Festival approaches, Pingyao people will decorate the ancient city beautifully to meet friends from all over the world. From the first day of the first lunar month, there will be many performances with local characteristics on the streets. At night, there will be a dazzling light show in the ancient city. The lanterns are versatile in shape and ingenious in design, which can dazzle people. They are full of the auspicious charm of the New Year. The crowds watching the lanterns are bustling, enjoying themselves, and sometimes they will exclaim. There will also be some other wonderful cultural activities in Pingyao Film Palace area, such as riddle guessing, acrobatics, amusement park, etc. Tourists can participate in them to experience and play, and a peaceful atmosphere for the New Year is floating over the ancient city.

In fact, most people are busy now. When the Spring Festival holiday comes, you might as well say goodbye to the noisy asphalt roads and oppressive concrete buildings in the city for a while, and find a thousand year old city. Look at the countless brick cracks on the walls of the ancient city, step on the flagstone path engraved with the history of the ancient city, and walk through the old door openings that are broken but still charming Listen to the old tune of telling the history of the ancient city, smell the strong fragrance of the old wine and vinegar in the ancient city, taste 108 local snacks with unique characteristics, see the interesting old objects with all the stories, look through the old books that no longer exude ink smell, and go back to the past through time and space. In this way, you can not only relax yourself, but also find a thick taste of New Year that you haven't seen for a long time! (Ren Yan)

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