Introduction: A Millennium of Interweaving Among Temple, Market, and Community
Temple fairs are a composite folk phenomenon of long history and extraordinarily broad reach in Chinese society. Their origins can be traced to the community sacrifices of the pre-Qin era and to temple worship following the introduction of Buddhism in the Han dynasty. During the Tang and Song periods, they gradually took shape amid the growth of a commodity economy and the secularization of religion, reaching their zenith in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and since the late Qing and Republican eras they have continuously adapted through social change. Taking time as its axis and drawing on the perspectives of folklore studies, history, and anthropology, this article examines how temple fairs fused periodic markets, shehuo performances, and popular belief into a single spatiotemporal field; it analyzes their organizational mechanisms, economic functions, ritual symbolism, and role in community integration, and discusses the contemporary circumstances of temple fairs as intangible cultural heritage and their possibilities for transformation.
1. From Community Sacrifices to Temple Fairs: The Early Origins of the Temple Fair
The formation of the temple fair did not stem from a single source; rather, it was the result of the long interweaving of pre-Qin community sacrifices, Han-dynasty temple offerings, and Buddhist dharma assemblies from the Northern and Southern Dynasties onward. In the pre-Qin period, the she was the god of the soil, and establishing an altar to sacrifice to it was the core public activity of the settlement community. The Book of Rites, in the "Chapter on Sacrificial Laws," records that "grandees and those below formed altars in groups," and the community sacrifice served both to pray for a good harvest and to give thanks, as well as to hold gatherings, and may be regarded as the earliest ritual and economic prototype of the temple fair. In the Zhou dynasty, the "spring sacrifice" and "autumn sacrifice" were held separately in spring and autumn: the spring sacrifice prayed for grain, the autumn sacrifice gave thanks for the harvest, and after the rites there were feasting, song and dance, and exchange of goods, forming a tradition of periodic gatherings. The Book of Songs, in "Xiaoya: Futian," contains the line "With our purified millet, and with our sacrificial sheep, we sacrifice to the she and to the fang," reflecting the scale of sacrificial animals and assembled crowds at community sacrifices. In the Han dynasty, as Buddhism spread eastward, Buddhist temples installed images and conducted incense processions, and on the eighth day of the fourth month, the Buddha's birthday, they held bathing-the-Buddha assemblies that drew crowds of people, and spontaneously formed markets in front of the temples. The "Biography of Tao Qian" in the Book of the Later Han, in its annotation quoting the Book of Wu, mentions that Ze Rong "erected a great stupa temple" in Xuzhou, where the bathing-the-Buddha ceremony provided food, and those who came to eat numbered ten thousand, showing that early Buddhist activities already had the character of popular assemblies. Yang Xuanzhi of the Northern Wei, in his Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang, records that at Jingming Temple in Luoyang on the eighth day of the fourth month, "Buddhist music and dharma sounds shook heaven and earth," and gentlemen and ladies watched and listened, with carriages and horses filling the roads, already revealing the combination of temple, market, and entertainment.
The Tang and Song periods were the crucial stage in which the temple fair took definitive shape. In the Tang dynasty, temples' popular lectures and theatrical grounds opened to city dwellers, and Chang'an's Great Ci'en Temple and Jianfu Temple became nodes for sightseeing and trade. Duan Chengshi's Youyang Zazu, continuation volume five, records that Chang'an's theatrical grounds were mostly gathered at Ci'en Temple, where scholars and commoners watched and listened, showing that Buddhist temples had become public entertainment spaces. In the Northern Song, the Xiangguo Temple in Bianjing opened "trade for all the people" five times a month. According to volume three of the Record of Dreams of the Eastern Capital, the central courtyard and the two side corridors could hold ten thousand people, and there was nothing that could not be found—hundreds of crafts and skills, rare birds and exotic beasts, books and curios. This formed the mature form of the periodic temple market. The trading areas of Xiangguo Temple were clearly divided: at the Great Three Gates were rare birds and exotic beasts; at the Second and Third Gates were all manner of practical goods; near the Buddha Hall were the brushes of Zhao Wenxiu and the ink of Pan Gu; and the rear corridor was all books, curios, and paintings. On each day of the vegetarian assembly, merchants gathered in clouds and dispersed only at dusk. In the Southern Song, Lin'an's West Lake incense market and the temple fairs of the major monasteries were equally flourishing. Wu Zimu's Record of the Millet Dream, volume nineteen, records that on the eighth day of the fourth month the temples bathed the Buddha, and "on West Lake the release-life pond gathered monks and nuns from all the temples, each holding scriptures and chanting," while visitors thronged. By this time the temple fair had evolved from a purely religious observance into a public gathering combining faith, commerce, and amusement.
