Celebration Hall Gathering: Old Beijing Birthday Celebration Customs

Author: Chang Renchun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-10-01
Features: Looking at the global publishing industry, while third-world countries like China are striving to introduce books on Western science, technology, cultural entertainment, etc., Western countries have also developed a strong interest in the history and culture of many developing countries, including China. The popularity of books on traditional Chinese culture at the Frankfurt Book Fair over the years proves this point. This book focuses on the birthday celebration customs and grand hall ceremony rituals in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican period. Life ceremonies, especially the joyful ones, mainly include weddings and birthday celebrations, with grand hall ceremonies generally reserved for birthdays. As they are grand occasions in red and joyful events, they are called celebratory grand hall ceremonies, which are actually a form of social performance, including drama and quyi (traditional Chinese musical drama). This book not only systematically introduces different forms of birthday celebrations, such as poor birthday, child birthday, and ghost birthday, as well as their preparation, procedures, and etiquette, but also provides detailed explanations of the organization, play arrangements, content, and rituals of the two types of grand hall ceremonies. In addition to birthday celebratory grand hall ceremonies, this book also covers other types of grand hall ceremonies, such as god-rewarding ceremonies, group banquets, and brothel-opening ceremonies. The book also includes traditional lyrics used in celebratory grand hall ceremonies for enthusiasts to sing along.