Kaifeng Festivals and Events

Kaifeng festivals and activities gives a brief introduction of festivals and activities in Kaifeng, tells travelers what to do for a Zhengzhou festival tour, and lists important events and activities in Kaifeng including exhibition, fair and perfomance. 

Festivals in Kaifeng

The local people in Kaifeng are mainly the central plains people of the traditional Han nationality, therefore, the festivals and activities in Kaifeng are mainly those of the Han nationality. Surely, there are also some local featured festivals and actvities in Kaifeng.

Traditional Festivals in Kaifeng

Festival Name Date Notes
New Year's Day January 1st New Year's day refers to the first day of the year.
Spring Festival(Chinese New Year) The 1st Day of the 1st Lunar Month(usually in late Jan. or early Feb.; January 25, 2020) Based on Chinese lunar calendar. Spring Festival is the grandest traditional festival of  the Chinese nation. 
Lantern Festival The 15th Day of the 1st Lunar Month Based on Chinese lunar calendar.
Qingming Festival Early April Tomb Sweeping Day; Based on the Qingming solar term.
Dragon Boat Festival The 5th Day of the 5th Lunar Month Based on Chinese lunar calendar. One of China's four major traditional folk festivals and national intangible cultural heritage. Rowing dragon boats and eating Zongzi.
Double Seventh Day The 7th Day of 7th Lunar Month The Chinese Valentine's Day, based on Chinese lunar calendar. 
Spirit Festival(Ghost Festival) The 15th Day of 7th Lunar Month Based on Chinese lunar calendar. 
Mid-Autumn Festival The 15th Day of 8th Lunar Month Based on Chinese lunar calendar. One of China's four major traditional folk festivals. Appreciating the moon and eating moon cake. 
Chongyang Festival The 9th Day of 9th Lunar Month  Based on Chinese lunar calendar. 
Winter Solstice Festival(Dongzhi) December 21st, 22nd or 23rd Based on Chinese lunar calendar. 
Summer Solstice Festival(Dongzhi) June 21st or 22nd Based on Chinese lunar calendar. 
Laba Festival The 8th Day of the 12th Lunar Month(January 2, 2020) Based on Chinese lunar calendar. 

Read more: Chinese National Holidays

Local Featured Festivals in Kaifeng

Kaifeng Qingming Cultural Festival(中国开封清明文化节)

Location: Kaifeng
Date: Every Year before and after Qingming 
Brief Introduction: Qingming Festival is one of the four traditional festivals of the Han nationality and one of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar. Kaifeng Qingming Cultural Festival is a cultural gluttonous feast integrating folk activities, folk arts and crafts exhibitions, performances and competitions. It is held ceremoniously at Qingming Festival every year. It combines the charm of the thousand-year-old ancient capital with the cultural atmosphere of Qingming Festival, and also integrates and absorbs the most fashionable and popular elements today.

Kaifeng Chrysanthemum Cultural Festival(开封菊花文化节)

Location: Dragon Pavilions Park
Date: In Mid-October
Brief Introduction: Every autumn in October, the ancient city of Kaifeng holds the annual Chrysanthemum Cultural Festival, which is a large-scale comprehensive economic and cultural activity integrating Chrysanthemum appreciation, tourism, economic and trade cooperation and exchange, including the China chrysanthemum king competition, China chrysanthemum flower arrangement art exhibition and other activities.

Activities in Kaifeng

Traditional Activities in Kaifeng

Due to long and profound history, there are some traditional activities in Kaifeng passing down to now. 

Hanyuan Spring Festival Ancestor Worship Temple Fair(翰园春节祭祖大庙会)

Location: Kaifeng
Date: The 1st day to the 16th day of the 1st lunar month
Brief Introduction: Hanyuan temple fair is one of the oldest festival activities held in Kaifeng city. The main activities include the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan Ancestor Worship Ceremony on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, folkflore performances such as stilts, acrobatics, dragon and lion dances, as well as dozens of shows like intangible cultural heritage display, singing and dancing, drama show, etc.

Chrysanthemum Fair(菊花花会)

Location: Dragon Pavilions Park
Date: 十月中旬
Brief Introduction: Chrysanthemum is the "city flower" of Kaifeng City. The Chrysanthemum Fair is held every autumn and has been held for 28 times so far. Now every year in the golden autumn of October in Kaifeng, park scenic spots and streets are full of chrysanthemum flower. During the Chrysanthemum Fair, the exhibition areas such as Dragon Pavilions Park, Iron Pagoda Park, Millennium City Park, Kaifeng Prefecture, Xiangguo Temple and Yuwangtai exhibits more than 1 million pots of nearly 1,000 chrysanthemum varieties in various shapes and styles. Besides chrysanthemum appreciation and flower evaluation, there will also be a grand opening ceremony, large-scale singing and dancing performances, folk entertainment, local snacks, tourist merchandise exhibitions and other colorful cultural tourism activities.

Kaifeng Song Lantern Festival(开封大宋上元灯会)

Location: Kaifeng
Date: At the end of the 12th lunar month, lasting 1 month. 
Brief Introduction: Kaifeng Song Lantern Festival has lasted for thousands of years since the Song Dynasty. The variety and novel design of lanterns at the lantern festival add luster to the ancient city's Lantern Festival night. Now, lanterns made of new materials have been added. They have made great breakthroughs in color and shape, incorporating a large number of modern technologies, and are highly ornamental.

Performance in Kaifeng

Song Dynasty Dongjing Dream Performance(大宋·东京梦华)

"Song Dynasty Dongjing Dream Performance" is a large-scale live-action water show produced by live-action performance planner Mei Shuaiyuan, well-known live-action performance director Zhang Rensheng and Kaifeng Millennium City Park. The 70-minute performance of Song Dynasty Dongjing Dream Performance, with more than 700 actors participating, is another masterpiece of China's live-action performance. Song Dynasty Dongjing Dream Performance is an impressions scroll about the heyday of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is a historical representation of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival and Dongjing Meng Hua Lu(东京梦华录). It draws the historical picture of Dongjing, the capital city of the Northern Song Dynasty, using eight well-known classical Song Ci poems and their artistic conception, such as "Yu Mei Ren(虞美人)", "Zui Dong Feng(醉东风)", "Love of Butterfly" and "Man Jiang Hong(满江红)". The whole performance was divided into 6 acts and 4 performances, namely "Preface- Yu Mei Ren", "Drunken Dongfeng", "Love of Butterfly", "Qi Tian Le(齐天乐)", "Man Jiang Hong" and "End- Prelude To Water Melody". The gorgeous scenes, classic Song poems and high-tech dance beauty bring strong audio-visual shock to the tourists, and vividly and truly reproduced the prosperity of the capital Bianliang of Song dynasty.
Venue: No.5, Longting West Road, Longting District, Kaifeng(inside the Millennium City Park)开封市龙亭西路5号(清明上河园内)
Performance Time: 20:10-21:20
Tel: 0371-60956015

Kaifeng Festivals and Activities by Region

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