Xiao Yiping

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Xiao Yiping, Male, Han, from Pingxiang, Jiangxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Nuo Dance (Ⅲ-7). The tradition is documented in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nuo Dance in Pingxiang, Jiangxi: The Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods circulates in the villages of Xiangdong, Shangli and Luxi and elsewhere under Pingxiang City, and nuo temples and nuo troupes are organised mainly by village and by clan. Pingxiang lies in the west of the Gan River region, bordering Liling and Liuyang in Hunan; it belonged to Wu in the Spring and Autumn period and to Chu in the Warring States period, and has been known since antiquity as the "throat between Wu and Chu". Historical records state that "the people of Chu loved shamanism", and Pingxiang, lying in ancient Chu territory, was noted for shamanic nuo practice, with the saying current among the people that "there is a general every five li and a nuo god every ten li", which provided rich cultural soil for the transmission of the Play of the Nuo Gods. At present the locality has twenty-three items of preserved repertoire. Nuo activities in Pingxiang began in the Shang and Zhou periods and were still flourishing in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Under this cultural influence, the Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods has been carried down to the present through master-and-disciple and community transmission. It originates in nuo sacrificial rites and has a distinctive style; the nuo masks it employs combine ornamental beauty, colour beauty, symbolism and secular character, and so have considerable artistic and historical value.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Xiao Yiping is anchored in the documented technical standards of Nuo Dance in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Nuo Dance in Pingxiang, Jiangxi: The Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods is a traditional nuo dance circulating in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province; it is a masked dance. Nuo, that is, "the sacrifice that drives away ghosts and pestilence", was originally a primitive religious rite, and Gan-region nuo has exerted enormous influence within Chinese nuo culture. Pingxiang lies in the west of the Gan River region, bordering Liling and Liuyang in eastern Hunan; in the Spring and Autumn period it belonged to the State of Wu and in the Warring States period to the State of Chu, and has been known since antiquity as the "throat between Wu and Chu". The Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods is an important part of nuo activity. It takes the three generals Tang, Ge and Zhou as its principal deities, uses "driving off pestilence and banishing ghosts" as its means, and, with combinations of hand and foot movements, portrays the characters represented by the masks it wears, achieving the aim of praying for blessings and receiving good fortune. Every nuo mask is carved by a chushi, or master carver, according to the inherited facial patterns, that is, the divine registers, and through the holding of the relevant rites the mask is given a sense of life. The dance movements of the Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods are distinctive in style, each with its own character. Its footwork and formations strictly follow the procedure of nuo activity. Its footwork developed on the basis of "shaman dance" and "Yu's steps", taking east, west, south, north and centre as its directions, and characterised by close-to-the-body movement alternating with small turning steps. Its formations take the Ziwu Returning Dragon, the Taiji Returning Dragon and the Bagua Returning Dragon as pivots, giving rise to such formations as the "single-row long snake", the "dragon gate", the "eight trigrams" and the "sparrow". Spiralling, the dancer turns about the body; the prop held close, the steps are light. Bending the torso to change position, the mask is shown; swaying the upper body, the feet must stay firm. Both hands dance before the chest and before the knees, the feet step half a pace and both knees stay level; on the strong beat rise with force, on the weak beat stamp down, passing through at angles, obliquely and sidewise. This is a true portrayal of the skills of the Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods. Each item comprises eight movements: jumping, leaning back, stamping, tumbling, turning, spinning, shaking and swaying. Its drum patterns are extremely varied; a single nuo dance performance calls for more than twenty tune patterns to be beaten out. The nuo weapons used in the Play of the Nuo Gods include swords, axes, sabres, hammers, maces and the like, and it fuses the performance movements of drama, dance and martial arts into one; it is rough and dashing, witty and humorous, with rigorously ordered movement, grandiose momentum, expansive amplitude and a strong sense of plastic form. As society has developed, the Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods has achieved a transition from shamanism to art, from entertaining the gods to entertaining the people, and from theology to aesthetics, becoming a mass cultural activity that the people of Pingxiang relish in daily life. The Pingxiang Play of the Nuo Gods is an important component of nuo culture and of ancient traditional dance. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The three generals Tang, Ge and Zhou": The dance's chief deities are the three generals Tang, Ge and Zhou; through stamping dance and impersonation of the masks it expels plague and secures blessing. "The ritual master and the ancestral god list": Each mask is carved by a ritual master according to the ancestral god list, then given life through a dedicated rite. "The coiled-dragon centres and their formations": Built on the meridian, taiji and eight-trigram coiled-dragon centres, the dance generates the long snake, dragon gate, eight trigrams and sparrow formations by strict ritual order. "Rooted in shamanic dance and the steps of Yu": Its footwork grows out of shamanic dance and the steps of Yu, oriented to the five directions and marked by close-body motion alternating with small pivots.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Xiao Yiping was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Nuo Dance, with Pingxiang, Jiangxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Nuo Dance in Pingxiang, Jiangxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Pingxiang, Jiangxi as its declared area, and Pingxiang Cultural Center 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. Xiaoyiping (Pingxiang, Jiangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xiaoyiping · China ICH Official Archive