Saibing
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Saibing, Male, Dai, from Yunnan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Dai Baixiangmalu Dance (Ⅲ-141). The tradition is documented in Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dai Baixiangmalu Dance in Yunnan: The Dai white elephant and deer dance is a traditional dance form widely current in the Dai-inhabited areas of southwestern Yunnan Province, distributed mainly among more than seventy Dai villages in Mengyong Town and Mengding Town of Gengma County, Lincang City, and in Nayun Town, Mengma Town, Mangxin Town, Gongxin Township and Jingxin Township of Menglian County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province. The Dai white elephant and deer dance embodies the long history and culture of the Dai people and carries a weighty humanistic history; it expresses the religious belief, the living customs, the aesthetic taste and the spiritual pursuit of the Dai people, and condenses a simple regional and national character, so it has high historical, cultural and social value. The Dai white elephant and deer dance has a long history and was already recorded in the Tang dynasty.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Saibing is anchored in the documented technical standards of Dai Baixiangmalu Dance in Yunnan. Within the documented technical tradition of Dai Baixiangmalu Dance in Yunnan: The dance carries traces of the primitive religious worship of the ancestors of the Dai people, while its later development is closely bound up with the spread of Buddhism. The Dai people use the dance to express their inner respect and veneration, their reverence and devotion, and their wish for blessings, auspiciousness and happiness and their longing for a good life in the future. The white elephant is called "zang fen" in Dai, and the deer is called "gang" in Dai. The white elephant and deer dance is collectively called "ga duo" in Dai, and is a traditional prop dance that the Dai people use for celebration and for the seeking of blessings. At the Dai Water-Splashing Festival, the Door-Closing Festival, the Door-Opening Festival and other important festivals, the Dai people always dance the white elephant and deer dance, to pray that heaven will protect them, that the weather will be favourable and that they will be auspicious, healthy and at peace. Each white elephant or deer is performed by two people in cooperation. The basic movements of the white elephant dance are stepping on the spot, stepping forward or backward, turning in a circle while stepping, and stepping to the left and right; the basic steps of the deer dance are the hooking-kicking step, the tapping step, the tiptoe step and the squat-leap step, and there are also technique movements such as "paying respects to the Buddha", "lifting the head and jumping", "rolling", "forward somersault", "pawing the earth" and "biting a flower and carrying an object". The dance is accompanied by the elephant-foot drum, the jinmang and cymbals; it may be performed either by the dancers following the language of the drums as instruction, or played by the drummer in response to observing the changes in the dancers' movements. Only after several years, or even several decades, of mutual accommodation between dancers and between dancers and musicians can they reach a deep understanding, and so mount a brilliant performance. The props of the Dai white elephant and deer dance, the white elephants and the deer, have frames made of bamboo and wood, covered with handmade bark paper or with shells sewn from coloured cloth, and are decorated and embellished with coloured velvet thread, round sequins and paper-cut patterns, with appropriate painting added; the eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tail and the like can be moved freely, so the props are exquisitely made and lifelike in image. The dance is one of the oldest and most representative dance forms of the Dai people and an important part of Dai traditional culture; its development and transmission down to the present have not been confined to Buddhist ritual activity, for it is also performed at folk festivals and celebrations, is inseparable from Dai folk activity, and is full of the breath of everyday life and of the artistic appeal of joy and good fortune. For hundreds of years it has been deeply loved by the Dai people. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Gaduo: the white elephant and the deer": The white elephant and the deer are together called gaduo in Dai, each puppet carried and worked by two performers. "The elephant's stepping figures": The elephant dance marks time in place, advances and retreats and turns on the step, slow and stately against gong and cymbal. "Hooked, pointed, raised and crouching steps": The deer's hooked kick, pointed step, raised step and crouching hop make a nimble contrast with the elephant's weight. "Saluting the Buddha, tossing, rolling": The deer performs salutations to the Buddha, tossing jumps, rolling and tumbling, nuzzling the earth and taking flowers in its mouth.
Gaduo: the white elephant and the deer
The white elephant and the deer are together called gaduo in Dai, each puppet carried and worked by two performers.
The elephant's stepping figures
The elephant dance marks time in place, advances and retreats and turns on the step, slow and stately against gong and cymbal.
Hooked, pointed, raised and crouching steps
The deer's hooked kick, pointed step, raised step and crouching hop make a nimble contrast with the elephant's weight.
Saluting the Buddha, tossing, rolling
The deer performs salutations to the Buddha, tossing jumps, rolling and tumbling, nuzzling the earth and taking flowers in its mouth.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Saibing was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Dai Baixiangmalu Dance, with Yunnan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Dai Baixiangmalu Dance in Yunnan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Yunnan as its declared area, and Yunnan Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding 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
Historical origin
The Dai white elephant and deer dance has a long history and was already recorded in the Tang dynasty.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saibing | Yunnan | — | 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。