The Double Ninth Festival: from Popular Celebration to Literati's Imagination
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Su, Wan-Ting
Abstract
The Double Ninth Festival was a traditional Chinese holiday allegedly observed by
both the common populace and the literati. Yet during the Ming-Qing period, mass
participation could only be found in some urban localities. It is evident that the literati
had become the main observers honoring this tradition, and they developed several ways
to celebrate it. By examining various accounts from local gazetteers, literati poetry, and
miscellaneous notes, this thesis addresses the question how the literati reinvented this
festival tradition through certain activities such as “ascending the heights” (denggao
登高) and holding banquets. Special attention is paid to how the literati appropriated
traditional customs and reformulated their significance in tune with their needs in the
present and their imaginations of the past. Moreover, by using the Double Ninth Festival
as a case study, this thesis argues that the literati’s festival participation was shaped by
their collective memory, literary imagination, and cultural identity
One of the major activities of literati to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival was the
so-called the chongyang hui (重陽會), a social gathering dedicated to friendship and the
renewal of social connections. Notably, a new practice became quite popular among
literati during the Ming-Qing period: zhan chongyang (展重陽, to extend the celebration
of the Double Ninth Festival). This new practice enabled the literati to have more
opportunities to arrange their social gatherings on a more flexible schedule. This flexible
festival reunion normally prompted the participants to compose poems and ponder upon
the significance of their friendships, the socio-political issues of their time, and the
festival tradition itself.
Subjects
Double Ninth Festival
literati
textual tradition
collective memory
ascending heights (denggao)
social gathering
extending the celebration of chongyang festival (zhan chongyang)
Type
thesis
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