Bacaisan
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Bacaisan, Male, Lisu, from Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Kuoshi Festival (Ⅹ-168). The tradition is documented in Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Kuoshi Festival in Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan: The Kuoshi Festival is mainly distributed in Lisu settlements in the four counties (cities) of Lushui City, Fugong County, Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County, and Lanping Bai and Pumi Autonomous County of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, and in the settlements of the Lemo people, a Bai branch in Lushui City, and of the Nu people in Fugong; it is also found in parts of Lisu settlements in Longyang District and Tengchong City of Baoshan City, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County of Lijiang City, Weixi Lisu Autonomous County of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Yingjiang and Lianghe counties of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. The Kuoshi Festival has a long history, deep cultural accumulation, and a broad area of transmission; it is an important vehicle for the continuation of Lisu traditional culture and a necessary platform for its display. The Kuoshi Festival was brought in when the ancestors of the Lisu migrated en masse to the Nujiang River valley, and it has a history of more than a thousand years. In 1990, the Kuoshi Festival was designated a local statutory festival with a three-day holiday.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Bacaisan is anchored in the documented technical standards of Kuoshi Festival in Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan. Within the documented technical tradition of Kuoshi Festival in Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan: The Kuoshi Festival is an annual traditional festival of the Lisu people and the most grand ethnic festival of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. “Kuoshi” is Lisu: ku means “year” and shi means “new,” so kuoshi means “new year.” The Lisu Kuoshi Festival corresponds to the Han “Spring Festival.” Because customs and calendars differ slightly from place to place, the timing of the festival varies; it is basically set between the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month and the tenth day of the first month of the following year, generally beginning on a day of the dragon. In a few places, the blossoming of the cherry trees is used as the marker for setting the date of the Kuoshi Festival. Every Lisu household celebrates the Kuoshi Festival. Its folk activities during the festival include: on the first day, glutinous rice or millet is pounded into cakes called xianmi baba; these cakes are an important food and sacrificial offering during the Lisu Kuoshi Festival, and generally the first cake pounded is given to the dog to eat, in gratitude for the grain seed the dog brought to humanity. On the second day, the New Year pig is slaughtered; before sunset that day every household washes up, and an elder presides over a blessing and sacrificial rite whose content is to sweep away the old and welcome the new, praying for favorable weather in the coming year, and the offerings for the third day are prepared. On the third day, ancestors and the tripod are offered to; folk legend holds that on this day the souls of the ancestors come to the world of the living to enjoy the offerings in their relatives' homes, and the tripod is the god that guards Lisu households, so on this day every Lisu household holds rites of ancestor worship and tripod worship, praying for the protection of ancestors and gods. On that day, taboos include going out, killing living things, spending money, and washing; from the fourth day on, people may visit relatives and friends, hold weddings, and gather on threshing grounds or open spaces for distinctive recreational and athletic activities such as antiphonal singing, dancing, crossbow shooting, and swinging. The Lisu people help one another and interact frequently, preserving the fine tradition of unity with which the Lisu met various challenges in historical times; the Kuoshi Festival is an important bond maintaining ethnic cohesion. Since 2005, the Kuoshi Festival celebrations have been elevated to the “China Nujiang Lisu Kuoshi Tourism and Culture Festival”; the Kuoshi Festival is now both a traditional festival of the Lisu and an important folk festival of all the ethnic groups of the prefecture. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Pounding the glutinous rice cake": On the first day glutinous or millet rice is pounded into cakes; the first portion is set before the dog as a token of thanks before the rest is shared. "Slaughtering the new-year pig and the elder's blessing": On the second day households wash before sunset and an elder leads a rite for a fair year ahead, while the pig is killed and the grain counted for the coming offerings. "Ancestor worship and the rite for the tripod stand": The third day centres on welcoming ancestral spirits to the family's offerings and honouring the spirit of the tripod stand, with taboos on leaving home, killing, spending and washing. "The gathering of song, archery and swing": From the fourth day taboos are lifted and young people gather at the drying ground to sing, dance, shoot crossbows and swing, and weddings are often held in these same days.
Pounding the glutinous rice cake
On the first day glutinous or millet rice is pounded into cakes; the first portion is set before the dog as a token of thanks before the rest is shared.
Slaughtering the new-year pig and the elder's blessing
On the second day households wash before sunset and an elder leads a rite for a fair year ahead, while the pig is killed and the grain counted for the coming offerings.
Ancestor worship and the rite for the tripod stand
The third day centres on welcoming ancestral spirits to the family's offerings and honouring the spirit of the tripod stand, with taboos on leaving home, killing, spending and washing.
The gathering of song, archery and swing
From the fourth day taboos are lifted and young people gather at the drying ground to sing, dance, shoot crossbows and swing, and weddings are often held in these same days.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Bacaisan was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Kuoshi Festival, with Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Kuoshi Festival in Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, Yunnan as its declared area, and Lushui City 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 Kuoshi Festival was brought in when the ancestors of the Lisu migrated en masse to the Nujiang River valley, and it has a history of more than a thousand years. In 1990, the Kuoshi Festival was designated a local statutory festival with a three-day holiday.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bacaisan | Nujianglisuzuzizhizhoulushui, 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。