Sacrificial Rites for Taihao Fuxi

Fuxi is the mythic first ancestor of the Chinese people, first among the Three Sovereigns, and Tianshui is known as the hometown of the Xihuang for being his birth and rising place. The public rites were revived by the Tianshui government in 1988, raised in 2005 to be hosted by the Gansu provincial government, and held each year on the summer solstice. In 2006 the Sacrificial Rites for Taihao Fuxi entered the first national ICH list under folklore.

The grand rite follows old forms at the Fuxi Temple—drumming and bell-ringing, the offering of flower baskets, the reading of the eulogy, music and dance, and reverent bows—as delegates of Chinese communities worldwide gather to pay respects; since 2014 a cross-strait joint rite has been held on the same day and hour with Taiwan.

The rites are a key vessel through which Chinese everywhere seek their roots and gather a shared identity, carrying the memory of Fuxi and the wellsprings of Chinese civilisation, with real value for the study of ancestor belief and folk tradition.

The grand rite is held at Tianshui's Fuxi Temple in Fuxi City.