Farmers in Huai'an City celebrate the harvest. (CFP Photo)

In the runup to the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival on September 22, the organizing committee for Jiangsu’s celebration of the festival introduced the planned activities during a press conference on September 14.

Starting in 2018, it is the first national festival held specifically for the country's farmers. It coincides with the Autumnal Equinox each year, which is one of the 24 solar terms and usually falls between Sept. 22 and 24 during the country's agricultural harvest season.

Huang Fei, deputy director of the organizing committee, said the festival this year will highlight the theme of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and consist of a wide range of activities that can be summarized as “1+5+N,” which means one major event in Yonglian Village of Zhangjiagang City, five provincial-level activities in Xinghua of Taizhou City, Hongze District of Huai’an City, Sheyang County of Yancheng City, Yixing of Wuxi City and Nanjing, and other programs at the district or county level.

Wu Huifang, Party chief of Yonglian Village, said the event will mainly include performances directed and played by farmers themselves, an exhibition and fair of agricultural products, a food show, and a sports competition of farmers. The event will also feature a performance of agricultural drones, a display of modern farming equipment, farmers’ livestreaming e-commerce, an exhibition of farmers’ painting and calligraphy works, and a show of intangible cultural heritage. Such activities will fully showcase the modernization drive of Jiangsu’s agriculture, rural areas, life of farmers and cultural innovation.

Yancheng City is home to part of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf coast inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Among the five places to host provincial-level events, Sheyang in Yancheng will highlight the ecological charm of the world heritage area and the county’s reputation as a main production base of chrysanthemum. The event will start on September 22 and run for one month mainly in the local agriculture park.

Xinghua’s celebration of the festival will also reflect the area’s distinctive characteristics. The county-level city under the administration of Taizhou City has one-fourth of its areas covered by water and is known for freshwater produces. At the main venue of the celebration in Liuze Village, visitors can participate in fishing, water games and other fun activities in the beautiful rustic atmosphere.

Xinghua produces about 600 million river crabs a year and one of eight quality crabs with eco-labelling in the country comes from Xinghua.