It is worth noting that the rise of Tang and Song temple fairs was closely related to the collapse of the ward-market system and the opening of urban living space. Before the Tang dynasty, commerce was restricted to official ward markets, and temples, as relatively open spaces, provided a breakthrough for commodity exchange. In Northern Song Bianjing, the phenomenon of "encroaching on the streets" was widespread, and the government ultimately yielded to the times and allowed shops to open along the streets, whereupon the interiors and exteriors of temples became the most vibrant commercial nodes. Xiangguo Temple not only sold goods but was also a place for literati gatherings, storytelling and history recitation, and fortune-telling and physiognomy. According to volume five of the Record of Dreams of the Eastern Capital, within Xiangguo Temple "all the gates had beggars," and there were also stalls for "selling divinations" and "character analysis." Its composite functions laid the basic pattern for later temple fairs. In the Southern Song, volume three of the Old Affairs of Wulin records that Lin'an's temples "on the first and fifteenth of each month held assemblies," where gentlemen and ladies burned incense and there was also a market, showing that temple and market had become highly integrated in space. Although the Yuan dynasty was ruled by Mongol nobles, the temple fair tradition was not interrupted; the temple fairs of the White Cloud Temple and the Eastern Peak Temple in Dadu (present-day Beijing) continued, and because of north-south exchange they absorbed skills from various regions, preparing the conditions for the flourishing of temple fairs in the Ming and Qing.
2. The Regional Pattern and Typological Differentiation of Temple Fairs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
The Ming and Qing dynasties were the heyday of temple fair development, and both their regional distribution and their typological differentiation were extremely pronounced. North China had the highest density of temple fairs, centered roughly on the capital and radiating outward to Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, forming a network of temple fairs focused on deities such as Bixia Yuanjun, Lord Guan, the Medicine King, and the Dragon King. The temple fairs of the Beijing City God Temple and the Bixia Yuanjun Temple were the grandest. In the Ming dynasty, Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng's Brief Account of the Scenery of the Imperial Capital records that on the eighteenth day of the fourth month, the birthday of Bixia Yuanjun, pilgrims gathered from inside and outside the capital, tea sheds and opera stages stretched for several li along the route, and various entertainments such as "stilt walking" and "yangge" accompanied the procession. In the Jiangnan region there were temple fairs at the Xuanmiao Temple in Suzhou, the Zhaoqing Temple in Hangzhou, and the Confucius Temple in Nanjing, which, relying on a developed market-town economy, had an even stronger commercial flavor. By the Ming dynasty, the Xuanmiao Temple in Suzhou was already a place of "a jumble of varied entertainments, with visitors like weaving threads." According to volume two of Annual Splendors of Wu Commandery, within the temple in the first month there was a "Spring Welcoming Festival Assembly," in which the various trades paraded in groups and stalls were set up for trade. North China also had many associations centered on Medicine King temples, Lord Guan temples, and Dragon King temples, closely coordinated with the agricultural calendar, such as the Medicine King Temple fair in Anguo, Hebei, and the Lord Guan Temple fair in Xiezhou, Shanxi, both of which became grand ceremonies of their regions.
In terms of type, temple fairs can broadly be divided into two categories: religion-led and market-led. Religion-led fairs centered on the birthdays of gods and Buddhas and on prayers, exorcisms, and vows fulfilled, such as the pilgrimage processions of the Miaofeng Mountain temple fair in Beijing, where believers formed incense societies and performed along the way, with a very strong ritual character. Market-led fairs relied more on temple spaces to display and sell goods, such as the Longhua temple fair in Shanghai and the Xiangguo Temple fair in Kaifeng during the Republican period, where the trading function even overshadowed the sacrificial content. In addition, there were temple fairs related to particular trades, such as Medicine King temple fairs that also served as markets for medicinal materials. The Medicine King Temple fair in Anguo, Hebei, had been a nationwide distribution center for medicinal materials since the Ming dynasty; in spring and autumn each year, medicine merchants from all over the country gathered there, and it was known as the "medicine capital." This differentiation reflects the characteristic that the functions of temple fairs were constantly adjusted in accordance with the social and economic environment. Market-led temple fairs were often presided over by local chambers of commerce or temple managers, who collected ground rent and stall fees, forming a set of commercial management conventions.
