Bashu Folk Culture Village

Bashu Folk Culture Village

Bashu Folk Culture Village is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

Bashu Folk Culture Village is located in Lianglu Town, Yubei District, covering an area of 5 hectares. The main attractions in the village include one museum, four courtyards, one temple, and one memorial archway. The Bashu Folk Museum houses over 1,000 pieces of Chinese folk handicrafts, clothing, and other daily life items, with a focus on exhibiting over 250 wooden carvings that showcase distinctive folk craftsmanship, including family spirit shrines, hanging plaques, carved wooden beds, tables, chairs, and altars from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican period in the Bashu region. The "Four Courtyards" refer to four residential compounds of different styles and structures, each displaying various aspects of the ancient Ba people's "life rituals," such as birth ceremonies, weddings, birthday celebrations, funerals, and seasonal customs, as well as the production techniques of farming tools and artisan workshops. The Guanyin Ancient Temple showcases the ancient Ba people’s prayer activities and religious beliefs. The village also features a memorial archway for chastity and filial piety built in the 30th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty (1904). In addition, the village includes attractions and facilities such as a suspension bridge, square, lake, farmhouses, winding corridor tea garden, and folk culture street.

"Life Rituals" Series Exhibition

Four residential compounds of different styles and structures, each showcasing various aspects of the Bashu people’s "Life Rituals" series, including birth ceremonies, weddings, seasonal celebrations, birthday celebrations, funerals, as well as the production processes of farming tools and artisan workshops. Especially notable are 200 sculptures created and crafted by the renowned sculptor and associate professor Mr. Ye Ronghua, which bring the scenes to vivid life with lifelike figures, offering visitors an immersive experience.

First Courtyard: "Birth Ceremony" and "Wedding"

Birth Ceremony – Focuses on displaying key life stages of a newborn entering the world, including events such as the "Third-Day Bath," "Full Moon Celebration," "One-Year-Old Grabbing Test," "Starting School," and "Coming of Age."

Wedding – The wedding is the highlight of this courtyard, covering the entire process: matchmaking, engagement (also called “inserting the trunk”), betrothal gifts, setting the date, welcoming the bride, the wedding ceremony, and the bridal chamber. The "welcoming the bride" procession is particularly emphasized, stretching thirty meters long with thirty-six participants. Along the way, colorful flags wave, drums and music fill the air, creating a lively scene as the procession moves along the rural road, with the background of a large landscape oil painting depicting pastoral scenery adding to the festive atmosphere. The wedding ceremony and bridal chamber scenes are entirely arranged with simulated carved figures following traditional wedding customs, appearing realistic and grand.

Second Courtyard: "Birthday Celebrations" and "Seasonal Customs"

Birthday Celebrations – Divided into three types: full-decade birthdays, regular birthdays, and major birthdays. Full-decade refers to birthdays at ten-year intervals; regular birthdays are for non-round ages; major birthdays refer to turning sixty. In the past, the birthdays of emperors and nobles were especially grand, but common people also placed great importance on their sixtieth birthday. The birthday hall displayed here is arranged according to the specifications of a sixtieth birthday celebration.

Seasonal Customs – Mainly displays the customs of the three major festivals throughout the year:

Spring Festival: As the Spring Festival approaches, families butcher the New Year’s pig and prepare New Year’s goods. In the main hall, the whole family gathers to enjoy the Reunion Dinner before the family spirit shrine, celebrating the New Year with three generations together. The Spring Festival period lasts from the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a full half-month during which people are immersed in joy. Activities such as dragon dances, lion dances, viewing lanterns and boats are important forms of celebration. After the Lantern Festival, all paper-crafted decorations are burned to ashes and float into the sky, symbolizing the "sending off of the old year."

Dragon Boat Festival: The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. The ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan, loyal and devoted to his country, was exiled due to slander and, in anger, drowned himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Later generations commemorate Qu Yuan by eating zongzi and racing dragon boats. The exhibit displays two dragon-shaped decorative boats and murals illustrating the story.

Mid-Autumn Festival: The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Since the moon is roundest on this day of the year, it is also known as the Reunion Festival. Key activities include making glutinous rice cakes, enjoying the moon at night with family, eating mooncakes, watching the "moonlight halo," and waiting for the "Heavenly Gate to Open."

Third Courtyard: "Funeral"

Since the Zhou Dynasty established funeral rites, the tradition of lavish burials has continued for thousands of years from the imperial court to the common people, forming a complete set of rituals. The duration of mourning varies: nine times nine, or eighty-one days for the emperor; seven times seven, or forty-nine days for high-ranking officials; and among commoners, thirty-five days, twenty-one days, seven days, five days, or three days depending on financial means. The scale of the ceremonies, the number of ritual implements, the intricacy of the paper offerings, and the complexity of the rites surpass those of any funeral tradition in the world. This courtyard is arranged to replicate a medium-sized family’s seven-day Taoist memorial service, including soul-liberation rituals, various paper offerings, hanging banners, and ceremonial screens. The scale and form are rarely seen today and hold reference value for studying history and funeral customs of the olden days.

Fourth Courtyard: Farming Tools and Artisan Workshops

This courtyard partially displays some outdated or still-used farming tools and the production processes of artisan workshops. Items are displayed in sequence, including the "blacksmith’s forge," grain hulling and rice sifting, spinning, weaving, grass shoe-making, and dyeing with a cloth-stamping stone. Among them, the small sesame oil mill, the liquor distillery, and the traditional bean paste workshop offer live demonstrations, and visitors can also purchase authentic Bashu-style small sesame oil, traditional bean paste, and aged Bashu liquor on the spot.