Sugar ball, sugar painting, fancy sugar arts, raddish carving, and intangible cultural heritage presentation. On February 5th, the Qingdao Hai Yun An Raddish Sugar Ball Fair opened. In recent years, this time-honored temple fair with a history of over 700 years has incorporated a lot of folk custom elements. The fair has gradually become the first cultural feast for Qingdao citizens to celebrate the Spring Festival and thrives once more.

    Sugar art is the main display in the raddish ball fair. All merchants and shops show their best skills and products. Hawthorn, a Chinese yam ball dipped with shining sugar sauce and wrapped with sesame, peanut, shelled melon-seed and the enticing smell are very eye-catching. In the hands of a few sugar painting inheritors, a spoon and a pan of stewed sugar sauce can be converted into different shapes, such as a dragon, rooster, rabbit, or horse. Many people are attracted and astounded.

    It is said that the Qingdao Hai Yun An Sugar Ball Fair originates from Qing Xi An temple fair and sugar ball fair and dates back over 700 years. In recent years, by establishing the standard system, the Shibei District Government of Qingdao has expanded the connotation of the fair and moves forward the time-honored fair in the process of inheriting. Meanwhile by considering the development and evolvement of folk customs, Qingdao continues to enrich the activities of the fair and enhance the connotation and quality of the fair.

    In addition, at the Qingdao Hai Yun An Raddish Sugar Ball Fair this year, there are also national level “Intangible Cultural Heritage” special performance including acrobatics, oral stunts, Mao Opera, Shandong Lu Opera, and Liu Opera and special performance for unique folk skills including traditional folk art forms, folk music, Peking Opera, and Chinese unique talent show. Many other programs have been set up including sugar ball making contest, raddish carving contest, Yuanxiao making contest, folk games contest and folk manual entrepreneurship and creativity contest, lion king championship and interactive teaching workshop.

    So far, the Qingdao Hai Yun An Raddish Sugar Ball Fair has been listed as the national key tourism project and the first batch of Qingdao intangible cultural heritage directory. The fair is gradually becoming a large-scale activity on folk custom and culture and the top culture feast for Qingdao citizens to celebrate the Spring Festival around the Lantern Festival. Su Wanming