Taking Beijing as an example, in the Qing dynasty temple fairs were numerous and their cycles varied. According to documents such as Annual Records of Yanjing, Collected Statutes and Precedents of the Great Qing, and the Republican-era Survey of Temple Fairs in Beiping, there were temple fairs on fixed dates every month, such as the third, thirteenth, and twenty-third at the Earth God Temple; the fourth, fourteenth, and twenty-fourth at the Flower Market; the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth at the White Pagoda Temple; the sixth, sixteenth, and twenty-sixth at the Huguo Temple; and the seventh, seventeenth, and twenty-seventh at the Longfu Temple. This rotating arrangement ensured that there was a market to attend every day inside and outside the city, which both made it convenient for residents to make purchases and helped vendors set up stalls in rotation. The temple fairs at Longfu Temple and Huguo Temple were especially famous for antiques, bookstalls, and snacks, while the White Pagoda Temple had more wooden wares and silk fabrics. During temple fairs, in addition to fixed shops, large numbers of itinerant vendors, acrobats, and storytellers gathered, forming temporary bustling commercial districts. In the late Qing, the Dianshizhai Pictorial repeatedly depicted the grand scenes of the Jing'an Temple fair and the Longhua temple fair in Shanghai; in the images one can see that new-style entertainments such as peep shows and circuses had already been integrated into the traditional temple fair space.
3. Shehuo and the Hundred Entertainments: Performance Traditions at Temple Fairs
Shehuo is the most visually striking and communally participatory performance activity at temple fairs, its origins traceable to the winter sacrifice of the pre-Qin era and the hundred entertainments of the Han dynasty. After the Song dynasty, shehuo gradually merged with temple fairs and became an important component of the processions held to welcome the gods. Shehuo goes by different names in different regions: in the north it is mostly called "shehuo" or "nao honghuo" (making a lively stir), while in the south there are forms such as "you shen" (god procession), "piaose" (floating pageantry), and "taige" (raised pavilions). The performances encompass stilts, land boats, dragon dances, lion dances, yangge, waist drums, raised pavilions, and back-carried poles, and are typically organized by individual village communities, parading along set routes and assembling in the plaza before the temple to present their skills. The shehuo of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hebei are especially renowned. The customs section of the Shanxi Provincial Gazetteer from the Qing dynasty records of Taiyuan Prefecture: "On the fifteenth day of the first month, the city lights lanterns, the countryside dresses up shehuo, with drum music leading the way, paying visits to all the temples." The core function of shehuo is to repay the gods and entertain the people through bodily performance, while simultaneously reinforcing identity and rivalry among village communities.
The organization of shehuo is usually based on the "she" (community association) as a unit, with each she responsible for one or several performances, the expenses shared among the households within the she or raised by the association head. Each she has a fixed order in the temple fair procession, first paying respects with incense at the main temple, then performing along the streets. In the Jinzhong area of Shanxi, the "taige" shehuo fixes children onto iron frames, dressed as opera characters, carried aloft by several people, reaching several meters high, appearing from a distance as if standing in midair; the display of skill and financial resources often becomes a symbol of village honor. Performances such as "lahua" and "fan drum" in Wu'an and Jingxing in Hebei are likewise transmitted through their attachment to temple fairs. The organization and performance of shehuo assumed multiple functions in traditional society: community mobilization, intergenerational transmission, and public entertainment. The drummers, flag bearers, and performers in shehuo troupes mostly participated voluntarily, and the assignment of roles often corresponded to family and neighborhood, forming an informal social order.
During temple fairs, in addition to shehuo, there were rich performances of narrative singing and opera. The "shuohua" (storytelling) and "zhugongdiao" (all-modes medley) from the Tang and Song dynasties onward were mostly performed at temple fair theater grounds, and the development of Jin-Yuan zaju drama also benefited from temple stage performances. Shanxi preserves a large number of Jin and Yuan dynasty stages, such as the stage at the Niuwang Temple in Weicun, Linfen (twentieth year of the Zhiyuan era, 1283), and the troupe paintings in the murals of the Yongle Palace in Ruicheng, both closely related to temple fair sacrifices. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, opera performances at temple fairs became a fixed practice, and many temples built permanent stages facing the main hall, forming a spatial arrangement of "sacrifice to the gods—opera performance—gathering of crowds." The incense association performances at the Miaofeng Mountain temple fair in Beijing included "five-tiger cudgel," "road-opening," "central banner," and "double stone," each with its own association rules and lineage of transmission. In the late Qing and Republican periods, Peking opera, pingju, and bangzi and other local opera troupes often set up stages at temple fairs, making temple fairs one of the most important channels for the dissemination of folk opera.
