Chinese Zen master Fu Dashi, or Fu Xi, courtesy name Xuanfeng, was born in Jiting, a town in Wushang county in Liang, a state of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589).

One day in 520, when he dried up some water to catch fish, Fu happened to meet the Songtoutuo dharma, who preached Buddhist doctrine to him. Fu then dedicated himself to Buddhism and became a Buddha after seven years of monastic life.

In 534, Fu Dashi sent his disciple Fu Pumin, or Fu Wang, to the capital city and suggested Emperor Wu of the Liang state support the promotion of Buddhism. On Dec 19 of that year, Fu Dashi went to visit the emperor personally.

From 534 to 540, he had three discussions with Emperor Wu and they finally founded Daquan Buddhism. He and Yu Baozhi were also considered “two great disciples of Buddha” in the Liang Dynasty (502-557).

Jia Liang, or Jia Bangxin, a member of the ninth generation of the Jia family in Yangchuan, became a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations of Tang Dynasty (618-907) and served as a censor for the imperial government. In 646, he visited his hometown and built an ancestral hall for the Jia family. With the help of his friend, Luo Binwang, one of the Four Greats of the Early Tang, the Genealogy of the Jia Family in Yangchuan was completed.

Since then, people staged tai ge qiao, a folk art form at ceremonial activities on the 18th day of the first lunar month and the eighth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese calendar. It was once suspended after China’s liberation in 1949. After the country’s reform and opening-up process started in 1978, the performance was resumed.

As a traditional sacrificial ritual, tai ge qiao, or platform lifting on stilts, is usually staged on the 18th day of the first lunar month and the eighth day of the fifth lunar month, and in Zhijia village on the 15th day of the first lunar month and the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. 

People beat gongs and drums to receive Buddhist statues of Fu Dashi at Shuanglin Temple and hold sacrificial rituals on duty day and night in the village. On the second day, villagers come to chant scriptures and worship. On the third day, every household participates in a parade around the village and neighboring villages. On the fourth day, people host a grand temple fair at Haiyun Temple and then send the statues back to Shuanglin Temple.

Since the Shuanglin Temple was once destroyed, the traditional event starts and ends in Haiyun Temple after the parade around the villages.

During these activities, the procession pioneers, Chinese gong and drum performers, flagmen, stilt-walkers, incense and candles holders, incense presenters, statue carriers, imperial umbrellas and fan holders parade in an orderly manner. Farmers launch altars and then light incense and candles, set off firecrackers, and burn fake paper money as the parade arrives.

The specially designed platform, which is about 1 square meter and 90 centimeters high, is surrounded by fences. Two or three children from 5 to 10 years old, wearing opera costumes and thick make-up and carrying props, play real or fictional characters, such as Mu Guiying Guashuai (Mu Guiying Assumes Her Generalship), Fan Lihua and Xue Dingshan, Tianxianpei (Perfect Match), and Princess Shuangyang, on a moving stage held up by four family members or relatives and attended by a group of villagers.

There are only about a dozen traditional tai ge qiao, which are performed in rotation by 10 Jia families. Every 10 years, Jia families in Jiabotang village in Shangxi town and Jiazhai village in Dongyang have a grand celebration on the 18th day of the first lunar month and the eighth day of the fifth lunar month. After China's reform and opening-up started, with the new economic prosperity and the return of folk culture, there are now more than 40 tai ge qiao in various villages in the area. Tai ge qiao are carried out in turn by seven villages: Meilin, Jiangnanjie, Shangjiazhai, Yanli, Zetanyan, Jiali and Xingjia.