Hou Jun
01 · Lineage & Regional School
He is the eighty-ninth-generation bearer of Paoweizi. He studied the formations, footwork and hand gestures of Paoweizi under Yang Shouye, a veteran artist and head of the Longhua Weizi Society; learned the making of the weizi (canopy) under the veteran artist Bai Xiuying; and learned gong-and-drum and twisted-drum techniques from the veteran artists Yu Tian and Wang Jingui. He thus acquired a fairly complete and proficient command of the performance sequence from the council meeting to the welcome of the imperial carriage and the seeing-off of officials, as well as of more than a hundred formations and running patterns, including the "Taiji Formation", the "Bagua Formation" and the "Cao Mao Moves the Troops Formation". Within the regional tradition and school record of Paoweizi Dance in Tangyin, Henan: The Pao Weizi is an ancient folk dance that is active in the area of Baiying Village, Huying Village and Dongxilong Village east of Tangyin county town in Anyang City, Henan Province. According to legend it originated in the Spring and Autumn period. It was originally a sacrificial activity in which the soldiers of the State of Qi commemorated Wei Nu, a concubine of their ruler Duke Huan; it gradually took shape during the Qin and Han dynasties and later evolved into a large-scale folk square dance, and it has been transmitted down to the present for more than two thousand six hundred years. The ritual character of the Pao Weizi comes from the old story of the Qi soldiers commemorating Wei Nu, the concubine of Duke Huan; among the items in its formations, names such as "relieving Wei by besieging Zhao", "bombarding the Fragrant Smoke City" and "Li Yuan persuading the generals" all draw on history and on storytelling tales, and these are matched with the four ritual segments of "deliberation, performing antiquity, welcoming the escort of the sovereign and seeing off the officials". For a long time this dance has been carried on without interruption by oral teaching and bodily demonstration in the villages of Baiying, Huying and Dongxilong east of Tangyin county town; the villages set up a dance headman to preside over rehearsals and over the sending out of the teams, and the required props, such as the weizi banners and the twisted drums, were jointly bought and repaired by the members of the association.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1946, a native of Tangyin County, Henan Province. He has systematically collated the traditional formations and drum scores of Paoweizi, and keeps in his care precious objects and documents including weizi, twisted drums, dragon heads, traditional dance notation and formation diagrams; he has trained more than 150 new team members. Within the documented technical tradition of Paoweizi Dance in Tangyin, Henan: The Pao Weizi has the dual characteristics of ancient warfare and folk sacrificial activity; compared with other dances, its dance steps, formations, props and musical accompaniment are all distinctive, and it possesses unique artistic charm. It is performed by seventy-two sturdy young men, each holding a long wooden pole dyed in two colours, red and black, with a curtain-like "weizi" banner formed of coloured ribbons at the top of the pole. In performance the dancers form up in ranks and advance at a rhythmical jog with knees bent in a slight crouch, forming various different formations such as "relieving Wei by besieging Zhao", "bombarding the Fragrant Smoke City" and "Li Yuan persuading the generals", and these are matched with the rituals of "deliberation, performing antiquity, welcoming the escort of the sovereign and seeing off the officials". The Pao Weizi is closely bound up with the folk activities of the local Tangyin area; participation by the masses is broad, the organisation is strict, the ritual character is strong, and the performance scene is grand and magnificent, presenting a distinctive artistic style within which are embodied prayers for favourable weather, bountiful harvests, and thriving livestock and people; it has research value in folklore studies and in other fields. For a long time the Pao Weizi has been passed on without interruption by oral teaching and bodily demonstration. The long poles of the Pao Weizi are hewn from wood and dyed in two colours, red and black; coloured ribbons at the top of the poles are tied out into the curtain-shaped "weizi", so that when the troupe travels the poles stand upright with the ribbons hanging down and look from a distance like a continuous expanse of tent curtains. The seventy-two dancers jog forward with knees bent in a slight crouch, their steps changing with the drumbeats, and the formations change through the rotation and interweaving of the pole positions; within the formation a "twisted drum" keeps the rhythm, and the dragon-head props and the formation diagrams are kept by veteran artists as the basis for drilling the formations. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Seventy-two men and the two-colour poles": Seventy-two young men each carry a wooden pole dyed in red and black, topped with ribbons that form the curtain-like wei. "The named battle formations": Advancing in a crouched half-run the dancers form such patterns as relieving Zhao by besieging Wei, bombarding the incense city and Li Yuan admonishing his generals. "Deliberation, legend, welcome and farewell": The formations are matched by four ritual passages - deliberation, enacting the past, receiving and escorting the official - which give the whole performance its strict order. "The crouched jogging gait": The basic gait is a rhythmic jog in a bent-knee crouch, the poles upright and ribbons hanging, stride strictly matched to the drum as formations change on the move.
Seventy-two men and the two-colour poles
Seventy-two young men each carry a wooden pole dyed in red and black, topped with ribbons that form the curtain-like wei.
The named battle formations
Advancing in a crouched half-run the dancers form such patterns as relieving Zhao by besieging Wei, bombarding the incense city and Li Yuan admonishing his generals.
Deliberation, legend, welcome and farewell
The formations are matched by four ritual passages - deliberation, enacting the past, receiving and escorting the official - which give the whole performance its strict order.
The crouched jogging gait
The basic gait is a rhythmic jog in a bent-knee crouch, the poles upright and ribbons hanging, stride strictly matched to the drum as formations change on the move.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Paoweizi, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
According to legend it originated in the Spring and Autumn period. It was originally a sacrificial activity in which the soldiers of the State of Qi commemorated Wei Nu, a concubine of their ruler Duke Huan; it gradually took shape during the Qin and Han dynasties and later evolved into a large-scale folk square dance, and it has been transmitted down to the present for more than two thousand six hundred years. The ritual character of the Pao Weizi comes from the old story of the Qi soldiers commemorating Wei Nu, the concubine of Duke Huan; among the items in its formations, names such as "relieving Wei by besieging Zhao", "bombarding the Fragrant Smoke City" and "Li Yuan persuading the generals" all draw on history and on storytelling tales, and these are matched with the four ritual segments of "deliberation, performing antiquity, welcoming the escort of the sovereign and seeing off the officials". For a long time this dance has been carried on without interruption by oral teaching and bodily demonstration in the villages of Baiying, Huying and Dongxilong east of Tangyin county town; the villages set up a dance headman to preside over rehearsals and over the sending out of the teams, and the required props, such as the weizi banners and the twisted drums, were jointly bought and repaired by the members of the association.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hou Jun | Tangyin, Henan | 05-2260 | 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。