The Ancient Hefangkou Pass Welcomes the Spring Festival Fair – A Strong New Year Atmosphere During the Little New Year

      From January 26 to 29, the four-day grand Hefangkou Ancient Pass Spring Festival Fair in HuaiBei Town was held. During the event, nine culinary heritage inheritors lit up nine big pots to cook the “Stove Blessing Rice” together. Traditional delicacies such as dumplings, pear soup, stiff dough steamed buns, braised pig’s trotters, and Pingquan lamb soup were served hot from the pots, welcoming the spring and praying for blessings. Hundreds of specialty foods from over 10 provinces and cities and local mountain produce were displayed in abundance; more than 10 types of traditional art and modern cultural and creative activities competed for attention; five well-known local performance troupes and over a hundred local villagers showed off their talents; powerful gongs and drums and folk flower parades created a lively atmosphere. This authentic rural Spring Festival carnival will lead visitors to gaze at the majestic presence of the “Ancient Great Wall Pass” and observe the bustling past and present of the “Ancient Path.”

      By 2019, after five years of trial and exploration, the Hefangkou Spring Festival Fair developed a unique style based on the Great Wall culture, reshaping the “Ancient Trade Route” and promoting “Rural Folk Customs,” gradually establishing itself as a distinctive cultural brand.

      The Hefangkou Ancient Pass is a shining pearl on the capital’s Great Wall cultural belt and is truly known as the “First Village Inside the Pass.” It features the unique “Narrow Tower” on the Great Wall, as well as the Stone Carvings of the Retired Official, the Hefang Fortress, the Gongyuan Residence, heroes like Qi Jiguang from the Ming Dynasty, and the renowned Confucian scholar Liu Qingtang from the late Qing Dynasty... Every relic carries the marks of history and the footsteps of the wise. When spring arrives, the solemn Great Wall comes alive with vigor—spring blossoms sprout and the warm sun rises, as if telling the magical story of this ancient village.

      In this magical village, sacred customs are passed down. Every year during the Hefangkou Fair, traditional rituals are followed to hold grand blessing ceremonies, giving Spring Festival couplets and good luck characters to villagers and tourists. Drumming is performed to worship the heavens, giving thanks for divine grace and praying for favorable weather and prosperity in the coming year. In 2019, the Hefangkou Ancient Pass Spring Festival Fair, while continuing the tradition of “gratitude and blessings,” invited visitors to gather, pray, and enjoy delicious food here, wishing both villagers and tourists a bountiful harvest and surplus every year in the new year.

Hefangkou is located on the southern section of the famous north-south “Beijing North Ancient Road,” an important trade route between ancient Central China and northern nomadic tribes.

To this day, Hefangkou remains an important trade hub connecting southern cities and northern mountainous areas. The Hefangkou Fair is the top choice for nearby villagers and tourists to buy New Year goods and experience the old charm of the frontier pass. Over the past five years, the fair has attracted more than 30 provinces nationwide and hundreds of specialty snacks for sale. Local specialties such as Hefangkou Red Crabapple and Dashuiyu Homemade Sausage are showcased here, alongside gift items like tea and red wine, as well as auspicious plush toys, red lanterns, and various New Year goods that dazzle visitors, ensuring they leave with full bags and happy hearts.

      At the foot of the Great Wall, beside the majestic ancient pass. The simple and tranquil rural charm of Hefangkou Village is what many city dwellers long for. The Hefangkou Spring Festival Fair takes “earthy” as its theme, perfectly blending traditional arts with a “down-to-earth” flavor and fun folk customs, presenting an authentic and rich rural cultural feast for the public.

      Peep-shows, blow-tangram performances, and other “Intangible Cultural Heritage” experiences, along with traditional programs like crosstalk, dragon and lion dances, lead visitors in a festive celebration. Visiting the fair becomes a journey through traditional folk culture: distant sounds of gongs and drums, astonishing street performances nearby, and before you know it, you're dancing along with the yangge team, or perhaps looking up to see exquisitely dressed “Miss Gao and Zhu Bajie” on stilts making funny faces at you, or stopping to enjoy a moment of crosstalk humor, or heading to the end to listen to melodious opera. Visitors and performers blend together, like a dream of rural culture, taking you back to a simple and innocent childhood.

      “The Flying General of Dragon City Guards the Vast Pass, the Ancient Path Connects and Gathers the Wise; The ‘First Village Inside the Pass’ Enjoys the New Year Spirit, the Charm of HuaiBei Fully Shines.” In the future, HuaiBei Town will continue to build on the momentum of the capital’s development of the Great Wall cultural belt and beautiful countryside initiatives, preserving the “earthy” style and the traditions of the “First Village Inside the Pass” of the Hefangkou Fair, promoting the “mutual sharing” spirit of the ancient path, and offering visitors the most “authentic-flavored” New Year celebration.