An ancestor worship ceremony was held at Taibo Temple in Meicun neighborhood on Feb 8 to commemorate Wu Taibo, the ancestor of the area south of the Yangtze River. [Photo/WeChat account: xinwu_wx]

A number of Wu descendants from around the world gathered in Wuxi to worship their ancestor Taibo on Feb 8. Feb 9 was the ninth day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar and the birthday of Taibo, founder of the State of Wu, which lasted throughout the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC) and the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

The ritual event was followed by the Taibo Temple Fair, another tradition passed down from generation to generation. In the fifth year of Xuande Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1430), the magistrate of Suzhou prefecture Kuang Zhong led thousands of people to visit the temple in commemoration of Wu. When the temple was reopened after being rebuilt in the 12th year of the Hongzhi Emperor (1499), tens of thousands of people came to watch the grand ceremony. The Taibo Temple Fair was thus established as the first annual temple fair in Wuxi.