Xiangshan Festival Launches New Fishing Season

Xiangshan， a coastal county in the middle point of the coastline of Zhejiang Province， has every right to launch every fishing season by holding a 10-day long festival in September The county boasts a sea area of 6，618 km2 where there are three national nature reserves with fine ecology and abundant natural sources Fishing， a traditional pillar industry of the county’s economy， dates back to ancient times No wonder it took the initiative to start such a festival to launch the annual fishing season in 1998， Xiangshan has launched 13 annual fishing seasons and the preparations are now ready to launch the 14th in 2011， which is to start on September 6th through 16th

Over the past 14 years， the festival has grown to be the biggest event in Xiangshan and the State Tourism Administration has designated it as a key national tourism and culture event The sea， seafood， and local lifestyle and folk arts and crafts attract tour-ists Business opportunities in Xiangshan， a strategic spot in the economic powerhouse that is Zhejiang， attract investors

In recent years， the number of tourists has been increasing by 50% per year The number amounted to 735 million in 2010 Shanghai， just a stone’s throw away from Xiangshan on the map， pays close atten-tion to the shining pearl With the fishing festival and other similar events and rich local resources， Xiangshan is very attrac-tive to investors from the largest metropolis in eastern China Investors from Nanjing， Hangzhou， Wenzhou and Ningbo as well as Hong Kong， Taiwan and Macao also take strong interest in tourism development projects in Xiangshan

The Fishing Festival started in 1998 largely because by then China had adopted a three-month no-fishing period， but launching a fishing season dates back to centuries ago， as testified by the activities held at the modern launching ceremony A rite must be held to offer sacrifices to the sea， and then a special rite is held to bless all the fishing boats， and then a ceremony is held in honor of Matsu， a mama goddess worshipped for her blessing and protection in southern coastal provinces by all sailors and fishermen

Modern touches enrich the tradition at Xiangshan Fishing Festival Nowadays， the festival events include competitions for best fishing songs， best fishing people’s cloth-ing， and best photographs of the lifestyle of fishing people Moreover， traditional folk arts and crafts such as street parades， sing-ing in antiphonal style， fish lantern， dragon lantern， and horse lantern have been brought back Shows with these crafts and arts are big attractions at the festival

The Fish-ing Festival has grown with fine planning and government sup-port The govern-ment has formu-lated and issued a plan to protect folk art sources in the county Measures are now in place to protect his-torical streets and villages around Shipu Port， the center of Xiangshan’s fishing indus-try On the list of the county’s intangible cultural heritage are 105 items under government protection Shipu Town is now a national historical and cultural town

Shipu has close associations with Taiwan In 1955， over 400 residents of Yushan Village near Shipu Town crossed to Tai-wan， carrying the village Matsu statue to the island These resi-dents settled down in Taidong County in Taiwan Province and named their new settlement Lit-tle Shipu Today， Little Shipu has a population of 1，500 In 2007， people from Little Shipu brought the statue back to Xiangshan The statue from Little Shipu and the statue from Xiangshan were put on boats for a Matsu inspection tour on the sea Fishermen on the mainland knelt down and burnt incense in honor of the statue they saw for the first time in fifty years Since 2007， the statue from Little Shipu has come back to Xiangshan on the annual festival The two villages now have closer than ever ties □