Overview
The Zhangwang temple fair is held at the Zhangwang Temple in Poyang County in honour of Zhang Xun, a Tang official, from the middle of the tenth lunar month to the eleventh lunar month; it entered the fourth provincial intangible cultural heritage list of Jiangxi in 2013[1].
Temple and dates
The Zhangwang Temple was first built in the third year of the Zhide era of the Tang (758), and the fair was formerly known as the saishen hui (赛神会)[2]. Accounts of the dates differ slightly: it is described as running from the middle of the tenth lunar month to the eleventh[1], while the Jiangxi Intangible Cultural Heritage site records three days from the twenty-third day of the eleventh lunar month, together with a procession on the eighth day of the first lunar month in which Zhangwang (Zhang Xun) and Liu Mu visit their relatives[2].
Scale
The fair draws crowds from across the county and is the largest traditional folk event in the area[1].
Cultural offshoots
Local troupes have staged a full-length Ganju opera, The Story of Liu Mu, drawn from the legends of Zhang Xun and Liu Mu, and the Zhang Xun cultural festival carries the historical narrative into the present day[1].