The thirteenth edition of the Kaifeng Intangible Heritage Market opened on the evening of September 5 at Kaiyuan Square in Kaifeng, Henan, bringing 98 representative heritage projects into one night-time program of food, handwork, traditional medicine and folk performance. The count breaks down into 29 traditional food items, 17 traditional crafts and 38 traditional Chinese medicine practices, joined by four heritage projects invited from other cities and ten accompanying performance sets.
Food carries the heaviest traffic. Kaifeng specialties including mutton shaomai, guokui flatbread, almond tea and barrel-cooked chicken are laid out alongside dozens of other traditional flavors, and every food project on site offers free tastings. The list runs through Ren-family chili paste, the Lao Cao family’s mutton shaomai, Yan-family almond tea, Huang-family soup dumplings, Chu Ji Weidong braised duck, Zhuxianzhen spiced dried tofu from both the Yutang and Yuanxiangzhai shops, Fuxingzhai and Maxingzhai barrel chicken, Weichuan guokui and Weichuan tofu, Xin-family sugar painting, Geng Ji braised peanuts, Li-family sesame oil, Wu-family griddle cakes, Yang-family beef, Wang Ji sweet potato vinegar, Mo-family pickles, Wei-family mung-bean liquor and Gao-family roasted flour. Stalls for sugar-figure blowing and sugar painting drew children to watch craftspeople work.
Tools and hands are the focus of the craft section. Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year prints, Bian embroidery, Song-house kites, heavy-color painting, restoration and mounting of ancient books, classical furniture restoration, silverwork by the silversmith Zhang, Wang-family tiger-head shoes and handwoven cloth, clay sculpture, Song-dynasty whisked tea, Guo-family kiln firing, Northern Song imperial ware, the Wu Daxiang Liu-family qipao technique, seal carving and paper-cutting were all on show, with heritage inheritors producing pieces on the spot.
Traditional medicine is the largest single block this time, with 38 projects offering free consultations and no charges of any kind. The services cover bone setting, acupuncture, moxibustion, eye care and dermatology, delivered by inheritors including the Ge-family inherited eye clinic, Guo-family bone-setting therapy, the yin-yang nine-needle method, Xiao-family tendon and muscle ointment, Shi-family ophthalmology, Zongqingtang bone setting, Ran Qi moxibustion and Fengjitang tendon-setting. Guest projects from elsewhere in Henan joined in: pear syrup candy from Xuchang, Daokou roast chicken from Hua County, a skin ointment from Zhoukou and nut carving from Zhengzhou. Five stalls staffed by Communist Party members provided additional assistance.
The stage ran continuously. Henan zhuizi ballads, erjiaxian opera, Song ci music and dance, Dong-family and Zhang-family suona, fishing-drum storytelling and Kaifeng drum storytelling alternated with martial arts displays including Momen bagua boxing and Zilu bagua boxing. The market also ran a Douyin livestream with giveaways of 20 pear-syrup candy tasting sets and 1,000 units of the skin ointment, extending the event beyond the square.
Kaifeng’s culture, radio, television and tourism bureau organizes the market, with service support this edition handled by the Party branch of the Kaifeng Cultural Center. Organizers frame it as a way to fill out evening cultural life in the old city, activate culture-tourism spending after dark and give heritage crafts a working place in daily life rather than a display case.
