Baishui County, Shaanxi Province Holds the 2021 Ceremony of Sacrifice to Cang Jie at the Time of Grain Rain

On April 20, the Temple of Cang Jie of Baishui County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province held the 2021 Ceremony of Sacrifice to Cang Jie at the Time of Grain Rain.

The host is reading the memorial address. Photo: Niu Gang

The performers are singing the Paean to Cang Jie at the ceremony.

The Ceremony Photo: Niu Gang

The Ceremony Photo: Niu Gang

Xue Bin, Head of Baishui County, is reading the memorial address. Photo: Niu Gang

The Temple of Cang Jie Photo: the Publicity Department of Weinan Municipal Party Committee

China's ancient literature gives numerous versions about the origin of Chinese characters, and the most well-known is the story of Cang Jie inventing words. Legend has it that Cang Jie was the historiographer in the ancient times. He collected, sorted out and utilized the letter symbols that were popular among the ancient folks, and then invented Chinese characters by imitating the forms of all beings in the world.

The Temple of Cang Jie was built to pay tribute to the ancient word inventor Cang Jie, and it boasts a history of more than 2000 years. The temple showcases a great many memorial stones of various dynasties, and they witness the great achievements of Cang Jie. In this sense, the temple is recognized as a crucial site of cultural relics that means a lot for the research on the evolution of Chinese characters.

The event also included the launching ceremony of the cartoon series Learning Chinese Characters with Cang Jie. The carton was jointly developed by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, the Ministry of Education of and Weinan People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. It is a series of preliminary video courses designed for overseas Chinese learners aged from 5 to 12.

The Vice Mayor of Weinan Municipal People's Government and President of Weinan People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Yang Wumin stated, "This project means a lot for promoting the opening-up of Weinan, its brand of cultural tourism and traditional Chinese culture". (Written by Liu Jiachen)