Cai Rongli
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Cai Rongli, Male, Dai, from Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Dai Water Splashing Festival (Ⅹ-8). The tradition is documented in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dai Water Splashing Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan: In Dehong, the counties of the prefecture take turns hosting the Water-Splashing Festival in a competitive Dai fashion with market fairs; the basins around Mangshi, Ruili, Yingjiang, Longchuan, and Lianghe enter the festival almost simultaneously. The splashing procession first gathers at the Dragon Pavilion, then goes along the streets sprinkling water for blessings door to door; the sprinkled water is drawn from rivers and ponds and carried on shoulder poles to the village entrance, every door being doused, with none skipped. Flower gathering and danfo are a complete set of activities before the festival: flowers are picked on the hills by girls in groups and offered before the Buddha and the Dragon Pavilion; believers go in procession to the Buddhist temple to make danfo offerings, provide food for the monks, and listen to scripture chanting. The throwing of embroidered balls, the launching of Kongming lanterns, floating water lanterns, and gaosheng rockets are arranged after the sun begins to set; when the Kongming lanterns and water lanterns rise into the night sky, the sounds of water and voices around rise together with them — the climax of the festival in this region. What is distinctive about Dehong is that the same festival is jointly held by multiple ethnic groups: the De'ang people call it the Flower-Watering Festival, and the Achang people observe it in a similar way, though the manner of splashing water has its own gestures and signals; martial arts performances are given separate venues, staggered in time from the singing and dancing, so that the festival runs from morning till night without a gap. The festival period is set on the seventh to tenth day after Qingming, matching the rhythm of Dai rice farming and the agricultural calendar. The Water-Splashing Festival has a history of nearly a thousand years; it gradually took shape on the basis of Dai rice-farming civilization, merging with the Theravada Buddhism that spread southward in the 11th to 13th centuries; it is the product of the combination of Theravada Buddhist religious rites with the traditional etiquette of the Dehong Dai people, and displays the distinctive characteristics of Dai traditional culture.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Cai Rongli is anchored in the documented technical standards of Dai Water Splashing Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan. Within the documented technical tradition of Dai Water Splashing Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan: The Dehong Water-Splashing Festival is a grand traditional festival of the Dai, De'ang, and Achang peoples who have long lived in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of western Yunnan Province; the festival period falls on the seventh to tenth day after the Qingming solar term. The festival takes a rich variety of forms, with profound humanistic connotations and a broad popular base; its main activities include flower gathering by the people, danfo (offerings to the Buddha) by believers, sacrifices at the Dragon Pavilion, the Buddha-bathing rite, sprinkling water for blessings, singing and dancing, martial arts performances, the throwing of embroidered balls between young men and women, and the launching of Kongming lanterns, floating water lanterns, and gaosheng rockets. The festival fairly completely embodies the essence of Dai rice-farming civilization and water culture, and has broad cultural and social functions. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Picking flowers for the Buddha": Girls go up the mountain for wild flowers, offering them first at the shrine and then at the dragon pavilion. "Making offerings at the temple": Congregations take prepared food to the monks, who eat on the spot, with the remainder returned to the donors. "Rites at the dragon pavilion": Before the water is thrown, elders offer incense and words of prayer at the dragon pavilion of each village. "Sprinkling blessings door to door": Water is carried to the village gate and sprinkled at every door along the lane, never skipping a household.
Picking flowers for the Buddha
Girls go up the mountain for wild flowers, offering them first at the shrine and then at the dragon pavilion.
Making offerings at the temple
Congregations take prepared food to the monks, who eat on the spot, with the remainder returned to the donors.
Rites at the dragon pavilion
Before the water is thrown, elders offer incense and words of prayer at the dragon pavilion of each village.
Sprinkling blessings door to door
Water is carried to the village gate and sprinkled at every door along the lane, never skipping a household.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Cai Rongli was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Dai Water Splashing Festival, with Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Dai Water Splashing Festival in Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, Yunnan as its declared area, and Dehong Zhou 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
Historical origin
The Water-Splashing Festival has a history of nearly a thousand years; it gradually took shape on the basis of Dai rice-farming civilization, merging with the Theravada Buddhism that spread southward in the 11th to 13th centuries; it is the product of the combination of Theravada Buddhist religious rites with the traditional etiquette of the Dehong Dai people, and displays the distinctive characteristics of Dai traditional culture.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cai Rongli | Dehongdaizujingpozuzizhi, 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。