Ding Zhifan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Raised in a family steeped in the tradition, at the age of seventeen he formally began learning the hanging dragon dance from his father. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dragon Dance in Chengbumiaozuzizhi, Hunan: The village of Xiatuan, Dankou Town, belongs to the western villages (the area of Dankou Town and Chang'anying Township) and chiefly performs the hanging dragon (locally also called the “golden dragon”). The hanging dragon is passed down in the village of Xiatuan, Dankou Town, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan Province; it is the traditional form in which Miao villages use the dragon lantern to pray for favourable wind and rain and abundant harvests. The Miao country of Chengbu has long had the custom of bringing out the dragon lantern by the unit of the nine dong and forty-eight villages; whenever the Spring Festival or a major celebration comes, the dragon lantern is danced, and the colour and image of the dragon lantern are distinguished according to the five directions of east, south, west, north and centre. Xiatuan village belongs to the western villages (the area of Dankou Town and Chang'anying Township) and chiefly performs the hanging dragon (locally also called the “golden dragon”). Through long practice its props and performance have developed their own line, forming a distinctive structure in which dragon sections are hung from long flat poles, bamboo slats and red cord, clearly different in form from dragons held aloft on the flat and from bench dragons.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Miao ethnicity, born in October 1937 in Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Hunan Province. He commands the entire repertoire of dragon dance techniques and the sequence of rituals that accompanies it, such as the sacrifices for bringing out the lanterns and for putting them away. Building on traditional techniques for constructing the hanging dragon, he uses new materials to make it lighter and more beautiful; his construction method follows no fixed pattern and is extremely flexible, allowing the colour of the dragon to be changed and its length adjusted as required. The dragon dance movements are superb, the spectacle grand and lifelike, and the playing of percussion and suona distinctly characteristic. He mobilised the whole village to form a dragon lantern team, established a hanging dragon transmission base and has persisted in passing on the skills. Within the documented technical tradition of Dragon Dance in Chengbumiaozuzizhi, Hunan: The hanging dragon passed down in the village of Xiatuan, Dankou Town, Chengbu County, Hunan Province, is a dragon dance whose prop-making and performing method are unique: first a number of long and short flat bamboo poles and red cord are made respectively into “small hangings” and “middle hangings,” the small hanging is then hung on the middle hanging, dragon sections framed of bamboo splints and covered with cloth are hung on the small hanging, and then a “great lift,” made of a transversely raised long flat pole and a bamboo pole two metres high, is used to lift it up, six sets in all being produced. When dancing, the dragon head and the dragon sections are linked together, each dancer holds a bamboo pole high overhead, and to the accompaniment of percussion music the dancers, led by the one carrying the dragon pearl, begin to move, as though the “dragon” were coiling in the clouds — a truly magnificent scene. Whenever the Spring Festival or a major celebration comes, the nine dong and forty-eight villages of the Miao country of Chengbu County dance the dragon lantern to pray for favourable wind and rain and abundant harvests, distinguishing the colour and image of the dragon lantern by the five directions of east, south, west, north and centre. When a grand celebration or successive bumper harvests come, there are also villages of one direction performing the “five dragons bringing auspiciousness” together, but this must strictly follow the five directions and five colours of the villages. Whenever the village of Xiatuan, Dankou Town, holds a dragon dance, it is particularly insistent on etiquette: wherever the dragon dance team arrives it must hold the rituals of inviting the dragon, receiving the dragon and congratulating the dragon at the village entrance, the gate of the stockade and the main hall. The receiving party sets out an offering table and incense stand, offers the tablet of the divine dragon together with three kinds of sacrificial animals and fruit and cakes, and the dragon dancers and the people receiving the dragon perform three kneelings and three kowtows before the incense stand; then the dragon dance side delivers words of congratulation and the receiving side returns the courtesy. In the exchange of congratulation and reply between the two sides, the Miao “kuanci” (speech of congratulation) is used to praise the divine dragon and the ancestors, and praise for the weather, the terrain and human harmony is expressed in the form of singing poems and matching couplets. The two sides encourage one another; the warmth and harmony bring out both the Miao people's manner of courtesy and the rich depth of their national culture. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The three-stage suspension structure": The structure uses long and short bamboo carrying poles and red cord to make small and medium suspensions, from which cloth-covered body sections hang, all raised by a large two-metre hoist in six groups. "Five directions, five colours": The villages raise lanterns by the forty-eight stockaded settlements, colours and shapes assigned to the five directions; in great years five villages may dance the Five Dragons together. "Inviting, receiving and congratulating the dragon": The village observes strict etiquette: at village mouth, stockade gate and main hall the host sets an altar with the dragon tablet and offerings, and both sides kneel three times. "Miao kuanci toasts and replies": Host and guest exchange Miao kuanci verses praising the dragon and ancestors and matching couplets on heaven, earth and human accord, each encouraging the other.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Dragon Dance (Chengbu Hanging Dragon), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 2011 he led the dragon dance team to the gold award at the dragon dance competition of the tenth China Folk Literature and Art Shanhua Awards.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

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.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Ding Zhifan · National Representative Bearer Archive