According to legend, the dragon raises its head on the second day of the second lunar month. From the first to the third day, people hold a large-scale Dragon Festival Temple Fair in the Dragon Temple, which has been a custom in Beigou, Fangshan District for many years.
During the Qing Dynasty, several villages near the Dragon Temple, such as Fozizhuang, Heilongguan, Bangezhuang, and Chenjiatai, raised funds and built a grand theater opposite the Dragon Temple to perform for the Dragon God. On the first day of the second lunar month, more than a dozen events such as a Drum Fete, Stilt Fete, and Worship Fete spread over the river bank for more than 20 km from Fozizhuang Village to the west of Bangezhuang Village, which are crowded and lively. When China was just liberated, the Heilongtan Temple was not properly managed and repaired due to various reasons. In the mid-1990s, the nearby villages raised funds and rebuilt the Dragon Temple. After more than 600 years, this district-level cultural relic finally took on a new look.
In the 21st century, due to the support of the government and the active participation of the masses, Heilongtan Temple Fair, as a special folk cultural event, shows the typical characteristics of Western Beijing Culture in terms of history, geography, humanities, tradition, and folk customs, and fully reflects the rich, colorful and profound connotation of folk literature and art resources in this region.
The Dragon Festival Temple Fair inherits the essence of hundreds of years of history and culture and enlivens the amateur cultural life of the villagers. It is a large-scale mass gathering in Fozizhuang village. Celebrities and civilians all line up to worship in the temple from the first night of the second lunar month. The three courtyards of the Dragon Temple are bustling with people, and the surrounding streets are crowded. The highlight is the colorful Yangko procession. Around twenty Yangko teams participate in the temple fair every year and perform from the morning till night on the second day of the second lunar month. The walls are lined with red lanterns, the smoke from the incense in the temple floats into the sky, and the Yangko teams' procession is eye-catching and majestic.
(Source: Fangshan District Bureau of Culture and Tourism)