Zhou Chunqin
01 · Lineage & Regional School
From childhood he studied Buddhist drama and the funeral dance under his father, Zhou Zihai, and later studied Nuo drama under Xiang Xingyuan. In 1981 he began following his masters from village to village and household to household to fulfil vows and perform meritorious deeds, the prayer rituals that a family commissions after a death. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tujia Sayeerhe in Sangzhi, Hunan: Sangzhi "Sayeh" is transmitted mainly in the Tujia settlements of Xiaojia Town, Shangdongjie Township, Lianghekou Township and other places of Sangzhi County in Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province. Over one hundred performers are active in the county and relatively fixed troupes have formed; the troupes are linked to one another through ritual-specialist apprenticeships, and each keeps its own distinct set of gang steps and hand formulas. Sangzhi lies at the northern foot of the Wuling Mountains and at the source of the Lishui River, where the Tujia live interspersed with the Bai and Miao. The transmission of "dancing the funeral" there is closely related to the shamanic tradition of Chu and Xiang. In the county's Tujia villages the ritual specialists also perform Buddhist opera, Nuo opera and shamanic rites, and in funerals dancing the funeral and the rites are often carried on in alternation.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Tujia, born in March 1944 in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province. In 1984 he was ordained to the office of chief altar master by the transmitting master Liu Shunze, and to this day he works professionally in folk activities such as the funeral dance, Buddhist drama, Nuo drama and shamanic ritual, commanding a wide range of performance skills. His devout and disciplined religious dance movements, accompanied by the high and impassioned percussion, may be said to represent the culmination of the funeral dance, deeply imbued with the primal, archaic content of Tujia culture, in which one may glimpse the mysterious and uncanny manner of the Chu-Xiang shamanic and Nuo traditions. His performances have taken him throughout Hunan and Hubei provinces, and he has taught more than thirty disciples, exerting a far-reaching influence. Within the documented technical tradition of Tujia Sayeerhe in Sangzhi, Hunan: "Sayeh" in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province, is also called "dancing the funeral"; it is a traditional dance of which the Tujia people of Sangzhi and the other peoples there are fond, and in Hunan it is transmitted mainly in Tujia residential areas such as Xiaojia Town, Shangdongjie Township and Lianghekou Township of Sangzhi County in Zhangjiajie City. Sangzhi County lies at the far northwest corner of Hunan, at the northern foot of the Wuling Mountains and at the southern end of the western Hubei mountains, and is the source of the Lishui River, one of the four main river systems of Hunan. Sangzhi "Sayeh", tempered by time, has formed a rhythm of following the beat in the same direction on the same side, trembling knees with a sinking body, and turning the torso in a circling arc; it has a simple and solemn dance style, a dance rhythm in which composure and abandon coexist, and a rich and colourful movement vocabulary. The purpose of Sangzhi "dancing the funeral" is to deliver the soul of the deceased, release sins, cherish the memory of the dead, inspire the living, face death optimistically, and let the soul be sublimated in detachment. The basic steps include "bugang" (including more than twenty forms such as sizhou gang, sanitai gang, bagua gang and qixing gang), "walking the four directions", "soft stamping step" and "three and a half steps back". The hand patterns include 72 hand formulas such as "great heavenly gate", "heavenly flag", "swallowing gate" and "white crane", and 36 hand prints such as "almsgiving", "lotus" and "paper-cutting". Movement combinations include "picking the immortal peach", "expelling evil", "subduing the demon", "the repentance rite" and "child attendant worshipping Guanyin". Stage formations include "two dragons embracing the pillar", "the dragon swaying its tail" and "double linked rings". The music of Sangzhi "dancing the funeral" has no melody; it is accompanied by percussion instruments such as the large drum, gong, cymbals, small cymbals, bell and hooked gong. There are more than one hundred performers in Sangzhi County as a whole, with fixed troupes. Sangzhi "dancing the funeral" contains rich historical and cultural information and has important historical, cultural and academic value; its marked artistic features provide abundant material for the creation and performance of contemporary Tujia dance, and it is an artistic model contributed by the Tujia people of Sangzhi to humanity of "using long dance as a substitute for weeping". The optimistic and open-hearted state of mind, the positive spiritual qualities and the moral pursuit of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, propriety, decorum, integrity and shame" that it expresses still play a positive role in the real society today. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Step diagrams: four directions, three terraces, eight trigrams, seven stars": The basic 'diagram steps' of the Sangzhi dance include over twenty patterns such as the four directions and the eight trigrams. "Seventy-two hand gestures and thirty-six seals": Its gesture system is extensive, with seventy-two hand positions and thirty-six seals carrying strong religious overtones. "Two dragons hugging a pillar, dragon wagging its tail, double chain": Named stage patterns of the Sangzhi dance, alongside action sequences such as plucking the peach and exorcising evil. "Percussion without melody": Its music has no melody, relying on big drum, gongs, cymbals, bells and hooked gongs, with same-side steps and trembling knees.
Step diagrams: four directions, three terraces, eight trigrams, seven stars
The basic 'diagram steps' of the Sangzhi dance include over twenty patterns such as the four directions and the eight trigrams.
Seventy-two hand gestures and thirty-six seals
Its gesture system is extensive, with seventy-two hand positions and thirty-six seals carrying strong religious overtones.
Two dragons hugging a pillar, dragon wagging its tail, double chain
Named stage patterns of the Sangzhi dance, alongside action sequences such as plucking the peach and exorcising evil.
Percussion without melody
Its music has no melody, relying on big drum, gongs, cymbals, bells and hooked gongs, with same-side steps and trembling knees.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
He is a representative bearer of Tujia Sayeerhe, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Sangzhi lies at the northern foot of the Wuling Mountains and at the source of the Lishui River, where the Tujia live interspersed with the Bai and Miao. The transmission of "dancing the funeral" there is closely related to the shamanic tradition of Chu and Xiang. In the county's Tujia villages the ritual specialists also perform Buddhist opera, Nuo opera and shamanic rites, and in funerals dancing the funeral and the rites are often carried on in alternation.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanziyou | Zhangyangtujiazuzizhi, Hubei | 02-0365 | Other regional school |
| Zhang Yanke | Zhangyangtujiazuzizhi, Hubei | 02-0366 | Other regional school |
| Mao Fangming | Wufengtujiazuzizhi, Hubei | 05-2225 | Other regional school |
| Huang Zaixiu | Badong, Hubei | 05-2226 | Other regional school |
| Zhou Chunqin | Sangzhi, Hunan | 05-2227 | This page |
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。