First Day of Lunar New Year. Chengdu Customs

（2）Core Theme: “New Year’s Day”
Written by Wei Zi in San Francisco, New Year’s Day 2026

New Year’s Day — First Day of the First Lunar Month

Tang-Song customs passed down to today: Setting off firecrackers, offering first incense, New Year visits, grabbing the gold ingot, temple touring—full New Year joy unfolding in turn from the sound of firecrackers.

Setting off firecrackers
Chengdu’s most festive New Year’s Day wake-up call; the crack of firecrackers shakes the dawn, opening the first beautiful scroll of the year—thus it has been through the ages.

Amid firecracker sounds the old year departs; spring breeze brings warmth into the wine.
A thousand doors, ten thousand households in the dawn light—always new peach charms for old.

Offering first incense
Chengdu people go to Wenshu Monastery and Daci Temple early on New Year’s Day to offer first incense—showing the worshipper’s sincerity, to dispel illness and bring good fortune. Qing Liu Yuan’s Sichuan New Year Bamboo Branch Lyrics:

Burning incense, fortunate to offer first; again hearing others speak auspicious words.
Rice price normal, silkworm market good; this year’s joy lies in the river villages.

Now “first incense” is pushed ever earlier—the moment after the year turns, crowds pack before the temple gates. Monks accommodate worldly hearts, swinging wide the mountain gates to welcome the tide of people.

New Year visits
See Song poet Wen Tianxiang’s poem for Song people’s filial custom of visiting parents on the first day:

Plum blossoms on the pillow, I hear the dawn; rise, don the golden seal, await the visit to parents.
Joy facing kind faces, seeing hair streaked; though thinning, not yet silver.

As my grandmother told me, in Republican times we too, at the morning bell on the first day, dressed neatly and went before our parents to offer New Year greetings.
In the last fifty years, with opposition to old rites, even in three-generation households the early morning New Year visit was dropped. A bowl of tangyuan counted as the visit. Nuclear families living separately made a point of bringing cured meat, white liquor, pastries, and flower tea—the “four-color” New Year gifts—to parents or elders on the first day.

“Visiting relatives” (zǒu rén hù)—also New Year visits—the lively form of visiting relatives and friends, hosting family feasts in turn.

Qing Liu Yuan in Sichuan New Year Bamboo Branch Lyrics described another Tang-Song Chengdu custom: pasting name cards on doors of families one wished to visit, then leaving without entering.
The usual scenery adds new joy; first come the name cards covering every door.

Later, in late Qing and Republican times, they used red or white stiff paper with name and address, pasted on the door. Bamboo branch lyric on name cards:

Name cards red as pomegranate flowers; not entering the gate, just delivering tea.
Covering vermilion doors, competing to announce good news; friendship all in a few sheets.

Grabbing the gold ingot
Chengdu people make tangyuan early on New Year’s Day, hiding a small copper coin in one—whoever gets it has luck and wealth. Called “grabbing the gold ingot,” symbolizing family reunion.
Tangyuan fillings are each family’s carefully made recipe—sesame, dried tangerine, fuyou, rose—four flavors, slightly different, all delicious. But new neighbors in the courtyard, from Shaanxi—one place one custom—used flour in the filling, texture quite different. Other neighbors brought them tangyuan; they cooked dumplings in return. New Year flavor began “northern and southern accents.”

Temple touring—already popular in Song Chengdu on New Year’s Day. Chengdu New Year’s “main event.”
From the first day, Chengdu people preferred temple tours, spring outings, visiting the god of joy’s direction—outdoor activities.
Ming Wanli-era Cao Xuequan’s Sichuan Records documents Chengdu’s temple tour route: starting from Anfusi (Fucheng Temple), passing Stone Bamboo relics, Zhang Yi Tower, Zither Terrace, Bamboo Rope Bridge, Qingyang Palace, Washing Flowers Creek, Thatched Hall Temple, Jingzhong Temple—nearly half the old city. Directly entering the convenient gate to ancient Shu Chengdu’s history and culture. Now in three sections:

Section One: Western Gate Highlights
Tang poet Liu Yuxi in Record of Newly Built Fucheng Temple in Chengdu Prefecture: “To the right of Yicheng’s great thoroughfare, level and stretching west, is Shizhun Street. North of the street is a benevolent shrine, opening directly—Fucheng Temple. The temple’s halls and towers interweave with the city’s towers, embroidered against the blue sky, like objects from Kunlun.”

