boat burning festival

a few weeks ago, mr. chung informed me that a beautiful boat was being built in the coastal city of donggang. would i like to accompany him to see the boat be burned to ashes? of course, i replied. in the end, mr. chung couldn't make it, but the boat (which had taken 2 years to build) did indeed burn to ashes as part of donggang's triennial king boat ceremony.









never having been to donggang before, i can't describe its streets on a typical friday night. on this particular friday night, all streets leading into town, to the donglong temple, and to the donggang seashore were strung with red and yellow lanterns. the square surrounding donglong temple (which organizes the ceremony) was packed with people, paper money, and fireworks. it seemed like every time mitsy and i stopped to gawk at some incredibly ornate, old-fashioned sedan carrier (or incredibly flashy, neon-lit modern carriage), someone would light off a fierce round of fireworks directly beside us. massive piles of paper money were being sold at the temple and arranged in a gigantic wall of pink bags at the seashore.

one of the stories goes that long, long ago, a man named wen wangyeh saved the life of a tang dynasty emperor. wangyeh perished at sea not long after, and became a god who has protected mariners ever since. the king's boat is built to honor king wangyeh, and its return is celebrated with rituals and processions for 8 days. on the 8th day, the boat is burned to send wangyeh off to the heavenly court and to drive away disease and evil spirits. the men of the village dress as bantou (public officials) and jiaoban (sedan carriers), positions that are passed down from father to son.











at 2 am on the dot, the final leg of the ceremony began. more gongs, more fireworks, and the enormous boat was rolled beneath the donglong golden arches. the mile-long procession led to the seashore, where a mountain of paper money and fireworks was being arranged before wangyeh's boat. for 3 hours, the ceremony continued: moving the mountain of money, calling local gods aboard, painstakingly erecting each mast with oversized chopsticks, and rigging the sails.








and finally, sometime around daybreak, setting off a final and tremendous display of fireworks directly into the mountain of ghost money. as the sun rose, the ghost money became an inferno and gradually began to consume wangyeh's ship. heat- and wind- powered tornadoes ripped through the pile, and wangyeh sailed away for another 3 years...