Zhanglin, the fire god goes out
The fourteenth of the second month, at Zhanglin in Dongli, Chenghai, Shantou: the fire god is carried out, and the February lantern fair is held the same day. Zhanglin was a seaport in the Qing, where the red-headed ships sailed from; the fire god is the god of fire, and carrying him out is an old custom tied here to the port and its trading houses.
Four photographs of the 2026 lantern night at the Zhanglin fire god fair, from posts by the Douyin user @辰星摄影; not authorised by the photographer, used only to introduce this session, and withdrawn if the author asks.
1. One session, on the fourteenth of the second month
The Shantou Media Group new-year custom guide records it as “the fourteenth of the second month: the Zhanglin February lantern fair and the fire god carried out”. One line, two things: the lantern fair and the fire god fall on the same day.
Once the first-month sessions are done, this is the one still to come in Chenghai in the second month, and it closes the new-year custom of this stretch of coast.
| Year | Lunar date | Gregorian |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 14th of the 2nd month | 21 March 2027, Sunday |
| 2028 | 14th of the 2nd month | 9 March 2028, Thursday |
| 2029 | 14th of the 2nd month | 28 March 2029, Wednesday |
| 2030 | 14th of the 2nd month | 17 March 2030, Sunday |
| 2031 | 14th of the 2nd month | 6 March 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. Why the fire god
The fire god is the god of fire. A town with a port and crowded trading houses worshipped him against fire, and the worship was also how the guilds and the streets were organised: Zhanglin’s shops once stood wall to wall, and a fire taking half a street was not unheard of.
That layer is an ordinary explanation rather than something particular to this session; the history of the Zhanglin fire god temple, the route of the fire procession and its insignia could not be confirmed.
3. Zhanglin as a place
Zhanglin lies in the north-east of Chenghai and was an important port of the eastern Guangdong sea trade in the Qing, one of the starting points of the red-headed-ship trade. What is left of the old port and the pattern of its streets is the background to this session: the port came first, then the crowded trading houses, and with them a procession organised street by street.
The lists: municipal. The year and batch of the announcement were not checked against an original document.
Getting there: the nearest station is Shantou, for Zhanglin in Dongli, Chenghai, near the old port; the old streets are narrow, so leave the car outside the town. 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; a night session often ends after nine, and the way back should be checked against the year’s timetable rather than reasoned from past experience.
4. Where to stand, in general and not by this session’s rules
Fire and lanterns in one ground, so three points only: stand upwind; wear long sleeves and trousers in cotton; the old lanes are narrow, so do not block the mouth of one. These are suggestions made here from standing at sessions of the same kind, not the rules of this session’s organisers or of the fire service.
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 February lantern fair and the fire god on the fourteenth of the second month; the municipal listing |
| “The old port of Zhanglin and the red-headed ships” | this site, glossary entry | — | the background of Zhanglin as a Qing sea port |
The first is an external source that can be opened; the second is an entry on this site, used for background and not as evidence of fact. The ritual detail of the fire procession is still missing.
6. What comes next
In lunar order: before it, the Chaoyang Shuangzhong festival, whose day is chosen in the second month; after it, the Ximen centipede dance on the sixteenth of the second month in leap years. Also in Chenghai are Yanzao, dragging the god and Longdu, walking the lanterns.
Elsewhere on the site: the old port of Zhanglin and the red-headed ships, 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