Fucheng Temple (Anfusi)
The temple described as such a transcendent realm surely formed part of Li Bai’s Chengdu人文画卷 (humanities painting): Nine heavens opened one Chengdu; ten thousand gates enter the painting.
This temple originated from Great Stone Temple founded in the Eastern Jin. Tang monk Daoxuan’s Collected Records of Divine Response in China: when Chengdu had drought or flood, officials prayed for rain here— prayers answered, hence the name. After repeated renovations it was renamed “Fugan Temple,” called “Anfusi” in Tang-Song—an important Buddhist monastery from Eastern Jin through Northern and Southern Song. So the Song prefect chose here to begin the temple tour with the people:

Let us see, from Song Tian Kuang’s Chengdu Roaming Pleasure Poems: Climbing Anfusi Pagoda on New Year’s Day, Song New Year’s Day—the prefect leading Chengdu officials, people holding small colored streamers and flowers, burning incense at Anfusi. They attached streamers to the columns and climbed the thirteen-story pagoda, gazing at the two rivers converging and the hundred wells and streets:
Pagoda leans into mid-sky; soaring eaves tiered.
Following custom we take perilous steps; transcendent as if in the clear heavens.
A thousand li like pointing at the palm; ten thousand things to exhaust.
Wild expanse, mountain lines return; cold remaining, forest colors aged.
Roaming emptied the alleys; coming and going, young and old clamorous.
Figures and affairs mostly idle; carriages and horses fill the roads.
Seeing this festive custom comforts my distant sojourn.
Only my governance is lax; no need to answer the sovereign’s charge.

In 2017, Chengdu Cultural Relics Archaeological Institute found near Shizhun Street three temple sites close and overlapping, area 11,000 square meters. Over a thousand stone sutra blocks unearthed, including Diamond Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Buddha’s Crown Dhāraṇī, plus stone sculpture fragments, Bodhisattva stone figures—precious cultural relics corroborating history, glimpsing Chengdu Buddhism’s long source.

Stone Bamboo Relics
Close to Anfusi. At Chengdu’s earliest western gate, like the western “gate towers.” Guarding the千年 (thousand-year) snow of Min Mountains, defending the borders, protecting the Shu road passes—revered by generations of Shu people. Du Fu personally saw and wrote “Stone Bamboo行 (Song)“:
Have you not seen—west of Yizhou city gate, on the road two stone bamboo stand high?

Eastern Jin Chang Qu’s Chronicles of Huayang: “Shu had five丁力士 (strong men) who could move mountains, lift ten thousand jun. Whenever a king died, they erected a great stone, three zhang long, a thousand jun heavy, as tomb marker—today’s Stone Bamboo, called Bamboo Lane.” Clearly, Stone Bamboo embodies ancient Shu people’s great stone worship. Shizhun Street still exists—a landmark of Chengdu history and culture.

Zhang Yi Tower
A hundred feet high, grand and magnificent. Immediately attracting the temple tour party—among Tang-Song Chengdu’s many towers and pavilions, step by step the scenery changed—they came to “Tianfu’s First Tower,” Zhang Yi Tower.
Yuanhe Commandery Gazetteer vol. 31: “Southwest of Chengdu, a tower over a hundred feet named Zhang Yi Tower. Facing the mountain, overlooking the river.” Towering Zhang Yi Tower stood north of Pi River; climbing it, one could see the two rivers flowing below the city—hence a famous viewing spot. Many poets of the ages inscribed verses. Together with Scattered Flowers Tower, Virtuous Tower, West Tower—the four famous Shu Han Chengdu towers. From the tower one could gaze at Western Ridge snow mountains, view the bustling city.
Du Fu in “Stone Rhinoceros Song” praised:
Shu people boast for a thousand years—floods never reach Zhang Yi Tower.

