Quick Answer
The Xibe Westward Migration Festival (锡伯族西迁节, Xībózú Xīqiān Jié) remembers the departure of Xibe troops and families from Shengjing, now Shenyang, in 1764. The traditional date is the eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month. The group reached the Ili region the following year, according to the Xinjiang Archives. Qapqal in Xinjiang is a centre of the commemoration.[1][2][3]
- What it remembers: The departure and farewell before a westward journey under Qing orders.[1][2]
- Where it is marked: The national festival record identifies Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County.[1]
- What people may hear: The local repertoire includes songs that carry memories of the journey.[3]
The lunar anniversary and the Gregorian date of a public programme need to be read separately.[1][3]
There are several dates in the history of the journey. A farewell in Shengjing, the arrival at Huiyuan and the establishment of settlements south of the Ili River took place in three different years. The day remembered at the festival goes back to the farewell.[1][2]
The Departure the Festival Remembers
The Qing court sent Xibe soldiers and their family members from the northeast to the Ili region in 1764 for garrison and agricultural settlement. The Xinjiang Archives describes a gathering at Taiping Temple in Shengjing, where people honoured ancestors before those leaving said goodbye. The national inventory uses the departure on the eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month as the event the festival commemorates.[1][2]
The story includes people who remained in the northeast as well as people who travelled. The farewell at the temple is the point where the archive brings those two histories together. In scholarship, Xibe also appears as Sibe, and writing about the language often uses the latter spelling.[2][4]
From Shengjing to the Ili Valley
According to the Xinjiang Archives, the party reached Huiyuan in the Ili area in 1765. In 1766 the group moved to the south side of the Ili River, where the settlements grew around farming and garrison life. Huiyuan is the place of arrival in that account. The settlements later established on the south bank belong to the history of Qapqal.[2]
A later irrigation channel also helps explain the present-day name. The archive describes a canal called Qapqal that supplied farmland. It connects that name with the autonomous county. The canal belongs to the history of settlement after the journey.[2]
How the Journey Is Remembered
The county heritage account names a Migration Song in the Xibe folk repertoire. Song can give a listener a way into the remembered experiences of leaving, travelling and settling. The national festival entry describes family commemoration and gatherings. A public programme can make some of that repertoire available to a wider audience.[1][3]
Archery can appear among the events. The article on Xibe bow-making traditions explains the distinct history of the local craft and the place of archery in community life. The name of the festival points back to the farewell that gave the event its date.[1]
Reading the Date on a Festival Programme
The traditional date counts to day eighteen within lunar month four. In a Gregorian calendar the corresponding date moves from year to year. An event announcement can also name separate times for different parts of a programme. Read the place and year with the date. A listing in English may express the day in the Gregorian calendar while using the lunar anniversary to explain its significance.[1][3]
China added the festival to its first national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. That date records the listing. The dates in the archive describe the journey, and the lunar date is the anniversary people observe.[1][2]
FAQs About the Xibe Westward Migration Festival
Is the Festival on April 18 Every Year?
The traditional date is day eighteen of the fourth lunar month. Its Gregorian equivalent changes, so a public event should be identified from a programme for the particular year.[1][3]
Does the Festival Mark Arrival in Xinjiang?
It commemorates the 1764 departure from Shengjing. The Xinjiang Archives places the arrival at Huiyuan in 1765 and the move to settlements south of the Ili River in 1766.[1][2]
Fuentes
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Xibe Westward Migration Festival
[2] Xinjiang Archives. The Xibe garrison and westward migration
[3] Qapqal county government. National heritage items, including Xibe folk song and the festival
[4] Cornell University eCommons. The Historical Phonology of Manchu Dialects, section on Sibe