Part 2 – Cantonese Folk Culture 广府民俗

Kwongfu people 广府人 ancestry came from Central Plains migration into Panyu during the Song Dynasty and intermarried the aborigines of Lingnan area. Cantonese 广府 can broadly refer to the Yue language 粤语 spoken by the majority of the Guangzhou people. They were also one of the first concentration of diaspora from China to North America, Southeast Asia and the parts of the world. Today, Kwongfu people can be found all around the world.

Cantonese opera 粤剧

Cantonese opera 粤剧 is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in Guangdong Province. It was said that most of Tang and Song poetry was first crafted in a dialect that was similar to Cantonese or Minnan (dialect spoken in Fujian Province), so if you recite these classical poems in Cantonese (or Minnan), they actually sound better rhythmically and phonetically.

Starting School 入孔门

Paying formal respect to Confucius on entering a school was a tradition that was well-kept by all in Shenzhen. China was heavily influenced by Confucianism that “Respect for teachers and education” 尊师重教 was entrenched with every Chinese, even for me, a descendent of Chinese origin not born in China. Entering a school is considered to be entering the House of Confucius 入孔门

Lion Dancing 舞狮

Lion Dancing 舞狮 is another important Chinese tradition that has been passed down from generations and still practiced today. Lion dance troupe is invited to all happy occasions – celebrating the Lunar New Year, business opening, temple worships, etc.

Lions can be divided into Northern and Southern Lions. Southern Lions 南狮 predominates as it was spread by the Chinese diaspora communities who are historically mostly of South Chinese origin. Lion dance was traditionally associated with martial arts as it was the Dojo that hosted the lion dance troupes.

Ancestral worship 祭拜祖先

Ancestral worship 祭拜祖先 is the ultimate Chinese tradition, and the Southern Chinese does this with finesse and grandeur.

A full scale ancestral hall was built inside the Museum. The model was the Zeng Clan Ancestral Hall 曾氏大宗祠

Zeng Clan Ancestral Hall 曾氏大宗祠 is where the Zeng family worships ancestors and the Confucian sages. It is located in Shajing Street 沙井街道, Baoan District 宝安区.

Together with the Guanyin Tianhou Temple 观音天后庙, Gu Qiao Zeng Gong Temple 古乔曾公祠 and Wushu Hall 武术馆, it was an impressive complex of mid Qing Dynasty architecture. The time of its establishment is yet to be verified but some placed it at Song Dynasty. The current building was completed after a large scale renovation and expansion in the third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty 清嘉庆三年 (1798).

Xiasha Village Pencai “Feast in a basin” 福田下沙村盆菜

Pencai 盆菜 or Basin Feast is a popular practice among the Cantonese people in the Pearl Delta Region during the Chinese Lantern Festival 元宵节. The tradition came from the final days of the Southern Song Dynasty when the last Emperor Zhao Bing 赵昺 was offered a meal collected from the local people and put together in a big basin. When the emperor died in 1279, the locals commemorated the late emperor and the passing of the Song Dynasty by making Pencai.

Xiasha Pencai Feast 下沙大盆菜宴 is famous around the world. Every year, a grand feast is held at Huang Siming Ancestral Hall 黄思铭公世祠堂 where all the descendants of the Huang Clan will come together and partake the Pencai Feast. In 2002, they created a World Record by hosting 3,800 tables (40,000 participants) at the same time, making it the largest gathering of a community feast. The event was postponed during the Covid period, and hopefully this would come back soon.

There are at least 15 kinds of ingredients in the basin – oysters, chicken, duck, pork, deep fried fish, fried bean curd, dried bean curd sticks, arrowheads, dried eel, deep fried pork skin, wood fungus mushroom, shiitake mushroom, celery, radish and so on. Many foods are cooked separately, and then put into the basin layer by layer, and the top dish is often chicken and duck, which symbolises the phoenixes return to their nests 凤凰归巢. The radish and bean curd sticks are usually placed on the bottom to absorb all the flavours.