Tang poet Cen Shen came to Chengdu to see friend Du Fu—though he missed him. Cen Shen’s two poems on climbing Zhang Yi Tower, with fine and vigorous observation, depict盛唐 (High Tang) Chengdu’s capital面貌 (face).
Cen Shen, “Climbing Zhang Yi Tower”:
Said to be a Qin-era tower; towering still today.
South of the tower, the long river; unchanged through the ages.
Were people of old; years and months do not wait.

I always loved Zhang Yi Tower; Western Hills just opposite.
A thousand peaks carry accumulated snow; a hundred li face the city walls.
Mist clears the clear sky; grass and trees reflect morning light.
Carriages and horses fill the hundred wells; lanes and gates wind along the two rivers.

Historical records: Zhang Yi, Qin chancellor, personally oversaw Chengdu’s city construction. Through observation, following the Chengdu plain’s northwest-high, southeast-low terrain, he designed the city as an irregular square slanting northwest to southeast—this design was highly effective for drainage and flood control. Later generations built Zhang Yi Tower at Xuanyang Gate in the southwest of Lesser City to commemorate his construction. Ancient and Modern Collected Records: “Zhang Yi built the city—though with the divine tortoise—also顺应江山之形 (following river and mountain form). Because the city slanted slightly, he built the tower to fix north and south.” The tower both commemorated and oriented the city. (According to research, the site is between present-day Wangjiaguai and Wenmiao West Street, Chengdu.)

Zither Terrace, Bamboo Rope Bridge
The tour continuing southwest, they reached Zither Terrace by the north bank of Hundred Flowers Pool. Bamboo Rope Bridge was south of Zither Terrace—the necessary land or water route to Qingyang Palace and Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage. Both places are steeped in the literary tale of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun “selling wine at the counter.”
Bamboo Rope Bridge was built by Li Bing, Qin governor of Shu Commandery, during Dujiangyan construction—a bamboo cable bridge for Chengdu traffic, also called Yili Bridge. About 100 meters upstream from present-day South River Bridge.

Section Two: Temple Groves
Following South River upstream, seeking seclusion, they reached “Western Sichuan’s First Daoist Temple,” “Southwest’s First Grove.”
Qingyang Palace
Nationally famous Daoist temple. Founded in Zhou, initially “Qingyang Market.” Three Kingdoms: “Qingyang View”; Tang renamed “Xuanzhong View.” When Huang Chao rebelled, Tang emperor Xizong took refuge here as temporary palace. After returning to Chang’an, grateful, he granted two million in treasury funds, ordering the “View” renamed “Palace”—Qingyang Palace.

“Qingyang”—cultural积淀 (accumulation) over millennia. After Western Han scholar Yang Xiong of Pi County, Chengdu, wrote Annals of the Shu Kings, Tang Yue Penggui’s West Sichuan Qingyang Palace Stele Inscription traced the temple’s Daoist origins: “Grand Pure Immortal ordered the Green Emperor’s youth to transform into a sheep in Shu.”
Most celebrated in folk tradition: Laozi left Daodejing at Hangu Pass, telling Gate-keeper Yin Xi: “A thousand days after you practice the Way, seek me at Chengdu Qingyang Market.” Three years later Yin Xi came as promised; a youth leading a green sheep guided him to Laozi; he attained the Way and went west with Laozi.
From then, Qingyang Palace’s “green sheep” was deeply revered. They said whichever body part ailed you, touch the corresponding part of the sheep to be healed—the sheep was stroked golden all over.

At Qingyang Palace’s mountain gate, paying respects to “Western Sichuan’s First Daoist Temple”—purple clouds flank the gate, benevolent shrine half-hidden; strolling “Southwest’s First Grove”—mist clings to the green altar, wind carries clear chimes.
The Octagonal Pavilion enshrines Laozi on a green ox; the palace’s most precious relic—Daozang Jiyao—is the world’s most complete preserved edition.
East lies the adjacent Erxian Temple—ancestral hall of the Quanzhen Longmen DanTai BiDong lineage. Within Cultural Park are tea houses—quiet and leisurely. During the flower and lantern festivals, Chengdu snacks abound—lively and festive.

