Visit Hengdian Temple Fair during Spring Festival and celebrate the New Year with your hilarious senior

The debut of street performances featuring film and TV characters is well received by visitors

    “Fool, taste my stick!” The lively and mischievous Monkey King and his goofy partner Pigsy, dubbed the “wet-brother duo,” delivered a hilarious performance during the rehearsal of the street performance at the Hengdian Grand Temple Fair, drawing bursts of laughter from visitors.

    “Hengdian Grand Temple Fair: Seven Days of Joy During Spring Festival” is a major event themed around traditional New Year festivities launched by Hengdian World Studios, a national 5A-level tourist attraction, during the 2015 Spring Festival. Visitors can explore the temple fair, savor delicious food, step on golden bricks, receive red envelopes, and grab silver coins, truly immersing themselves in the folk culture, joy, and liveliness usually seen only in period dramas. As Asia’s largest film and television production base, Hengdian is home to over 5,000 background actors from across the country. Professional actors performing in street shows have undoubtedly become a highlight of the “Hengdian Grand Temple Fair.”

 

    As early as December last year, Hengdian World Studios launched a large-scale actor selection campaign for the street shows, with nearly 500 background actors participating in the audition for the temple fair street performances. Iconic roles from popular dramas such as the Monkey King, Wei Xiaobao, and Xiaolongnü became highly sought-after roles. After multiple rounds of selection, nearly 20 actors successfully secured performance opportunities at the temple fair, keeping visitors company during the New Year celebrations in Hengdian.

 

The first rehearsal appearance attracted a large crowd of visitors

    On January 15, at the rehearsal site in Hengdian Dream Valley, actors dressed in costumes and made up professionally brought to life a series of vivid characters for the first time in front of visitors. The joyful and hilarious monk Tang and his disciples, the dashing Four Great Scholars, the cool and handsome Xu Wenqiang, the absurdly funny Wei Xiaobao and Emperor Kangxi, and the “gorgeously ethereal” Xiaolongnü... A series of entertaining performances were delivered effortlessly, earning rounds of applause from the audience, who eagerly took photos with the film and TV characters. These actors, who had long played unnamed roles, finally had the chance to shine at the “Hengdian Grand Temple Fair”!

 

The main venue of the “Hengdian Grand Temple Fair,” Hengdian Dream Valley, is festively decorated

    The landscape decorations for the “Hengdian Grand Temple Fair” have already begun, with big red lanterns hung high. But the excitement of the grand temple fair goes far beyond that. This Spring Festival, Hengdian World Studios has spared no expense in preparing 2,015 good-luck gift bags, 10,000 cash red envelopes, 200,000 pure silver coins, and an 18.18-meter-long Golden Avenue to bring visitors daily “good fortune.” Additionally, an acrobatics team from Wuqiao, known as the “No.1 Acrobatics Village in the World,” will perform the millennia-old intangible cultural heritage feat of “Iron Flower Splashing,” allowing visitors to witness a spectacular display of fire and light. Furthermore, the Old Beijing Food Festival will offer dozens of authentic local delicacies such as tripe, sausage, dragon beard candy, and donkey rolling cake, treating visitors to a feast. A series of activities including the New Year Lantern Festival, the God of Wealth Welcoming Ceremony, and a revisit to the filming location of “Dragon Blade” ensure that you’ll be immersed in traditional festive atmosphere at every moment in Hengdian.