Cultural History

Did you know the people of Putian celebrate New Year twice? I didn’t believe it either. Then I opened the Xinghua Prefecture Putian County Chronicles and found the line — 1562 AD (41st year of Ming Jiajing). Japanese pirates stormed Xinghua city on New Year’s Eve. People hadn’t even gotten up from the dinner table. The next year Qi Jiguang fought back. Refugees returned home only to realize they’d missed the New Year. Their solution: celebrate a “Great New Year” on the 4th day of the 1st lunar month. ...

Geographical coordinates: Xinghua Prefecture (Putian), Mulan River, Hanjiang, Ninghai Bridge, Guanghua Temple Have you ever wondered what keeps a place running for a thousand years? Government? Laws? Armies? None of the above. In Putian, it was the lineage. When I opened the Xinghua Prefecture Putian County Chronicles, I found something that stunned me: here, the clan wasn’t just a blood relationship. It was a complete social operating system. This system ran for a thousand years. It produced 2,482 imperial scholars. It built 128 bridges. It carved 78 stone contracts. Without it, Putian would never have become the “Zou and Lu of the Seacoast.” ...