4. Folk Beliefs and the Ritual Structure of Temple Fairs
The core driving force of temple fairs is folk belief, and its ritual structure constitutes the temporal rhythm and spatial order of the fair. Temple fair dates are mostly related to the birthdays of deities, their days of enlightenment, or traditional seasonal nodes—for example, the birthday of Bixia Yuanjun is the eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month, that of Lord Guan is the thirteenth day of the fifth month, and that of the Medicine King is the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month. Different localities also hold spring and autumn sacrifices depending on the deity. Preparatory work before the fair includes cleaning the temple, posting notices, inviting incense societies, and setting up tea sheds and opera stages, often beginning half a month to a full month in advance. The fair chief and temple keeper oversee coordination, while believers prepare incense, candles, offerings, and donations. On the day of the fair, incense-bearing processions advance along established routes, with incense tables for "welcoming the deity" set up along the way, forming a temporary sacred passage. This superimposition of ritual space onto everyday commercial space is precisely the fundamental characteristic that distinguishes temple fairs from ordinary markets.
Incense offering and vow fulfillment are the most widespread devotional acts at temple fairs. Believers, whether praying for blessings or repaying vows, often travel in groups known as "incense societies." The incense societies of the Miaofeng Mountain temple fair in Beijing are tightly organized, including the "Road-Opening Society," "Five Tiger Cudgel Society," "Central Banner Society," and "Lion Society," each with its own chief, rules, and performance repertoire. According to Gu Jiegang's 1925 book Miaofeng Mountain, incense societies set up "Porridge and Tea Societies," "Street Lamp Societies," and "Mat and Canopy Societies" along the route, providing free porridge, tea, street lamps, and mat shelters for pilgrims, embodying the spirit of mutual aid and public welfare within folk belief. Gu Jiegang's investigation is regarded as the beginning of modern Chinese folklore field research, and his "Special Issue on Pilgrimage to Miaofeng Mountain" recorded in detail the organization of incense societies, pilgrimage routes, and ritual processes. In the south, such as in Fujian and Guangdong, "deity procession" activities involve carrying the divine image out of the temple to patrol the territory, with "circumambulation of the realm" symbolizing the deity's inspection of the jurisdiction, expulsion of evil spirits, and assurance of peace. Although the ritual structure differs from northern incense societies, the logic of the sacred procession is the same.
The symbolic signs in temple fair rituals deserve close examination. Incense, candles, paper money, offerings, the deity's palanquin, banners, and drum music constitute a complete symbolic system. Incense smoke symbolizes communication between the divine and the human realm, paper money symbolizes offerings to spirits and gods, the palanquin procession symbolizes the deity's presence and authority, and drum music creates a sacred atmosphere and coordinates the rhythm of movement. Many temple fairs also retain divination activities such as "throwing divination blocks," "drawing lots," and "consulting the deity," through which believers obtain oracles. During temple fairs, opera performances are often interpreted as "entertaining the gods," but the actual audience is the people. This dual orientation of "sacred and secular" is precisely the source of the temple fair's enduring vitality. The taboos and norms within rituals—such as fasting before offering incense and the prohibition on women entering temples during menstruation—though fading with the changes of the times, remain important clues for understanding the belief logic of traditional temple fairs.
5. The Economic Functions of Temple Fairs and Community Integration
Temple fairs were an important form of periodic market in traditional Chinese society, and their economic functions cannot be overlooked. The goods offered at temple fair markets were extremely varied, ranging from farm tools, seeds, cloth, and medicinal materials to snacks, toys, and books, covering almost everything needed for daily production and life. The cycle of temple fairs was highly attuned to the agricultural calendar: before spring plowing there were "spring fairs" supplying farm tools and seeds, and after the autumn harvest there were "autumn fairs" for trading surplus grain and local products, forming a logistics network synchronized with the rhythms of agriculture. The Temple Fair of the Medicine King in Anguo, Hebei, the Baiquan Medicine Fair in Henan, and the Zhangshu Medicine Trade Fair in Jiangxi were all national centers for the distribution of medicinal materials, with fair periods lasting more than ten days and enormous transaction volumes. Temple fairs also stimulated related industries such as inns, food and drink, transport, and performance, forming temporary industrial chains.
The commercial organization of temple fairs was mostly managed jointly by merchant associations, temple trustees, and guilds. Stall allocation, taxation, public order, and dispute mediation all followed established conventions. Vendors at Beijing temple fairs were divided by trade into different zones, such as the book stalls at Longfu Temple and the jade stalls at Huguo Temple, forming specialized trading spaces. During temple fairs, officials often sent troops to maintain order and levied a "ground rent." In the late Qing and Republican periods, with the rise of modern department stores and transportation networks, the commercial function of temple fairs weakened somewhat, but in villages and small to medium-sized towns, temple fairs remained an irreplaceable trading platform. According to surveys from the Republican period, the transaction volume of temple fairs in many county towns in North China accounted for more than thirty percent of the year's total commodity circulation, which sufficiently demonstrates their economic importance.
