Families celebrate Spring Festival at Longtan Temple Fair

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It's the second day of the Chinese New Year, and the annual celebrations are in full motion. China's rich culture and traditions are on full display during the Spring Festival, and the Longtan Park Temple Fair is among those traditions.

The fair, going on for 35 years now, is part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. A temple fair, which originated from religious activities and is usually held at temples or adjacent locations, brings many families together to enjoy its attractions and festivities. This year, the Longtan fair has a snow sports arena with exhilarating ice activities for the young and old, a stage for cultural performances and plenty of food and drink stalls selling Beijing delicacies and other delicious snacks.

"We enjoy the traditional crafts, like the rabbit god figurines. My daughter is young, so it's necessary for her to absorb our traditional culture," one mother tells CGTN.

Others have commented on the interesting and evolving items you can now find at this fete. "At this year's fair, I've noticed vendors are putting more modern twists on traditional crafts, and this widens the selection of souvenirs you can buy. This is something we should appreciate," said another visitor.

This event not only attracts locals but numerous tourists too, including an American family, who was so excited to experience this festival, which coincided with their first day in China. "We want to experience the Chinese New Year and have some food. That's why we're here."

/CGTN photo

One of the highlights of this year's Longtan Park Temple Fair is the focus on the collaboration between three regions－Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing. To mark this, there are performances and elements that represent each of them. They have crosstalk and Kuai Ban which symbolizes Tianjin, the acrobatic shows for Hebei and a flower show for Beijing.

After watching some colorful folk dances, I caught up with one of the performers on the show from Shanxi. She goes on to tell us why it's so important to take part in these kinds of festivals. "It's important that we inherit the traditional arts and pass them on to the next generation, because it's something our ancestors did before us. I've been doing performances since I was a kid."

/CGTN photo

The Spring Festival has become one of the world's top five most celebrated festivals, so it should be on your bucket list to go to these kinds of fairs if you are ever in town. However, the only downside I would say there is to this event is, expect to be shoved around in the sea of thousands and thousands of people. And the lines to buy anything certainly test your patience.

Apart from that, what I've got out of this temple fair is that it gives families and friends a rare opportunity to come together, have loads of fun and above all spend quality time together during the most important holiday in China.