SUIZHOU, China, May 23, 2025 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--
A grand ancestral worship festival in the hometown of Chinese Yan Emperor was held in Suizhou, central China's Hubei Province, on May 23.
This year's festival, highlighted by sophisticated ritual music, seeks to create a national-level sacrificial ceremony rooted in cultural traditions and showcasing the spirit of the times.
On the morning of May 23, the Lieshan Ancestral Worship Square was filled with the rumble of drums and the melodious chimes of bells. Worship guests formed neat lines and, guided by the ceremonial procession, the grand ceremony to pay homage to Yan Emperor Shennong began in a solemn atmosphere.
The lunar April 26 of each year marks the birthday of Yan Emperor Shennong. This year, Suizhou launched an online co-sacrifice initiative, innovatively using digital technologies such as AI interaction with Yan Emperor and virtual candle-lighting and flower-offering, which allows Chinese descendants at home and abroad to participate in the ceremony in real time and offer blessings online.
The festival, organized by the People's Government of Suizhou City, was inaugurated in 2009 and the Suizhou Shennong sacrificial ceremony was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2011. It has become a landmark cultural event demonstrating the long-standing Chinese civilization, a spiritual symbol highlighting the unyielding spirit of the Chinese nation, and a bridge uniting Chinese worldwide.
The festival was co-hosted by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the Association for Yan Huang Culture of China, and the People's Government of Hubei Province.
Exchange and cooperation platforms themed around special-purpose vehicles, emergency response, cultural communication and cultural and tourism promotion were also organized during the event, with an aim to boost the introduction of investment projects and promote characteristic products and services to the world.
Source: The People's Government of Suizhou City
