Beijing is a world-famous cultural ancient city, where the unique cultures of many nationalities permeate and blend with each other, forming local folk customs, which are an important part of China folk cultural history, including temple fairs, seasonal festivals, weddings and funerals, etc. , rich in content.

(1) Siheyuan and Hutong in Beijing

Beijing quadrangle is the main architectural form that old Beijingers have lived in for generations, which contains profound cultural connotations. Since Beijing officially established its capital in Yuan Dynasty and planned to build it on a large scale, quadrangles have appeared simultaneously with Beijing's palaces, office buildings, blocks, alleys and hutongs. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing quadrangles have experienced vicissitudes, but this basic living form has been formed and constantly improved, which is more suitable for living requirements and has formed the quadrangle form we see today. Beijing Siheyuan is famous for its unique composition, and it is typical and representative in traditional residential buildings in China. Why is it called "Siheyuan"? Because this kind of house has four houses: the main room (north room), the inverted seat (south seat), the east wing and the west wing, which are surrounded by a zigzag shape and have a central courtyard inside, this quadrangle-style house is called quadrangle. Beijing quadrangles are regular and typical. Among all kinds of quadrangles, Beijing quadrangles can best represent their main characteristics.

Xu Tong is a major feature of Beijing streets. Hutong was formed in Yuan Dynasty, and began to form with Kublai Khan's establishment of Dadu City in Yuan Dynasty. Yuan Metropolitan City was founded in 1267, and its well-planned architectural pattern created hutong. In layman's terms, hutong is the general name of Beijing's streets and alleys. The reason why it becomes a representative noun lies in its considerable scale and local characteristics as a group. As the saying goes: "There are 360 famous hutongs, but there are a lot of nameless hutongs. Hutongs in Beijing have different names, and each name has its own unique origin. Moreover, hutongs are also very different, such as the narrowest hutong-Qianshi Hutong, where the narrowest place in the middle is only 40 cm. The widest Hutong Lingjing Hutong is 32. 18m at its widest point, and Jiuwan Hutong has the most turns.

The oldest hutong is the Brick Pagoda Hutong in Yuan Dynasty.

② Peking Opera and Crosstalk

Among various art forms, Peking Opera can best represent the traditional culture of China. The main features of Beijing opera are usually called "comprehensive drama" because the creation of Beijing opera completely integrates dance, songs, drama, pantomime, martial arts and poetry. It is a very unique art form, including stylized and rhythmic movements, concise and accurate music scores, imaginative plots and attractive characters. Singing, rhythm and melody also change with the different thoughts and feelings of the characters. Beijing opera uniquely combines realistic and abstract skills, creating a subtle equation full of dramatic ideas.

Crosstalk originated in Beijing and became popular all over the country. It is generally believed that it was formed during the reign of Xianfeng and Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty. It is a folk art form that makes the audience laugh by telling jokes or interesting questions and answers. It evolved from "Xiang Sheng" in the Song Dynasty. In the later period of Beijing School, cross talk formed modern characteristics and styles. Beijing dialect is the main dialect, and there are also "dialect crosstalk" in local dialects. In the process of cross talk, we have absorbed the artistic advantages of ventriloquism and storytelling extensively, integrated Zhuang and He, expressed truth, goodness and beauty with satirical jokes, made people laugh as artistic features, and took "speaking, learning, teasing and singing" as the main artistic means.

Tianqiao artist

(3) Overpass and Temple Fair

Tianqiao area in old Beijing is a concentrated area of Beijing's civilian culture, entertainment, food and commerce. In the past, life in Tianqiao area concentrated on the newly-built Tianqiaole Tea Garden today. This tea garden is located at the northwest end of the famous Tiantan Park. This is an ancient building.

There is a stage in front of the hall, hardwood tables and chairs with black paint, and a door selling all kinds of Beijing snacks in the hatchback. The waitress in China cheongsam poured tea back and forth. You also have to pay with the ancient copper coins in China-you can exchange them with modern money on the spot, which is really a completely old style.

The tea garden program is also a "folk series", among which the most noteworthy is the performance of the "Eight Eccentrics" of the old Tianqiao, which can be described as a big idol in the eyes of old Beijingers. Their performances are divided into arts and martial arts. Literary and artistic works include duet with Bi, cross talk with Fu Baoshan, drumming by Tian Baoshan and other nine people, Zhang Shanzeng's White Sands, Luo Haoran's Latin film, Pan Changlin's classical tricks, and his ventriloquism. Martial arts include Zhou Maoxing, Li Baoru and others, such as Zhongfan, wrestling and hard qigong.

Temple fairs in Beijing are folk entertainment activities that integrate eating, drinking and having fun. Because it originated around the temple, it is called "temple"; Seeing many people burning incense and worshiping Buddha, small business vendors set up stalls outside the temple to earn money, which gradually became a routine activity, so it was called "meeting".

Temple fairs are mostly held during the Spring Festival, and various folk art performances, rich Beijing snacks and folk handicrafts are the most attractive places. Yangko, walking on stilts, boating, lion dancing, playing with steel forks, playing tiger sticks, playing gongs and drums, and even dancing the "China Flag Dance", tying a satin red flag on a 7-meter-long bamboo pole, throwing it with your hands, arms, mouth and forehead for a while and grabbing it for a while, which is very thrilling.