Fishermen's Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanking Festival

The Fishermen's Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanking Festival is a sea-worship celebration handed down among the fisherfolk of the Jiaodong coast, with one of its core homes at Yuankuang village in Rongcheng, Shandong. A local saying holds that "fish and birds never break their word" and that "at Grain Rain a hundred fish reach shore": each Grain Rain solar term, deep-sea fish and shrimp migrate into the Yellow Sea waters south of the village, and fishers choose an auspicious day to worship the sea. The festival splits into the Sea-Opening rite, praying for safety and a heavy catch when boats put out, and the Sea-Thanking rite, giving thanks for the ocean's bounty when they return; also called the Fishermen's Festival or Grain Rain Festival, it is said to reach back over two thousand years. It entered the second national ICH list in June 2008.

During the festival fishers carry whole pigs, dough figurines, steamed buns and firecrackers to a seaside altar, burn incense and worship the sea god, praying that boats put out safely and every haul be heavy; the rite is followed by lively fisher drums, yangge dance and opera, the whole village gathering so that reverence for the sea mingles with shared joy—on Grain Rain, Yuankuang village becomes the most vivid stage of Jiaodong fisher folklore.

The Sea-Opening and Sea-Thanking Festival carries over two thousand years of Jiaodong's sea-worship belief and fisherfolk lore, a living sample for the study of Chinese maritime culture, the fisherman's inner world and solar-term tradition, and one of Weihai's most representative emblems of marine culture.

The festival is centred on Yuankuang village in Rongcheng and held around the Grain Rain solar term.