Zhang Xishan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhang Xishan, Male, Han, from Houma, Shanxi, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Qilin Dance (Ⅲ-43). The tradition is documented in Houma, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Qilin Dance in Houma, Shanxi: Qilin Collecting the Eight Treasures is transmitted mainly around Qiaocun Village, Xintian Township, Houguai City. The performing troupe made up of villagers of this same village is the main body of transmission; no branches outside the county have been observed, so it forms a single-village, single-school pattern of transmission. The shehuo and gong-and-drum traditions of the Fen-Kui confluence area in southern Shanxi provide accompaniment and a site for this dance, and the people of Qiaocun treat it as a public ceremony of the village, forming a troupe to take the field at the Spring Festival, temple fairs, and city and county folk arts performances. The troupe is led by older performers who take apprentices separately; Hou Jishan, Zhang Xishan and others successively served as the main performers, forming a fixed core based on the village. The "sun", the clouds and the eight treasure props used in the dance were all made by performers of this village, and the repair and renovation of the props have likewise been handed down through generations in the village; the assignment of roles in the troupe follows the fixed order of cloud dance first, qilin in the middle and treasure-gathering at the end. Qilin Collecting the Eight Treasures is a traditional folk dance that began to be transmitted in the mid and late Qing dynasty around Qiaocun Village, Xintian Township, Houguai City, Shanxi Province.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnic group, born in December 1949, a native of Houma City, Shanxi Province. Immersed from childhood in the Qilin Gathering the Eight Treasures, he formed a special attachment to it and in his early teens joined the Qiaocun Qilin Gathering the Eight Treasures team under the veteran artist Hou Jishan. Tall, agile and forceful in his steps, he specializes in dancing the tail of the qilin; his rapport with the artist Wang Zhenping made theirs a celebrated qilin dance partnership in the locality. As he grew older and his skills improved he became known not only within a radius of several dozen li but also led the team in folk dance performances at municipal and county level. Within the documented technical tradition of Qilin Dance in Houma, Shanxi: The dance expresses the villagers' hopes for a happy and beautiful life and their praise of an age of peace. For more than two hundred years Qiaocun has handed it down orally and by demonstration, passing it from generation to generation to the present day. The dance is divided into three parts. The first part is the "cloud dance": eight golden boys and jade maidens dance lightly with clouds, arranging the clouds into the large characters "peace under heaven". The middle part is the "qilin dance": amid encircling auspicious clouds, the qilin enters and dances under the guidance of the "sun", with graceful posture and beautiful movement, showing an elegant bearing and an auspicious atmosphere. The final part is the "treasure-gathering dance": it shows that the divine and martial qilin strongly yearns for and loves the beautiful things of the human world, and has therefore come down to the human world to gather the eight treasures — the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, antiquities, the tower, the vase and the game board — in order to adorn the divine palace in the sky. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The three-part structure: cloud dance, qilin dance, treasure dance": The dance has three parts: eight children form the characters for universal peace with cloud props, the qilin enters led by the sun, and finally the qilin gathers treasures from the human world. "The eight treasures": The qilin collects eight treasures - zither, chess, books, painting, antiquities, tower, vase and games - to adorn the heavenly palace. "The sun leading the qilin on stage": At the centre of the dance the performer playing the sun leads the qilin into the ring of clouds, giving the section its serene and dignified air. "Zhang Xishan's qilin-tail technique": Zhang Xishan joined the Qiaocun troupe as a boy under Hou Jishan and became known for dancing the qilin tail in a long-standing partnership with Wang Zhenping.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A representative bearer of the Qilin Dance (Qilin Gathering the Eight Treasures), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. As a folk artist charged with transmitting the qilin dance, he gives free coaching to the Qiaocun traditional dance team every Sunday and passes on the relevant knowledge to fellow villagers. At the same time he continually recruits young people who love folk dance and show high artistic attainment, strengthening the ranks of transmitters.

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. Zhang Xishan · National Representative Bearer Archive