Hehe Park in Taizhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Sun Jinbiao]

Since ancient times, in the Tiantai Mountain area, doing good deeds has become a folk custom. People who believe in charity or have religious beliefs actively participate in bridge building, road paving, dam building, medicine application and road repair.

There is also a custom that it is forbidden to collect debts on the 24th day of the twelfth month in the lunar calendar. This custom was passed down from a county magistrate surnamed Dai in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) who did a lot of good things.

The custom is intended to allow poor families to go out and purchase necessities for the New Year, which is conducive to promoting social harmony. It gradually formed into a long-standing custom that continues today.

Family is the main component of society. The harmony of families is the foundation of the harmony of society.

Marriage is a major life event. For Tiantai people, there is a wedding day custom that after relatives and friends send the bridegroom and the bride into the bridal chamber, everyone should drink a "heqi (harmony) soup", indicating that from now on the whole family will live in harmony.

As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as close as neighbors. Tiantai people also pay great attention to neighborhood relations.

In the old days, folk associations in Tiantai Mountain were quite prosperous. Apart from economic and cultural links, members agreed to help each other, sharing happiness and hardship.

Tiantai people are simple and honest. Since the founding of the Republic of China (1912—1949), Tiantai people have set up some organizations to help each other, such as the "Brothers," "Silver Money" and "Firefighting".