Wang Lasheng
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Wang Lasheng, Male, Deang, from Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Deang Jiaohua Festival (Ⅹ-78). The tradition is documented in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Deang Jiaohua Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan: The Watering Flower Festival is a traditional festival of the entire De'ang people, commonly held in the De'ang settlement stockades throughout the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, with the festival period fixed as three consecutive days beginning on the seventh day after Qingming. The main site of the rites is the stockade's zhuangfang: on the afternoon of the first day, dressed-up men and women set out from each household carrying clear water, fresh flowers, and prepared food to gather at the Buddhist temple; young men strike the elephant-foot drums to set the rhythm, young women respond to the drums with the Duisha dance, and the rest, with small flower baskets on their shoulders and bamboo water tubes in their hands, pour water in turn into the water-dragon trough to bathe the Buddha image. On the following day each stockade forms a long line and, led by a column of elephant-foot drums, crosses the mountains to fetch water; at wells and springs offerings must first be laid out before water is drawn, and during the water-fetching the young men and women pass cigarettes, sing in antiphony, and compete in dance. The Jingpo, Dai, and other peoples hold their Water-Splashing Festival or Munao Zongge at the same period, so several festivals join front to back within the same landscape, and the Watering Flower Festival is thus able to persist stably in a pattern of interleaved multi-ethnic festival seasons. The choice of date for the Watering Flower Festival is bound up with the De'ang belief in the agricultural calendar. The festival opens on the seventh day after Qingming, by which time the season has passed the spring equinox: transplanting on the terraced fields and sowing on the dry land come due in succession, and the villagers have not yet gone out to work, so there happens to be an interval in which they can stop. Placing the festival at this point inserts the sacrifices into a gap in the farm work rather than setting up a day unrelated to the agricultural calendar. The three-day program unfolds along the same logic: the first day is given to rites, offerings, and recited texts inside the zhuangfang (village Buddhist temple), and the second and third days turn to fetching water and merrymaking; sacrifice comes first and festivity after, and the order cannot be reversed. The De'ang Buddhist temple, the zhuangfang, is directly connected with the life of the stockade; the religious portion of the festival is presided over by the village elders or the abbot, and the identity of the presider directly determines the legitimacy of the rite. The key figures in transmitting this festival have therefore always been the elders and the abbot within the temple, not the musicians and dancers.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Born in September 1942, male, De'ang ethnicity, a native of Mangshi City, Yunnan Province. He has loved De'ang culture since childhood; at the age of fifteen he became a novice monk at the zangfang (Buddhist temple) of his village, where he studied Buddhist ritual conduct and written texts under the senior monk Zhao Menlong, and later went to Myanmar for further study. He actively carries out transmission activities for the project and has considerable influence among the local people. Within the documented technical tradition of Deang Jiaohua Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan: The Watering Flower Festival is an annual traditional festival of the De'ang people, practiced mainly among the De'ang populace of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The festival begins on the seventh day after Qingming and lasts three days. On the first day of the festival, the De'ang people put on festive dress, carry clear water drawn from the wells on their backs, bring food prepared well in advance, and hold fresh flowers in their hands as they gather at their stockade's zhuangfang. The festival rites are presided over by the elders of the stockade. During the ceremony, young men strike elephant-foot drums, young women dance the 'Duisha' (sand-piling) dance to the drumbeat, and the other worshippers, with small exquisite flower baskets on their backs and bamboo water tubes held above their heads, pour water in turn into the water-dragon trough to bathe the Buddha image, praying for favorable weather in the coming year. After the rites, people place the food they have brought into offering dishes in front of the Buddha image, recite the sacrificial text in unison, and then freely sample the various foods. When the eating is finished they form a long line and, led by a column of elephant-foot drums, cross mountains and valleys to fetch water at wells or springs. Every water-fetching is done with great care: a water-fetching offering rite must be held, and young men and women perform cultural presentations such as passing cigarettes, antiphonal singing, and dance competitions. The Watering Flower Festival is a crystallization of De'ang culture. It involves the De'ang people's religious rites, folk song and dance, folk crafts, marriage customs, and traditional cuisine, among other aspects, and possesses a very rich national cultural content. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Opening on the seventh day after Qingming": The festival opens on the seventh day after Qingming and runs for three days, timing the ceremony to the agricultural season. "Pouring water over the image": Named for the act of watering: villagers carry baskets and bamboo tubes and pour well water into a dragon trough before the image to ask the gods for good weather. "Recitation before the offerings": After the rite the food is laid on the offering plate, the elders recite the prayer aloud together, and all the participants eat as one community. "The ritual of fetching water": After the meal the villagers go to the well or spring, offering gifts first and exchanging tobacco, song and dance as they draw the water to be used as an offering.
Opening on the seventh day after Qingming
The festival opens on the seventh day after Qingming and runs for three days, timing the ceremony to the agricultural season.
Pouring water over the image
Named for the act of watering: villagers carry baskets and bamboo tubes and pour well water into a dragon trough before the image to ask the gods for good weather.
Recitation before the offerings
After the rite the food is laid on the offering plate, the elders recite the prayer aloud together, and all the participants eat as one community.
The ritual of fetching water
After the meal the villagers go to the well or spring, offering gifts first and exchanging tobacco, song and dance as they draw the water to be used as an offering.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
He is a national representative bearer of the De'ang Jiaohua (Flower-Watering) Festival, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. From 1977 he began presiding over religious rites and folk activities at the village temple, and is the local Dahelu, a mentor and cultural transmitter, as well as an important presiding figure of the Jiaohua Festival.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The choice of date for the Watering Flower Festival is bound up with the De'ang belief in the agricultural calendar. The festival opens on the seventh day after Qingming, by which time the season has passed the spring equinox: transplanting on the terraced fields and sowing on the dry land come due in succession, and the villagers have not yet gone out to work, so there happens to be an interval in which they can stop. Placing the festival at this point inserts the sacrifices into a gap in the farm work rather than setting up a day unrelated to the agricultural calendar. The three-day program unfolds along the same logic: the first day is given to rites, offerings, and recited texts inside the zhuangfang (village Buddhist temple), and the second and third days turn to fetching water and merrymaking; sacrifice comes first and festivity after, and the order cannot be reversed. The De'ang Buddhist temple, the zhuangfang, is directly connected with the life of the stockade; the religious portion of the festival is presided over by the village elders or the abbot, and the identity of the presider directly determines the legitimacy of the rite. The key figures in transmitting this festival have therefore always been the elders and the abbot within the temple, not the musicians and dancers.
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 Lasheng | Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan | 05-3016 | 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。