Guo Jianrong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Guo Jianrong, Male, Yi, from Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Yi Dage Dance (Ⅲ-70). The tradition is documented in Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yi Dage Dance in Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan: Yi dage is also called “tage” and is the most widely distributed, most influential and most popular self-entertainment dance among the Yi in Weishan County, Yunnan Province. In the Weishan area, dage in the western hills is generally danced with the men forming a half circle and the women a half circle, the circles closing in layer upon layer as the activity unfolds; in the eastern hills it is generally danced with one man facing one woman, with dozens of such pairs moving anticlockwise, singing as they dance, gradually forming a circle and freely displaying beautiful dance and a ringing voice. Its lyric forms may be in four lines, six lines, eight lines, ten lines, twelve lines, an odd number of lines, and so on, while the lines themselves include five-syllable, six-syllable, seven-syllable and long-and-short forms. According to the Jingdong Zhili Ting Zhi (Gazetteer of Jingdong Directly Administered Subprefecture) compiled in the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty, “dage” was already widely circulated at that time. Apart from certain occasions with strict rules about time and place, whenever the Spring Festival, the Little New Year (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), the Torch Festival, or a wedding, a gathering or a feast came round, people would dance through the night.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Guo Jianrong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Yi Dage Dance in Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan. Within the documented technical tradition of Yi Dage Dance in Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan: Yi dage is mostly performed in the evening. At the start a bonfire is lit in the centre of the dance ground, and taking the fire as the centre, people form naturally one circle or several circles, stamping their feet to the beat as they dance and sing. If dage is danced in the daytime, there is no need to light a fire. The lusheng and the flute are indispensable instruments for dage. While the activity is going on, one or several people within the circle play the lusheng and are called the “song leaders”; another plays the flute, and one or two people swing sabres and brandish staves. Besides the lusheng and the flute, in some places the sanxian and the yueqin are used as accompanying instruments. The dance movements take the waist and legs as their pulse; there are few changes of formation, the dancers must be in pairs, hand clasping hand and shoulder resting on shoulder. Dage has a great many tunes, the principal ones being dage tunes for happy occasions, for festivals, for occasions of mourning, dage tunes of temple fairs for good deeds, and everyday dage tunes. The melodies are beautiful and the style distinctive; the tunes move smoothly, the intervals leap and rise only a little, and are mostly structured in upper and lower lines or in four-line phrases. A single tune can be quick or slow according to the dancers’ mood and needs, can be used repeatedly with elaborations added, and individual style can be introduced into it. In the social life of the Weishan area dage occupies an important position, and it is an indispensable element of the local Yi traditional festivals and of major events such as weddings and funerals, and the raising of the ridge beam and the erecting of the new house pillar. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Wedding, mourning and temple-fair tunes": The tune repertory ranges from wedding and festival to mourning and temple-fair songs, built on two- or four-phrase periods. "The song head and weapon dancers": Reed pipes blown by the song head, a flute, and one or two weapon dancers form the core of the ensemble. "West hill and east hill styles": In the western hills men and women form facing half-circles; in the east, dozens of pairs circle counter-clockwise in couples. "Cha Chunmei": Cha Chunmei of Weishan commands steps such as the sixteen-step sway and triple turns, performing in Beijing in 2006.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Guo Jianrong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Yi Dage Dance, with Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Yi Dage Dance in Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan as its declared area, and Weishan Yi Hui Autonomous County 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. Guojianrong (Weishanyizuhuizuzizhi, Yunnan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Guojianrong · China ICH Official Archive