Dongtou is one of the fourteen island areas in China. Due to the influence of the living environment, Chen Yuanguang, Chen’s 14th, Yang Liulang, Mazu, Xiaopu Baima Temple lantern and many other faiths and customs have a very broad believer base and a relatively strong belief culture in Dongtou, and the island folk culture is distinctive. Dongtou District Government actively guides, insists on giving full play to the positive role of folk customs, and gradually promotes the integration and development of folk customs culture with Dongtou’s blue ocean strategy and eco-tourism concept. By excavating and upgrading folk customs culture, it enriches the tourism connotation of Dongtou culture and promotes the optimization and upgrading of marine tourism industry.
First, based on the characteristics of the island, it has obvious advantages in developing “blue+folk customs” tourism. For a long time, Dongtou District has consciously developed and promoted tourism festivals with folk characteristics, and gradually formed a region-wide linkage mode, which is led by the district government, with folk belief sites with more believers, greater influence and standardized site management as the carrier, with the cooperation of propaganda, cultural tourism, folk religion and other departments, the active cooperation of folk organizations such as Mazu Cultural Exchange Association and Chen Jinggu Cultural Friendship Association, and the participation of voluntary organizations and religious believers at all levels in the district. Dongtou District takes Dongping Street as the main position, highlighting the fisherman’s customs. During the Qixi Festival, the Qixi Folk Customs Festival has been successfully held for ten times, and the activities gradually cover special projects such as adult ceremony, youth friendship, traditional manual experience and water lanterns. Since 2010, the Mazu Peace Festival with the theme of “Celebrating Mazu and Sharing Peace” has been held every year on the 23rd of the third lunar month. In 2018 and 2019, this activity was included in the excellent traditional culture series of “Folk Custom-Colorful Zhejiang” for two consecutive years, and it has formed a certain brand effect in the whole province.
The second is to trace back to the historical roots and seek extension on the research tentacles of “institution+people”. Due to historical reasons, Dongtou’s research on folk belief culture has long been a private behavior, and folk culture is difficult to trace back. In order to solve this problem, since 2017, our district has formed a research group on folk custom culture with the departments of folk religion, cultural relics and cultural protection as the main forces, combined with literary and art circles and folk culture experts, and collected historical materials of folk custom beliefs through various channels by searching the history of districts over the years, visiting elderly villagers to tell stories about folk belief places, collecting poetry plaques of places and introducing the history of temples. On June 1st, Xu Ou, a Municipal People’s Congress, and Professor Lin Yixiu, a folklore professor from Wenzhou University, led a team to the cave to conduct a special investigation around the topic “Countermeasures for the development of cross-strait folk culture integration in Taiwan Province, Wenzhou”. On the basis of mastering the sources of folk beliefs and all kinds of folk historical stories, the area further eliminates superstitious factors in folk historical stories, and constantly digs and refines the core of socialist core values, which is in line with excellent traditional culture..Taste, folk culture connotation that reflects the characteristics of the island.
The third is to enrich cultural forms and make a fuss about the carrier of “watching+experiencing” activities. With the deepening of the promotion project of “one place, one landscape, one story”, the comprehensive environment of folk belief places has been continuously improved, and the promotion work of places such as “Renyi” theme cultural place of Huangfaxian Temple in Xiawei Village, “Selfless” theme cultural place of Yuwang Temple and “Patriotism” theme cultural place of Chenfu Temple in Jin ‘ao Village has been completed one after another, and the folk custom culture has been presented in a colorful way. Sacrifice ceremonies are held on traditional holidays and specific dates, and folk activities such as Chen Fourteen Sacrifice, Fire Ding and Taiping Lantern in Dongtou District have formed a set of basic rituals, which have a certain influence among believers and attract some tourists to watch. In addition, relying on Mazu and Qixi, two large-scale folk festivals, the area actively revitalizes tourism resources such as “Huagang Ancient Fishing Village” and the blue coastal zone of Liangang on the basis of sacrificial ceremonies, and launches related supporting activities such as parent-child farmhouse music and food tasting in ancient villages, attracting tourists to stop and experience the charm of island folk culture and breaking through the bottleneck of “one-day tourism economy” in the past.
Fourth, strengthen emotional communication and increase friendship in the “Half Screen+Taiwan Province” cultural exchange. In recent years, Dongtou, as the bridgehead of cross-strait cooperation and exchanges, has been cooperating and exchanging with Taiwan frequently, and successfully held cross-strait media focus on Banpingshan and other activities. At present, the Jin ‘ao 101 project in Yuncun, the Straits is under construction, and the Elf Coast Holiday Manor with a total investment of nearly 500 million yuan has been signed and landed, and the exchanges and cooperation between Guangdong and Taiwan have become increasingly close. On this basis, Dongtou District actively plays the role of Mazu in inspiring people on both sides of the strait. Relying on the Mazu Peace Festival, which has formed a certain scale at present, Dongtou District actively invites Mazu cultural research institutions, believers’ representatives, and people in the economic, trade and cultural circles in Taiwan Province, and strives to fully combine Mazu culture with academic discussion, sightseeing and cultural industry development, and continuously enhance exchanges between cultural scholars, folk people and believers on both sides of the strait, thus effectively promoting cross-strait.
Dongtou will continue to deepen the promotion and construction of folk belief “one place, one landscape and one story”, give full play to the positive energy of folk culture, establish the development consciousness of “folklore+tourism”, and actively guide folk customs to help Dongtou’s social and economic development.