Legend of Spring Festival
Stage production celebrates Langzhong's relaxed charm and historical importance, Chen Nan reports.
Langzhong's importance to Chinese New Year can be traced back some two millennia to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) and Lao Xiahong, a famous astronomer, who was born in the city. It is said that during his time at the imperial court, Lao was tasked with creating a calendar that would both standardize and predict the annual agricultural and astronomical cycles. Through meticulous observations, he created a new calendar called the Taichuli, which adopted the Xia Dynasty's (c. 21st century-16th century BC) definition of the start of the new year as being the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar. This day eventually became the cornerstone of what is now known as the Spring Festival.
This moment is given special significance in the production, with scenes evoking ancient astronomy and depicting Lao's groundbreaking work.
The performance, which fuses contemporary theater with traditional storytelling techniques, brings to life the grandeur of the astronomer's calculations and their cultural implications for Chinese society.
