Yuepu, the coming of age and the pig contest
The eighth of the first month, at Yuepu in Jinping, Shantou: two things in one day — the coming of age and the great pig contest. The Shantou Media Group new-year guide writes the two on one line, which is enough to say they fall on the same day and in the same place. How the contest is run at Yuepu is not the same as at Guanshan, and this page goes no further than that.
Four photographs from the eve of the 2024 Yuepu contest, taken on the seventh of the first month, from posts by the Douyin user @C w刺猬; used only to introduce this session, and withdrawn if the author asks.
1. The eighth of the first month, two things
The guide’s own wording is: “eighth of the first month: the coming of age and the great pig contest in the Yuepu community.” One “and” says that the day holds both, and that the two are two parts of one new-year custom rather than two separate events.
The order, the ground and which comes first are not given in the report, and are not set out here.
| Year | Lunar date | Gregorian |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 8th of the 1st month | 13 February 2027, Saturday |
| 2028 | 8th of the 1st month | 2 February 2028, Wednesday |
| 2029 | 8th of the 1st month | 20 February 2029, Tuesday |
| 2030 | 8th of the 1st month | 10 February 2030, Sunday |
| 2031 | 8th of the 1st month | 30 January 2031, Thursday |
The Gregorian column is a calendar conversion and does not mean it will be held that way; no announcement for 2027 or later has been seen.
2. The coming-of-age half
The Chaoshan coming of age is called chu huayuan, leaving the garden, and is usually held at fifteen by the old count: red clogs, a bite of the chicken’s head, a table of one’s own. Putting it on the eighth of the first month, the same day as the pig contest, is how this village arranges it.
Chu huayuan has an entry of its own, and the details of the rite are not repeated here; only the fact that it shares the day with the contest is recorded.
3. The contest half
Yuepu’s pig contest and Guanshan’s in Chenghai share a name and not a village. At Guanshan the surnames take the turn, one round in twelve years, and the pigs are laid out before the lineage hall; how Yuepu does it is not written in the report, and Guanshan’s way is not put on it here.
What can be said is only this: it belongs to the same type, in which each household raises a pig, dresses it, displays it and competes on weight and on face.
Getting there: the nearest station is Shantou, for Yuepu in Jinping, then a car from the station; arrive in the morning, since by the afternoon most are down. In festival time village roads often run one way or are closed at short notice, and a navigation estimate excludes parking and the walk in; the way back should be arranged around the actual time the crowd disperses and the year’s trains.
4. Where to stand, in general and not by this session’s rules
Three points only: at a hall or a paved yard, do not step over the threshold or lean on the offering tables; come in the morning, since by the afternoon most are down; the village lanes are narrow, so leave the car outside. These are suggestions made here from sessions of the same kind, not the rules of this session’s organisers or the police.
5. Sources
| Source | Body | Date | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Spring Festival of the bingwu year: the liveliest customs in Shantou” | Shantou Ganlan net (Shantou Media Group) | 13 February 2026 | the eighth of the first month, the Yuepu community, the coming of age and the pig contest on the same day |
There is one source that can be opened, and it covers only the day and the two events. How the contest is organised, where it is held and how large it is have not been reported, and so are not written here.
6. What comes next
In lunar order: before it, the Yangmei torch festival on the sixth; after it, the Qiaolin firework dragon on the tenth. Also in Shantou is the Guanshan pig contest on the seventeenth and eighteenth.
Elsewhere on the site: chu huayuan, the coming of age, ying lao ye: its form and the village days, Shantou routes.
Back to the Chaoshan procession calendar for all twenty-three sessions.
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Last revised: 4 November 2026