In my second or third year, on New Year’s Day, with parents and grandmother we came to Qingyang Palace to pray and touch the green sheep, visit Cultural Park, eat tang you guozi and san da pao. I held a newly bought pinwheel in one hand, a new rabbit lantern in the other, running and singing: “Today’s so wonderful—we went to Qingyang Palace and the park, bought a pinwheel and a rabbit.” That accidental rhyme delighted the elders like winning the lottery—full of New Year expectations.

Evolution of the Thatched Cottage
Half-hidden by Washing Flowers Creek. Here was the thousand-year temple Fan’an Temple (Thatched Hall Temple). Du Fu built his茅屋 (thatched hut) beside it—Washing Flowers Thatched Cottage. Wei Zhuang rebuilt the hut to commemorate Du Fu, forming the “shrine-temple combined” layout. By Republican times it was called Ministry of Works Shrine; now fully Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum.

The temple tour party left Qingyang Palace, following Washing Flowers Creek—green water, secluded woods, arched bridges—stepping on reflections, chanting; bamboo poles punting boats.
Seven Quatrains - Washing Flowers Creek Wei Zi (this time last year)
Washing Flowers Creek rises with spring tide; green calyx faint scent lingers on the bridge.
White egret, blue sky view the reflection; yellow oriole, green willow call peach blossom.

The Thatched Cottage sits by beautiful Washing Flowers Creek. Adjacent to thousand-year Fan’an Temple (Thatched Hall Temple) founded in Eastern Jin—by Sui-Tang already large-scale. Later, with Wenshu Monastery, Zhaojue Temple, Baoguang Temple—Chengdu’s “Four Great monasteries.”

Du Fu arrived in Chengdu at year-end 759 (Tang Suzong Qianyuan 2). He first stayed at Thatched Hall Temple (then Fan’an Temple), then built his thatched cottage west of the temple. In poems he called it “Chengdu Thatched Cottage,” “Washing Flowers Thatched Cottage.” Here Du Fu wrote the regulated poem “Hall Completed”:

Back to the city, hall completed, shaded by white thatch; familiar river road overlooks the green plain.
Alder woods block sun, leaves sing in wind; bamboo cage and mist drip dew from tips.
Resting briefly, the crow brings several young; chattering swallows often come to fix new nests.
Others mistake it for Yang Xiong’s dwelling; too lazy to defend myself.

The opening couplet sketches the hall’s location; the middle four lines describe the hall itself. Through natural scenery the poet vividly depicts life and mood when the new home was first settled after the turmoil of war. The poem gives later visitors a temporal reference. After Du Fu left Chengdu, the cottage fell into ruin. Late Tang poet Wei Zhuang (former Shu chancellor) found the site and rebuilt the hut, preserving it—establishing it as a memorial rather than merely a dwelling.

Shrine-temple combined—By Qing, Thatched Hall Temple as Buddhist site and Du Gong Shrine (Thatched Cottage) as memorial were connected within one wall—“shrine-temple combined.” Over the past century, “Du Fu Thatched Cottage” was built on the original site—Chengdu’s cultural symbol. But Chengdu people still call it Thatched Hall Temple.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage follows Western Sichuan classical garden style—quiet, ancient, natural. The layout uses Washing Flowers Creek as the thread, connecting Firewood Gate, Thatched Hut, Flower Path, Daya Hall (former Thatched Hall Temple main hall)—all尽量还原 (striving to restore) Du Fu’s former dwelling per his verses. Turning Du Fu’s poetry into landscape—poetry in painting, painting in poetry, poetic realm recreated. The Flower Path scene derives from:
Flower path never swept for guests; wicker gate now opened for you.

Ministry of Works Shrine enshrines “Poet Sage” Du Fu’s portrait, with Huang Tingjian and Lu You—poets who sojourned in Shu—as attendants. East of the shrine is the “Shaoling Thatched Cottage” stele pavilion, symbolizing Du Fu’s hut. Du Fu lived here about four years, composing over 240 poems. He called himself “Du Ling野老 (old man),” “Shaoling wilderness guest”; the world calls him “Du Shaoling."
"Seven Regulated Verses - A Guest Arrives” shows Du Fu at the cottage receiving a guest. The first couplet describes the dwelling’s clear, sparse scenery—with hills, water, gulls—showing a world-apart mind. The last six lines—joy at a visitor’s arrival and calling the neighbor for a drink—sincere and simple. The whole poem vividly captures the scene:

South and north of the house, spring water; I see flocks of gulls coming daily.
Flower path never swept for guests; wicker gate now opened for you.
Market far, no variety in the dish; wine at home, only the old brew.
Willing to drink with the neighbor across the fence? I’ll call him to finish what’s left.

