Activities in Ge Garden

Apart from the activities to celebrate festivals and holidays each year, Geyuan Garden also holds two cultural festivals on the themes of bamboo and salt merchants respectively, which have become the highlight of the brand of Geyuan Garden.

Chinese-style Group Wedding CeremonyGe Garden

Salt Merchants Cultural Festival of Geyuan Garden

Geyuan Garden held the first Salt-merchant-style group wedding ceremony on January 1st, 2014. The groom, clad in long robe and vest, traditional Chinese wedding outfit for grooms, rode a high horse walking through Donguan Street, leading a group of musicians playing suona (a traditional Chinese musical instrument) and a heavily-adorned sedan which carried his bride who was in a red robe and a phoenix-shaped coronet (as opposed to modern western-style wedding dress). After a series of ceremonies including stepping over a saddle, a flamed basin, bowing to ancestors, parents and to each other, removing the bridal veil, offering tea to each other’s parents, the young couple finished the most important ceremony in their lives. Such a well-arranged traditional Chinese style wedding ceremony gave participating couples an opportunity to experience the traditional Chinese wedding customs and etiquettes.

Chinese-style Group Wedding CeremonyGe Garden

This wedding ceremony linked Geyuan Garden, Fuyuan Garden and Donguan Street, faithfully reproducing the wedding scene of salt merchants in ancient times.

Chinese-style Group Wedding CeremonyGe Garden

Chinese-style Group Wedding CeremonyGe Garden

Chinese-style group wedding to experience the life of salt merchants at the Salt Merchant Cultural Festival (it is a folk custom to remove the bridal veil with a steelyard, conveying the prayer for everything going as wished).

Chinese-style Group Wedding CeremonyGe Garden

Celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival Celebrating the Chinese Spring FestivalGe Garden

Activities Celebrating Chinese Spring Festival (New Year)

During the Spring Festival holiday, Geyuan Garden holds many interactive activities and performances.

Spring Festival ActivitiesGe Garden

To steaming the festive atmosphere, the Spring Festival arranged four lanterns, with additional drought boats and a picking flower show. This is to show us how Yangzhou people celebrate traditional festivals in China.

Celebrating the Chinese Spring FestivalGe Garden

Lion Dance Performance

Celebrating the Chinese Spring FestivalGe Garden

Lion Dance Performance

Celebrating the Chinese Spring FestivalGe Garden

Dragon Dance Performance

Mid-Autumn Festival activitiesGe Garden

Activities Celebrating the Mid-autumn Festival

Staff of Geyuan Garden got together with local communities at the Mid-autumn Festival Gala “Let The Full-moon Witness Our Affection to Geyuan Garden”, which presented not only programs by professional performers of Geyuan Garden, but also those designed and performed by local people, let alone Taiwan-style programs which are quite rare in Yangzhou.

Mid-Autumn Festival activitiesGe Garden

Qingqu Performance from YangzhouGe Garden

Performance of Yangzhou Qingqu Ditty in Geyuan Garden

Yangzhou Qingqu ditty, with a history of hundreds of years, is one the first that were list as nation-level intangible cultural heritage. The “Song of Geyuan Garden Bamboo Branches” is a classic Qingqu ditty composed for the garden. Listening to this song that combines the life stores of salt merchants who lived in Geyuan Garden and the beautiful sceneries of four seasons here, one would have a fascinating experience as if travelling through 300 hundred years together with Geyuan Garden.

Pay Homage to Salt God Pay Homage to Salt God (2015)Ge Garden

Pay Homage to Salt Gods at the Salt Merchants Cultural Festival

The ceremony of paying homage to the Salt Gods reproduces the scene of salt merchants praying for favorable climate and prosperous business hundreds of years ago. Paintings of the three Salt Gods, namely, Susha, Jiaoge and Guan Zhong would be arranged at 9:30am right in front of the Mountain-embracing Building (Baoshan Lou), together with a stand on which incense burners and sacrifices are placed. Then a leader would show in a group of prayers, unveiling the ceremony of paying homage to the Salt Gods that was originated hundreds of years ago. By participating in the Salt-god-worshipping activities, tourists can get a clear picture of the entire process of ancient salt merchants paying homage to the Salt God during the Spring Festival, expressing their own best wishes for the upcoming Year of Goat.

Apart from the above-mentioned ceremony, there will be complimentary salt sachets with embellishment related to Geyuan Garden and salt merchants offered to tourists in front of the Mountain-embracing Building, hoping those who get the sachet would feel the company of happiness.

Pay Homage to Salt GodGe Garden

Pay Homage to Salt GodGe Garden

Experience the Life of Salt Merchants at the Salt Merchants Cultural Festival

With people’s increasing demand of quality life nowadays, tailor-made travels will become one of the trends of future tourism. Compared with traditional modes of tourism, customized tours would make sure the travelers enjoy the convenience of joining tour groups while having the freedom and space of a self-guided travel.

Based on the possible expectations of most tourists and the unique tourist features of Yangzhou, we’ve designed three customized product lines, namely, a salt-merchant-themed leisurely travel, a zen-themed peace-seeking tour and a regimen-themed health-promoting tour. For each product line, there are various options, every of which could also be modified based on the suggestions of travelers. The one to experience the life salt merchants would be the main one during the Salt Merchant Cultural Festival.

Activities for Celebrating the Dragon Boat FestivalGe Garden

Make Chinese sticky rice dumplings with ladies from the neighborhood at the Dragon Boat Festival

This is one of the charity activities held by Geyuan Garden. All the sticky rice dumplings made at the activity will be cooked and then delivered to impoverish families in the neighborhood.

Activities for Celebrating the Dragon Boat FestivalGe Garden

Apply realgar wine on body at the Dragon Boat Festival to fend off evils

Activities for Celebrating the Dragon Boat FestivalGe Garden

Pay homage to Qu Yuan at the Dragon Boat Festival

Yangzhou NGO eventGe Garden

Charity Activities by Yangzhou Volunteer League

It is hoped that these activities on the theme of charity publicity to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the founding of Yangzhou Volunteer League would enhance the influence of this organization as well as the development of charity activities in Yangzhou, attracting more attention to the disadvantaged groups such as impoverished students and the left-over elderly in Yangzhou city and its suburbs and bringing more compassionate people to the charity cause, and making doing charity a habit.

Local NGO eventGe Garden

Qingxi Wind Bell Festival (1818)Ge Garden

Wind Chime Festival at the Bamboo Cultural Festival of Geyuan Garden

During the festival period from April 4th to June 16th, Geyuan Garden will be adorned with almost 10,000 wind chimes in various forms and types, making sweet sounding music when the gentle breeze passes by. Based on the themes of culture, blessing and gratitude, this festival will bring people a cultural feast at the most beautiful season when the city is full of flowers.

Exhibition of Bowl Lotus (1818)Ge Garden

Exhibition of Bowled Lotus at the Bamboo Cultural Festival of Geyuan Garden

On July 10th, 2015, the Second Exhibition of Bowled Lotus Masterpieces on the theme of “Lotus Charm” was inaugurated as planned. More than 500 bowls of lotus blossoms in over 50 varieties were exhibited, showing the incomparable charm of lotus flowers against the backdrop of antique-style display stands, shelves as well as exquisite ornaments. By holding such an activity, Geyuan Garden created an interesting space for the tourists to interact with the garden.

Credits: Story

Ge Garden

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