Multiple events held at North Deity Ancient Temple fair

Now through April 25, a temple fair featuring a parade, specialty food and folk performances is being held at North Deity Ancient Temple and along Xixiang Pedestrian Street in Bao’an District to celebrate Sanyuesan, the third day of the third month in Chinese lunar calendar thatfalls on April 22 this year.

Children perform piaose at a previous North Deity Ancient Temple fair in Bao’an District. File photos

At noon today, the statue of the North Deity will be moved outside of the temple for a parade in which visitors can watch the Meiling piaose, lion dances and qilin dances.

In the Meiling piaose, which originated in Wuchuan City in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), child performers wearing heavy makeup and costumes, stand or sit on the iron shelving fixed on a decorated, wheeled cart.

The parade will start from Xixiang Park (西乡公园) and move past several historical sites, including Official Wang’s Ancestral Hall (王大中丞祠), the Xuantan Ancient Temple (玄坛古庙) and Qiyun Bookroom (绮云书室).

A pun choi feast will be held at 6 p.m. today on Zhenli Street (真理街). Pun choi, meaning “basin cuisine,” is a Cantonese dish served in large basins to facilitate the communal style of consumption. Pun choi includes a large variety of ingredients such as meat, seafood, bean curd and white radish.

North Deity Ancient Temple

During the temple fair which is a cultural feast worth experiencing, locals can watch puppet shows, local arts shows and Cantonese opera every afternoon and night in the square of the North Deity Ancient Temple, which was built in 1537 and refurbished in the 1990s.

Along Xixiang Pedestrian Street, foodies can have a bite of local snacks from 30 stalls at a market, in which they can try traditional milk tea, double-skin milk and other Guangdong desserts.

Sanyuesan is a festival during which ancient Chinese people worshipped gods or deities. In the Pearl River Delta, people celebrate the birth of the North Deity, one of the cosmological Five Forms of the Highest Deity.

Shenzhen’s Sanyuesan North Deity Ancient Temple fair was listed in the provincial intangible cultural heritage in 2022.

Parade: Noon, April 17

Food market: 2-10 p.m., through April 24

Performances: Afternoons and nights, through April 25

Venues: North Deity Ancient Temple and Xixiang Pedestrian Street, Bao’an District (北帝古庙和西乡步行街)

Metro: Line 1 to Pingzhou Station (坪洲站), Exit A