Washing Flowers Creek, Thatched Hall Temple—poetry everywhere, lingering, reluctant to leave. Should be the aura of outstanding people and spirit. This time last year we revisited together—felt rather superficial.

Seven Quatrains - Washing Flowers Creek Wei Zi, revisiting this time last year
Washing Flowers Creek rises with spring tide,
Green calyx faint scent lingers on the bridge.
White egret, blue sky view the reflection,
Yellow oriole, green willow call peach blossom.

In childhood the unique wild charm here produced such deep awe it became a神秘 (mysterious) place I often visited in dreams. In dreams, reaching here was like an entrance to a boundary—entering, inside not only “lofty forests and springs” “mist and cloud, clear tones” but tropical rainforest and mythical beasts and flowers never seen before. Waking, still reluctant to leave. Perhaps this is closer to Du Fu’s original intent in choosing this spot. Now it functions more as museum and park—so I cherish the past more.

Section Three: Jingzhong Temple (Wanfo Temple)
Here (excavations) filled the gap in Chinese Southern Dynasty Buddhist sculpture. Together with Dazu rock carvings, Anyue carvings, Guangyuan Thousand Buddha Cliffs—constituting this period’s religious art “second half.” The temple tour route turned northwest (near present-day Chengdu Tongjin Road) to this garden temple.

Four hundred eighty temples of the Southern Dynasties; how many towers in mist and rain?

Du Mu’s line holds true—verified in Chengdu. According to Chengdu General History, 43 Southern Dynasty Chengdu monasteries can be documented—including Daci Temple, Duobao Temple, Thatched Hall Temple.

Wanfo Temple was built in Eastern Han Yánxī period. Sichuan General Gazetteer: Liang period named Anpu Temple; Tang: Jingzhong Temple, also Songxi Court. Ming: Bamboo Grove Temple, Wanfo Temple, Wanfu Temple. Wanfo Temple was always a major Shu monastic center—temple garden scenic, incense flourishing. Tang Li Dong left “Lodging at Chengdu Songxi Court”:

Pine maintains integrity; stream clarifies nature. One stick of incense, mountain mist presses the temple corner.

Wanfo Temple’s excavation reflects Buddhism and Buddhist sculpture’s flourishing development in Sichuan. Seven Ashoka images are rare; one full-body figure—unique nationwide. Many sculptures are large round carvings, abandoning earlier sinicized wide-sleeve style, returning to Western “shoulder-covering” or “right-shoulder bared” Central Asian features. Kasaya folds in U-shaped curves—“thin robe clinging to body” visual effect—Northern Qi painter Cao Zhongda’s “Cao’s emerging from water” style deeply influential, forming Northern Dynasties mainstream. Reflecting royal attitude’s influence on religious flourishing.

Here also emerged Northern Wei “loose robes and broad belts” thin-boned refined image sculpture—from contemporary Xuanxue and Daoist trends—“sleeves floating,” “immortal wind and dao bones”—embodying literati pursuit of transcendent spirit. Encompassing the highest achievement of Chinese Northern and Southern Dynasties Buddhist stone carving. Displayed in Sichuan Museum’s dedicated hall.

The temple tour至此 (by now) traversed half of Lesser City—fulfilling the original intent of rereading Chengdu; history and culture passed down through generations. By my childhood’s New Year’s Day, Chengdu people said south was the god of joy’s direction—families young and old in new clothes went to Zhuge Wuhou Shrine outside the south gate; the grand temple fair became the new popular choice. Said to be a 200-year Chengdu tradition.

New Year’s Day’s program was simply too rich to finish or tell. Rest while you can—the second day follows, and you must worship Dongjun early.

[Childhood Chengdu New Year Customs Inherited in Bamboo Branch Lyrics]
Part Two (Second Half): New Year’s Day
Wei Zi, written in San Francisco, New Year’s Day 2026
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