Ningde Huotongxianshi
01 · Historical Records
Since the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, the Huotong string lion has been an important component of local festival culture.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
According to historical legend, Huang Ju, a court admonition official (jianyi dafu) of the Sui Dynasty and revered founding ancestor, once irrigated the village fields of Huotong for the benefit of its people, and the local people hold the 'Second Day of the Second Month' lantern festival to commemorate him; the string lion performance is one of the most distinctive programs of the 'Second Day of the Second Month' lantern festival. Before a string lion performance, everything from stage construction and lighting configuration to rope layout is done by hand. The threading and knotting of the ropes is a key step in the string lion performance; every threading motion must be carried out carefully and meticulously. The ball held in the lion's mouth is delicate and ingenious: inside the large ball's net cage sits a small ball that rotates freely, and the small ball is fitted with lights that sparkle at night like a myriad of stars. The lion's body is made of many materials: a frame of split bamboo, padded inside with cotton, cloth and rubber, with its mane made of special colored plastic strips. Through successive reforms by generations of folk artists, the string lion has grown from originally being as small as a puppet to today's large and heavy form; its structure has gone from simple to complex, and its crafting technique has been greatly developed and refined. The Huotong string lion uses ropes to make the lions perform various actions, combining civil and martial skills in one; performances come in four forms: single lion (male), double lions (one male and one female), three lions (one mother and two cubs) and five lions (one mother and four cubs). The string lion performance was originally a moving act, dancing as it made its way along the route; it later shifted to a fixed stage. Through the practical creativity of generations of folk artists, the expressiveness of the string lion has grown ever richer: it can perform sitting, standing, crouching, lying, waking, stretching and climbing postures, and the lion playing with the ball alone involves moves such as seeking, chasing and catching the ball. All of these dynamic performances of the lion are achieved through the collective manipulation and close coordination of the artists.
One, two, three and five lions
The puppets are worked by ropes in four formats: a single male lion, a pair of male and female, a mother with two cubs, and a mother with four.
The second-month lantern festival
The second-day-of-the-second-month lantern fair commemorates the Sui official Huang Ju, who irrigated the Huotong fields; the string lion is its most distinctive item.
Bamboo frame and plastic mane
The lion body is a bamboo frame stuffed with cotton, cloth and rubber, its mane of coloured plastic filaments; the ball the lion seizes holds a lit, freely spinning inner sphere.
Stringing the ropes and setting the stage
Stage building, lighting and rope layout are all done by hand, the knotting of the ropes being the crucial step; the show moved from a walking procession to a fixed stage.
Playing with the ball, sitting and crouching
Generations of makers taught the lion to sit, crouch, wake, stretch and climb, with seeking, chasing and seizing the ball all achieved by the team's collective control.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Huotong string lion survives today in Huotong Town, Ningde, Fujian Province; it is also called the choushi (pulled lion) and known locally as 'beating the lion' (dashi). It is a distinctive form of folk recreation, and also an acrobatic program of costumed animal mimicry with a highly individual style.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Xianshi · Xianshi · Xianshi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Huotong string lion not only has rich performance content but also a unique mode of transmission, with the family-lineage characteristic of being passed down to men but not women, which has led to a shortage of successors. The Huotong string lion can be called one of China's unique skills; excavating, rescuing and protecting it is of great significance for understanding and studying Chinese folk culture. Chen Xinfa (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): a performance and making master of the Huotong string lion. He learned string lion making and performance from family elders from childhood, and through years of diligent practice and exploration has fully mastered the relevant skills. His performances are witty and nimble, combining motion and stillness, in a thousand postures that seem lifelike; the string lion has grown from originally being as small as a palm puppet to its present large and heavy form, its structure has gone from simple to complex, and its crafting technique has been greatly developed and refined. He has emphasized the transmission of Huotong string lion performance and making, trained a good number of successors, and devoted attention to collecting and organizing relevant literature. Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1947, deceased in October 2018, a native of Ningde City, Fujian Province. A representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item 'Ningde Huotong String Lion'. The Huotong string lion team he led has won prizes many times.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Xinfa 03-1202
- Hu Jinchao 03-1203
- Zhao Bolin 05-2535
- Hu Genji
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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