Wang Miaolin
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Wang Miaolin, Male, Han, from Hangzhoushiyuhang, Zhejiang, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Yuhanggundeng (Ⅲ-16). The tradition is documented in Hangzhoushiyuhang, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yuhanggundeng in Hangzhoushiyuhang, Zhejiang: The Yuhang rolling lantern has as its core area of transmission the Linping District of Hangzhou City (formerly part of Wengmei Township, Yuhang); it belongs, together with the Haiyan rolling lantern of Zhejiang and the Fengxian rolling lantern of Shanghai, to different branches of the same "rolling lantern" item, and the construction of the lantern and the sequences differ in each. Locally, every Lantern Festival and Yuanshuai temple fair, the rolling lantern team goes out with the ceremonial procession, appearing on the same ground as the dragon lantern, horse lantern and stilt teams. As the rolling lantern is large in volume and turns rapidly, it is most useful for opening a way through crowded places. The Yuhang rolling lantern originates in the Wengmei area of Yuhang, Zhejiang, and has a history of more than eight hundred years as a folk dance performed during festivals and lantern fairs, marked by strong competitive character. The Southern Song poet Fan Chengda depicted the rolling lantern as follows in his poem "Thirty-two Rhymes on the Festival Objects of Wuzhong in the Upper Yuan Period": "The thrown candle soars steadily into the air; the pushed globe rolls lightly on the ground", from which it can be seen that the rolling lantern was already popular in the Southern Song period. Yuhang lies in the outskirts of Hangzhou and was within the capital's immediate sphere in the Southern Song; temple fair activities of all kinds were frequent there, and since the rolling lantern was a characteristic programme that had to appear among the ceremonial processions of the old popular festivals, it naturally became very popular.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1945 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He was born in Wengmei Township on the banks of the Qiantang River, the birthplace of Yuhang Gundeng. By the age of sixteen he had already become an accomplished exponent of the rolling lantern, a performer of exceptional strength able to wield single-handed the great lantern, which stood taller than a man and weighed more than fifty jin. In the 1960s he took part in the first large-scale performance staged after the rolling lantern had been rediscovered and documented. In 2008 he appeared in the warm-up performances held before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. He has worked assiduously to transmit the tradition: he has preserved the authentic men's rolling lantern and formed a community lantern team, and together with dance instructors from the local cultural center he has improved the lantern props and the performance itself, so that the rolling lantern not only survives among the people but has reached far broader stages. Within the documented technical tradition of Yuhanggundeng in Hangzhoushiyuhang, Zhejiang: Wengmei of Yuhang again lies on the north bank of the Qiantang River; the salt trade was flourishing in ancient times, and pirates repeatedly attacked. For the several hundred years afterwards, the people of Yuhang always treated the rolling lantern as an auspicious object and a means of strengthening the body, and every Lantern Festival or temple fair (above all the Yuanshuai temple fair) it would necessarily take part in performance, and so it has been handed down from generation to generation. Moreover, few masters of the rolling lantern's manufacturing craft remain. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Nine routines and twenty-seven movements": Nine routines and twenty-seven movements that unite dance, acrobatics and sport. "The man-high, fifty-catty lantern": The inheritor Wang Miaolin could swing a lantern as tall as a man and weighing over twenty-five kilograms. "Lantern Festival and the Marshal temple fair": As a former capital suburb with frequent temple fairs, Yuhang made the rolling lantern a fixture of Lantern Festival and Marshal temple processions. "Fan Chengda's Lantern Festival verses": The Southern Song poet Fan Chengda left the lines 'the tossed candle rides steady, the pushed ball rolls light', evidence the lantern was already popular.
Nine routines and twenty-seven movements
Nine routines and twenty-seven movements that unite dance, acrobatics and sport.
The man-high, fifty-catty lantern
The inheritor Wang Miaolin could swing a lantern as tall as a man and weighing over twenty-five kilograms.
Lantern Festival and the Marshal temple fair
As a former capital suburb with frequent temple fairs, Yuhang made the rolling lantern a fixture of Lantern Festival and Marshal temple processions.
Fan Chengda's Lantern Festival verses
The Southern Song poet Fan Chengda left the lines 'the tossed candle rides steady, the pushed ball rolls light', evidence the lantern was already popular.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Yuhang Gundeng, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The Yuhang rolling lantern originates in the Wengmei area of Yuhang, Zhejiang, and has a history of more than eight hundred years as a folk dance performed during festivals and lantern fairs, marked by strong competitive character. The Southern Song poet Fan Chengda depicted the rolling lantern as follows in his poem "Thirty-two Rhymes on the Festival Objects of Wuzhong in the Upper Yuan Period": "The thrown candle soars steadily into the air; the pushed globe rolls lightly on the ground", from which it can be seen that the rolling lantern was already popular in the Southern Song period.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wang Miaolin | Hangzhoushiyuhang, Zhejiang | 04-1563 | This page |
| Xu Siyan | Fengxian, Shanghai | 05-2222 | 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。