Huang Xingliang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Huang Xingliang, Male, Han, from Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Lion Dance (Ⅲ-5). The tradition is documented in Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Lion Dance in Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong: The Bao'an District of Shenzhen City has long had a tradition of lion dancing; at every festival, temple deity birthday or other major event, the people perform the lion dance in the hope of favourable omens and auspiciousness. In the early twentieth century, Huang Liansheng of Shangchuan, following the tradition, created the waking lion dance.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Huang Xingliang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Lion Dance in Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong. Within the documented technical tradition of Lion Dance in Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong: The Shangchuan Huang Liansheng Waking Lion Dance is a folk dance handed down through generations in Bao'an District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province. The performance of the Shangchuan Huang Liansheng Waking Lion Dance includes two parts, martial arts leading the way and the lion dance itself, and it has two modes of performance, the plaza mode and the formation-breaking mode. Plaza performance includes level ground, platforms, high poles and tall poles. One person plays the big-headed Buddha and two play the lions, performing the big-headed Buddha leading the lion, the lion emerging from the cave and picking the greens. Among these, probing the water from a high platform, tumbling on a high platform, snatching firecrackers and kicking firecrackers are the remarkable skills. Formation-breaking performance includes breaking the seven-stars-accompanying-the-moon array, the crab array, the snake array, the centipede array and the like; it must follow fixed rules and procedures, and at the end it displays couplets or auspicious words. The basic steps of the Shangchuan Huang Liansheng Waking Lion Dance include the level-four walking horse step and more than twenty others; they imitate the lion's designs of lying, sitting and kowtowing, and express emotional states such as joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, movement, stillness, fright and doubt. The gong-and-drum accompaniment varies with the different parts of the lion dance performance, and includes the three-bow lion drum, the high lion drum, the low lion drum and the three-throw lion drum. The Shangchuan Huang Liansheng Waking Lion Dance involves a large number of performers on a large scale, and is thrilling and marvellous, with highly accomplished technique. It requires a high degree of mutual trust and close cooperation between the head of the lion and the tail of the lion, and it makes high technical demands in terms of strength, balance, nerve and skill. The props of Huang Liansheng's martial lion follow the traditional martial lion design; the dance movements take the Hongmen boxing style as their main body, combine the five great southern boxing styles, and incorporate his own self-created 36-point, 72-point and 108-point boxing sets into the lion dance; techniques such as climbing high, jumping, soaring and turning are highly skilful, and the style carries a marked regional character. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Buddha leading the lion out and taking the greens": The core casting: one dancer as the big-headed Buddha and two as the lion, moving through leading the lion, leaving the cave and taking the greens. "Water-probing and rolling on the high platform, and snatching the firecracker": The troupe's signature feats within a ground, platform, pole and high-pole repertory; probing the water and rolling on a high platform, and snatching and kicking the firecracker, are the hardest. "Breaking the seven-star, crab, snake and centipede formations": The formations set for the breaking-formation show, performed strictly by rule and followed by the troupe spelling out auspicious characters or couplets. "The 36-, 72- and 108-point boxing routines": Boxing routines of 36, 72 and 108 points that Huang Liansheng created from Hongmen boxing and the five southern fists, fused into the lion dance.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Huang Xingliang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Lion Dance, with Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Lion Dance in Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong as its declared area, and Shenzhen Xinanshanghegufenhezuo Company as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

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. Huangxingliang (Shenzhenshibaoan, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Huangxingliang · China ICH Official Archive