Unspoiled and diverse folk customs, traditional culture, simple country living and unpolluted scenery make Shanghai's Chongming Island a magnet for tourists.

Nowadays people are exploring the island county's culture and they are hiking, biking and driving, since the tunnel bridge has made driving from downtown easy.

Though economic development has accelerated, officials still call it an eco-county in the mouth of the Yangtze River and have tried to preserve the island's traditions and culture.

Dragon Boat days

The Dragon Boat Festival on the Chinese Lunar Calendar may be over, but festivities continue on Chongming through the middle of July.

There are plenty of folk culture, entertainment, food and recreation activities.

The traditional festival food is zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice, stuffed with fatty pork, sweet red beans, lotus roots and other ingredients. It's wrapped in leaves and tied with string. Chongming zongzi are famous because they are carefully made and have very sharp angles, like a perfect pyramid. While many people in Shanghai buy their zongzi, in Chongming there's a strong tradition of making them at home as a family event.

The zongzi represents the food supposedly thrown into the river for fish to eat, so they would not devour the body of Qu Yuan, an exiled patriot during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It is said he threw himself into a river after learning that his kingdom had been defeated.

The festival also marks a time to ward off pests and illness that became common in the hot summer months. People make red sachets filled with aromatic, insect-repellent herbs as well as cinnabar and realgar, or arsenic sulfide. They are also supposed to ward off evil and bring good luck. Children typically wore a sachet of herbs around their neck or in their pocket.

Another custom was drinking rice wine laced with realgar, which was used in traditional Chinese medicine. It might be daubed on a child's forehead. However, not many people drink arsenic wine these days.

Cleaning rooms with brooms, and putting herbs in the corners, to keep demons away is another custom.

Weather Forecast Proverb

Chongming farmers and fishermen are known for their ability to predict the weather.

For more than 1,300 years people have coined and repeated proverbs about the weather, repeated generation after generation.

More than 800 easy-to-remember proverbs have been documented. They are based on the seasons, the waters, cloud formations, sunset glow, sun, moon, stars and others elements of nature.

Chongming zaohua

Zaohua (oven flowers) is a centuries old folk art of decorating huge clay ovens that used to be common in the countryside. It is listed as a piece of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage.

Ovens used to be built into walls and were made of brick covered by clay. Builders used to paint flowers and rural scenes on the wall behind the cooking surface and on the sides of the oven.

A zaohua museum is open in Nanjiang Village, Chongming's Xianghua Town.

Originating in Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), zaohua was created by bricklayers as a blessing for the family. The flowers were supposed to ward off evil spirits, bring happiness, abundance and peace.

Though the builders were illiterate farmers they painted appealing pictures that expressed their affection for nature.

They painted celebrations, ceremonies, picking produce, snow scenes and farming, all aspects of farming life. Chinese gods and mythological figures were also important subjects. To preserve the heritage, Xianghua Town displays oven art at the Chongming Zaohua Culture Museum; it has published a book "Chongming zaohua" and each year holds a zaohua opera contest and an oven painting contest.

Old melodies of Yingzhou

In ancient times, Chongming used to be called Yingzhou and it had three famous folk music works. They are "Old Melodies of Yingzhou," which is a collection, Chongming folk songs and music for woodwinds and percussion.

"Old Melodies of Yingzhou" is the best known, featuring soft melodies, many of them played on the pipa (Chinese lute).

Jia Gongda, the apprentice of a northern school master, composed most of it in the Qing Dynasty while he was visiting Chongming.

Thus, it combines elements of both southern and northern music.

In 1916, 45 songs were compiled into a book, "Old Melodies of Yingzhou," which were considered representative.

Peony Pavilion

This is a form of folk music performance staged under a pavilion-like awning and featuring traditional string, woodwind and percussion instruments, such as gongs and drum.

Only performed in Chongming, it originated in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). At that time Chongming musician Wang Dongyang visited Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and saw a musical performance on a colorful boat on the Qinhuai River. Inspired by the colorful scene, he determined to replicate it back in Chongming.

But since rivers in Chongming were much narrower, winding and reedy, he replaced the boat with a bow-like pavilion with a striped awning. Performers could stroll around and play their music.

Today peony pavilions typically accommodate 16 musicians.

Shoulder Pole Play

This is a one-man traveling puppet show so named because all the costumes and props can be packed onto one shoulder pole. At one end is a stage and at the other a high puppeteer's chair.

This form of folk entertainment dates back around 150 years. Today it is dying out because few people want to devote themselves to it and learn the craft.

The puppeteer carries a canopied stage, curtain, hand puppets, musical instruments and a chair for himself.

Puppeteers shoulder the pole and walk through villages. Anyone can stop him and ask for a show.

He finds a flat space, sets up the stage with a curtain and sits on his chair behind it, concealing himself. Then he strikes the gong and begins the performance, which often includes singing.

Puppet shows reached the peak of their popularity in the 1930s and 1940s on the island. Whenever people heard the gong, they knew it was time to enjoy a show, often about valiant heroes, dastardly villains and spirits.

The art was usually passed down within families but today it is believed that only six brothers from the Zhu family can perform it.