Tian Zonglin
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Tian Zonglin, Male, Han, from Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Dragon Dance (Ⅲ-10). The tradition is documented in Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dragon Dance in Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan: But it was good at heart, never damaged the crops, and often drove away evil for the local people, and so people held it in great veneration. At present, as the older generation of folk artists passes away one after another and large numbers of local young and middle-aged people leave to trade and work elsewhere, the traditional dance of the Zhijiang rebellious dragon faces the danger of having no successors. The Zhijiang rebellious dragon is passed down in the village of Fujiatuan, Tuqiao Township, Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, and is popularly called the “inferior dragon” or the “snake dragon.” The local legend of the rebellious dragon holds that it was originally the Dragon King of the South Sea, of extremely violent temperament, so that the least anger made him overturn the rivers and seas, yet he was good at heart, never damaged the crops, and often drove away evil for the local people, and so people held him in great veneration. As the older generation of folk artists passes away one after another and large numbers of local young and middle-aged people leave to trade and work elsewhere, the traditional dance of the Zhijiang rebellious dragon faces the danger of having no successors. This dragon dance originates in the local folk legend of the “rebellious dragon”: the dragon was originally the Dragon King of the South Sea, and his temperament was extremely violent — the least anger would make him overturn the rivers and seas.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, of Dong ethnicity, born in June 1933 in Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province. He loved the Zhijiang nie long dance from childhood, and in 1956 began learning it from his elders, including dragon dancing, playing the treasure and constructing the dragon. He was invited to perform on the occasion of major festivals in the county and at village New Year celebrations. He innovated boldly in his dancing, expressing the agility, majesty and speed of dragon dance through such postures as leaping, rolling, twisting, probing and bowing. He regularly organises exchanges of experience between veteran and young performers, gives demonstrations in schools and in the county seat every year, and runs training classes in the Zhijiang nie long dance. He has trained more than ten disciples, including Tian Keyuan, passing the skills of the dance on to young people while also researching and organising its materials in an effort to carry the tradition forward. Within the documented technical tradition of Dragon Dance in Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan: “The rebellious dragon” (also called the “inferior dragon” or “snake dragon”), a traditional folk dance passed down in the village of Fujiatuan, Tuqiao Township, Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province, is a dragon dance performed by two people. In performance, one person raises a prop with a bamboo-splint dragon head and a paper-covered snake body, while the other holds a bamboo-splint dragon pearl in each hand; the two circle and dance to the accompaniment of percussion music. In the past, whenever the Lantern Festival came, the dance went from house to house to perform on the threshing floors of the various farmsteads. To express their gratitude, whenever the Lantern Festival came they would dance the rebellious dragon on a tour through the villages, to ward off evil spirits and pray for a bumper harvest. This folk traditional dance with a transmission of more than a hundred years, after continual refinement and reform by local folk artists, has now developed into a folk dance art with a complete form, considerable performing skill and a romantic colour, and is deeply loved by the people of the Dong villages. From the making of its props to its dance performance, the Zhijiang rebellious dragon has distinct local cultural characteristics, and it is also a case for studying the traditional culture of the local Dong people. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "A two-man dragon with serpent body": The basic form: one dancer raises a paper-and-bamboo head on a serpent body, the other holds two bamboo pearl props, and the two whirl to percussion. "Lantern Festival village rounds": At every Lantern Festival the dragon toured the hamlets' threshing floors to overawe evil spirits and pray for good harvests, an indispensable part of the Tujia-Dong new-year sequence. "The legend of the unruly dragon": The narrative source: the dragon, once the South Sea king, was violent in temper yet kind at heart, never harming crops and often driving off evil for the villagers. "Bamboo and paper head and pearls": The props are built of bamboo splints and pasted paper with painted scales, the pearls likewise, light enough for prolonged dancing and continuous with Dong village craft.
The eight battle formations
Two fork-bearers and eight or more shield-men form eight formations through rolling, striking, staking and dodging moves, each laid out with cunning precision and its own bearing.
The fork bearers and shield men
The basic casting of the men's ensemble, staging two armies breaking formations and trading attack and defence with unbroken stances, firm yet supple, swift yet orderly.
Rolling, striking, staking and dodging
The shield men's core movement series, matched to the eight formations and partaking of both martial art and acrobatics.
The suona melodies and southern loose-board
Its music draws on the suona tune gong qiang from lantern art, the long-note southern loose-board of opera, and the fast drumming of martial arts.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Dragon Dance (Zhijiang Nie Long), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
According to the Yongxin County Gazetteer and the Wu clan genealogy of Nantang Village, the shield could already in the Ming dynasty be "provided for practising martial arts and defending oneself"; the shield dance that evolved from this has a history of more than two hundred years to the present.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wu Sangui | Yongxin, Jiangxi | 02-0358 | Other regional school |
| Tian Zonglin | Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan | 04-1546 | This page |
| Xu Qiaoqing | Ruian, Zhejiang | 05-2218 | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。