Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12.s1.t2.22

v2.c12.s1.t2.22

In the period of the two Song Dynasties, both governments and common people paid great attention to Zhongyuan Festival. People worshipped the Buddha and their ancestors, and abstained from eating meat on the basis of filial piety, but they didn’t forget entertainment. They watched a play ‘*Mu Lian Saving His Mother*’. Volume 4 of ‘*Dreams of Past Glories of Bianliang*’ recorded that “ten thousand of lanterns were released on rivers” on the evening of July 15 in the lunar calendar.