Folk culture in Gurao Town

The mass cultural activities in Gurao Town are active and large-scale. Especially during holidays, various cultural, artistic and sports activities are held and organized to invigorate people's cultural and entertainment life. There is an amateur literary and artistic creation team in the town, which is relatively active in literature, calligraphy and painting creation. People call it the little red flower at the foot of Xiaobei Mountain. They sometimes hold large-scale literary and artistic evening parties with relevant units, and sometimes the neighborhood committee sponsors calligraphy and painting collection exhibitions. During the Spring Festival of 1995, an exhibition of calligraphy and paintings collected by Zhang Yongli, Zhang Xiaobin, and Zhang Yingping was held, including masterpieces by famous calligraphers and painters from the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as contemporary artists. In May 1997, the "Exhibition of Calligraphy, Painting and Photography to Commemorate May 4th and Welcome the Return of Hong Kong" was held. 68 old, middle-aged and young authors participated in the exhibition, and 135 works were exhibited. During the Spring Festival of 2004, a photography exhibition by Chen Mingping and Zhang Haipeng was held.

In order to promote the development of cultural undertakings, the town contacted the Chaoyang Publicity and Culture Department and organized some writers to interview relevant enterprises in the town to report in depth on the development of rural enterprises and made special reports in newspapers and periodicals, reflecting the The development of large and medium-sized enterprises since the reform and opening up.

In terms of literary and artistic creation, the essays and novels of amateur writers Lin Xiangxiong and Zhang Yiying have emerged in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, and are well-known in the Chaoyang literary circle in eastern Guangdong. Lin Xiangxiong has published "The Soul of the Ancient City", "Footnotes of the Traveling Clouds and Waters", etc. Zhang Yiying's creation is in the ascendant, and she has published essay collections such as "Not Just Missing", "Three Crossroads of Life", and "Yesterday's Story". Among them, the essay "Father and Books" won the essay collection of the "Literary News" and "People's Daily" veteran bureau The first prize has also been awarded as the first prize for amateur creation by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles of Chaoyang Cultural Bureau for many consecutive years. The cultural activities in Gurao Town can be carried out actively because it has a mass creative team. In the amateur calligraphy and painting exhibition world, the more influential people, such as Zhang Yingping, Zhang Baosheng and Zhang Chuping of Shangbao, Huang Jianzhou, Zhang Songjin and Luo Ziqiang of Maoguang, Zhang Yingshun and Zhang Yingyao of Huaguang, etc., are all pioneers of cultural work in Gurao Town. group of people.

Gurao’s folk cultural activities will continue to develop in depth as time goes by. Several villages (residences) in the town regularly hold commemorative activities every ten years. By commemorating the anti-Yuan activities of Wen Tianxiang and other subordinates in the Southern Song Dynasty, they encourage the masses to promote national integrity and create two civilizations, and mobilize overseas Chinese at home and abroad to devote themselves. They sang and danced during the construction of their hometown. In April and December of 1998, 12 units in the five villages of the township held theatrical performances, with 13 male and female singing teams, 15 Chaozhou flute sets and large gongs and drums, and 20 dance teams performing on the streets. At the same time, Shaanxi, Liaoning, Guangxi, Fujian and cultural groups participated in the traveling performances, which was very popular for a while.

Gurao Town has a number of cultural activity sites such as a library, a cable TV station, and a cultural activity center for the elderly. Every village (residence) generally has a cultural room, and mass cultural activities are very active. There are 20 Ying Song and Dance Troupes in the town, among which the Dongdong Ming Ying Song Troupe participated in the Chaoyang Ying Song and Dance Festival in 1997 and received high praise for its performance; the Shangbao Second Village Youth Ying Song Troupe participated in the Chaoyang Spring Festival Parade in 1999; the Huaguang Youth Ying Song Troupe and the Gong and Drum Troupe Participated in Shantou City's 1999 Spring Festival Parade; Xianbo Junior Flute Music Team participated in Chaoyang's First Flute Music Competition and won second place; in 2003, teachers and students from the education system were organized to participate in the district's National Day cultural performance; from 2003 to 2004, the Youth Resistance Movement was held Will "create a big cup" Chinese chess competition.

The "2008 Folk Culture Festival" in Gurao Town evolved from the development of the Gurao Festival Society. It is said that the shrine dates back to the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 600 years. It was originally built to commemorate Wen Tianxiang and the sacrificed soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty.

There are many legends about Wen Tianxiang circulating in Gurao Town, Chaoyang District. According to legend, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yuan soldiers invaded. Right Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang organized his army in Chaoyang in an attempt to restore the country, and was captured in Haifeng County during the battle. The commander-in-chief Chen Yi colluded with the rebel general Zhang Hongfan and fought a bloody battle with the Song army at the foot of Xiaobei Mountain. Due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, most of the Song army died in this battle.

Ming Taizu named the soldiers who died in the Anti-Yuan War in the late Song Dynasty as "Marshals", and designated Chiliao (the old name of Gurao) and other villages adjacent to the Anti-Yuan battlefield in Guishan to regularly offer sacrifices to the soldiers who died that year. Gurao and others The festival was just started. Folks repaired the lonely tomb of the soldiers who died for the country in the late Song Dynasty, and called it the "Tomb of the Generalissimo of the Song Dynasty". All townships and ethnic groups paid homage to it in stages. According to research, there are nine Song tombs in Gurao and surrounding neighboring villages.