The social integration function of temple fairs was equally notable. Temple fairs provided a space for interaction among different social classes and different villages. Believers formed a temporary public sphere of opinion through incense offerings, opera watching, and trading. The mutual aid activities of incense societies, such as distributing porridge, providing tea, repairing roads, and lighting lamps, strengthened community mutual aid networks. Temple fairs were also occasions for the display of folk authority, as fair leaders, incense heads, and opera troupe leaders gained prestige through organizing activities. Women's participation in temple fairs was especially prominent; offering incense, watching opera, and shopping allowed them to temporarily step out of the domestic space and enter the public sphere. Temple fairs thus became a rare public space in traditional society that crossed class, gender, and regional boundaries, and their function of accumulating social capital still resonates today.
6. Modern and Contemporary Transformation and the Context of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection
Since the late Qing and the Republican period, temple fairs have undergone repeated shocks and transformations. The New Policies of the late Qing and the anti-superstition movement of the early Republic regarded temple fairs as "superstition" and "waste," and some temples were converted into schools, police stations, or markets. In 1928, the Ministry of the Interior of the Nationalist Government promulgated the Standards for the Preservation or Abolition of Shrines, and many temple fairs were consequently suspended or reduced in scale. During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, social upheaval caused temple fairs to decline generally. After the 1950s, temple fairs were once characterized as feudal remnants, but small-scale spontaneous folk temple fairs continued in the countryside. After the reform and opening up, temple fairs revived rapidly and took on new forms. Temple fairs at the Temple of Earth, Longtan Lake, and White Cloud Temple in Beijing resumed and became brands of Spring Festival cultural activities.
The revival of contemporary temple fairs was accompanied by the establishment of the intangible cultural heritage protection system. In 2006, the Miaofeng Mountain Temple Fair, the Changdian Temple Fair, and others were included in the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list. Since then, temple fairs in various places have applied for intangible cultural heritage status, and temple fair research has expanded from folklore studies to tourism studies, economics, and urban planning. The function of contemporary temple fairs has shifted from purely belief and trade to cultural performance, tourism consumption, and community building. The Changdian Temple Fair in Beijing features curios, snacks, and folk performances, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each Spring Festival; the Longhua Temple Fair in Shanghai combines the religious activities of Longhua Temple with folk sales exhibitions; and the Meizhou Mazu Temple Fair in Fujian, relying on Mazu worship customs, has become a platform for cross-strait cultural exchange. The organizers of temple fairs have changed from traditional fair heads and temple trustees to joint governance by the government, enterprises, and social organizations.
The contemporary transformation of temple fairs has also brought new problems. Excessive commercialization may dilute the meaning of rituals, and standardized tourism performances may replace spontaneous shehuo. How to strike a balance between protecting the core of belief and adapting to modern life is the core issue in the inheritance of temple fairs. The academic community generally believes that the vitality of temple fairs lies in their communality and periodicity; if they are detached from the daily practices of believers and exist only as tourism products, they will be difficult to sustain. In recent years, some places have tried to combine temple fairs with rural construction and craft inheritance, such as bringing Shanxi shehuo into schools and reviving the temple fair medicine market in Hebei, achieving certain results. The value of temple fairs as public space is being rediscovered.
Conclusion
The history of temple fairs shows that they were by no means purely religious activities or commercial markets, but rather composite public spaces that emerged spontaneously within Chinese society. From the she sacrifices of the pre-Qin period to the temple markets of the Tang and Song dynasties, from their peak in the Ming and Qing to their transformation in modern times, temple fairs have always sought a dynamic balance among faith, economy, and entertainment. They have served both the spiritual needs of individuals and the functions of community integration, information circulation, and the exchange of goods. The periodic recurrence of temple fairs has made them important nodes in the temporal and spatial order of traditional society.
In the contemporary context, the value of temple fairs needs to be reexamined. As intangible cultural heritage, the protection of temple fairs should focus not only on preserving performance forms, but even more on their organizational mechanisms and community participation. Future research and practice concerning temple fairs might focus more on the relationships between temple fairs and local identity, temple fairs and rural revitalization, and temple fairs and urban public cultural services. Only by respecting their internal logic of belief and their communal foundations can temple fairs continue to sustain their unique significance as public spaces in a rapidly changing society.