Chaozhou Without Yinglaoye（潮州没有迎老爷）
Folk Culture Reflection · Public Screening & Community DialogueProject Type
Public Cultural Programme / Folk Culture Reflection & Contemporary DiscourseTime & Location
2023
Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Organiser
Escape Art Club (EAC)
Role
Project Planner · Programme Curator
Cai Boxuan (Boosen Tsai)
Background
Chaozhou Without Yinglaoye takes its title from a deliberate provocation. Yinglaoye (迎老爷)—a large-scale ritual procession—is often regarded as one of the most visible and defining symbols of Chaozhou folk religion and communal life. Yet, what happens when this ritual is absent? What remains of Chaozhou when its most recognisable cultural spectacle is temporarily removed?
The project was conceived as a response to the tendency to reduce local culture to its most performative and touristic elements. Rather than rejecting tradition, it sought to question how tradition is remembered, narrated, and selectively foregrounded in contemporary contexts.
Description
Presented as a public screening and discussion programme, Chaozhou Without Yinglaoye invited participants to reflect on everyday Chaozhou beyond ritual peaks. Through film viewing, informal sharing, and open conversation, the programme shifted attention to quieter cultural layers—daily practices, personal memory, and lived experience that persist outside ceremonial moments.
The event created space for multiple voices, including young participants who grew up with these traditions but now encounter them through changing social, economic, and media landscapes. By framing absence as a method, the project encouraged audiences to reconsider what truly constitutes cultural continuity.
Rather than offering definitive conclusions, the programme functioned as a collective inquiry—opening up space to talk about belief, fatigue, inheritance, distance, and reinterpretation within contemporary Chaozhou society.
Outcomes
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Delivered a public cultural screening and discussion programme
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Generated open dialogue on folk religion and everyday cultural life
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Encouraged critical reflection on spectacle-driven representations of tradition
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Engaged younger audiences in rethinking inherited cultural practices
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Strengthened Escape Art Club’s position as a platform for reflective cultural discourse
Significance
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Challenged monolithic representations of Chaozhou folk culture
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Demonstrated how absence can function as a curatorial strategy
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Expanded conversations around tradition beyond celebration and nostalgia
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Contributed to contemporary debates on cultural continuity and change
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Reinforced the role of grassroots initiatives in cultural self-reflection
Keywords
Folk Culture · Ritual Studies · Cultural Reflection · Contemporary Chaozhou · Public Screening · Community Dialogue · Youth Perspectives