Miao Gupiao Dance
01 · Historical Records
According to the local Miao Ancient Songs, the Miao Gupiao Dance originated in commemoration of the “Gourd Brother and Sister”, the pair who survived the great flood and then re-created humankind.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Miao Gupiao Dance, called “gix hab” (geha) in Miao and rendered into Chinese as “Gupiao Dance”, is a traditional folk dance in which the gupiao qin, an ancient gourd fiddle, is the instrument that leads the dance. It circulates mainly in the areas inhabited by the Miao of the “Hundred-Bird Costume” branch in Qiandongnan and Qiannan, with Yaohui and Songlong in Yaohui Township, Danzhai County, as the core area, extending to Yemeng and Guyue in Dadi Township, Leishan County, to Baibei in Rongjiang County, and to the Miao villages of the Yangfu, Wubu and Bajie areas of Dujiang Town, Sandu County, Qiannan Prefecture. The natural setting here is beautiful, with high mountains and steep slopes, and the culture of the Miao Gupiao Dance has been comparatively fully preserved. The main prop of the Gupiao Dance, the gupiao qin, is made of paulownia wood, strung with bovine sinew and bowed with horsehair or palm fibre. The Miao Gupiao Dance is plain and unadorned, with a resonance that lingers long, forming a marked contrast to the bright and lively character of the lusheng dance. Its dance formation places the man playing the “geha” at the front as the leader of the dance, with the women following behind; they line up in a row and dance gracefully in an anticlockwise direction. The movement is to hold the hands at the abdomen and swing them up and down, over and over. The dance steps are mostly in four, and there are also three-step, five-step and seven-step forms. The three-step dance turns after every three steps, moves forward with straight steps, moves back and changes step to left and right; the rhythm of the four-step dance turns after every four steps, with stamping of the feet and changes of movement, and so on; all of these have formed fixed patterns. The Miao Gupiao Dance is divided into the sacrificial type and the recreational type. The sacrificial dance has a solemn and dignified atmosphere, and the dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly men and women; its repertoire includes “Invitation”, “Praise”, “Labour”, “Farewell” and other pieces. The melodies of the recreational dance are mostly in the mode of love songs, with more than a hundred pieces such as “Let’s Dance Together” and “Wandering for Friendship While Still Young”. To dance the Gupiao Dance one must wear the “Hundred-Bird Costume”. The “Hundred-Bird Costume” is silk woven with bird designs, the most magnificent sacrificial garment of the local Miao people. The Miao Ancient Songs say: “The boughs of the white sweetgum tree stretch across the sky, and two of them droop down — one becomes a lusheng and one becomes a gupiao qin” — which shows that the gupiao qin is as ancient as the lusheng. The Gupiao Dance is bound up with a whole series of cultural phenomena peculiar to the Miao, namely the sweetgum tree — Butterfly Mother — the great flood — the Gourd Brother and Sister re-creating humankind. A large part of the Gupiao Dance repertoire reflects the fishing and hunting activities of the Miao.
Invitation
The sacrificial dance has a solemn and dignified atmosphere, and the dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly men and women; its repertoire includes “Invitation”, “Praise”, “Labour”, “Farewell” and other pieces.
Praise
The sacrificial dance has a solemn and dignified atmosphere, and the dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly men and women; its repertoire includes “Invitation”, “Praise”, “Labour”, “Farewell” and other pieces.
Labour
The sacrificial dance has a solemn and dignified atmosphere, and the dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly men and women; its repertoire includes “Invitation”, “Praise”, “Labour”, “Farewell” and other pieces.
Farewell
The sacrificial dance has a solemn and dignified atmosphere, and the dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly men and women; its repertoire includes “Invitation”, “Praise”, “Labour”, “Farewell” and other pieces.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It has two strings, and can produce eight pitches that correspond to the eight tones of the local Miao language. Anyone who understands the local Miao language can tell accurately what a gupiao melody is expressing simply from the sound of the instrument. This traditional dance is handed down from generation to generation in the local Miao villages mainly through communal transmission. The Miao Gupiao Dance is an important medium for socialising and courtship among young Miao men and women, and many young people have formed lifelong marriages through it. It has a marked regional and ethnic character and is an important component of Miao culture.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, under the leadership of the representative inheritors, the three counties of Danzhai, Leishan and Rongjiang have more than twenty inheritor troupes between them. It arose as a sacrificial dance from the fishing and hunting era of primitive society, and it contains cultural information from remote antiquity; for the study of the history and culture of humanity’s fishing and hunting age it has a high historical, social, artistic and cultural value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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