Longdang
01 · Historical Records
It is said that from the Ming dynasty onward, the people of Yueqing held mass parade performances every Lantern Festival using the dragon dang as a prop, a history of more than five hundred years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yueqing dragon dang, commonly called “bench-plank dragon,” is a traditional folk carving art popular in the Yueqing area of Zhejiang Province. Yueqing dragon dang is made from camphor and elm wood using round carving, hollow carving, relief, and openwork techniques, among others. It is generally assembled from articulated dang sections and dang planks, with a total length ranging from over ten meters to more than fifty meters. The dang body is usually coated with gold lacquer and painted decoration, onto which carvings of opera scenes in various colors, lanterns, colored flags, and bells are attached, along with wooden handles for carrying and performing. The dragon dang has clearly layered forms, brilliant colors, and vivid, exquisite figure carving. When carried in procession, the exquisitely wrought dragon dang appears splendid and flowing with color, and together with deafening gongs and drums and the excited atmosphere it creates a magnificent spectacle. Yueqing dragon dang combines carving and colored-silk mounting arts, with a distinctive local character.
Choosing camphor and elm
The dance floor dragon is carved from camphor and elm, woods fine-grained and slow to split, well suited to the delicate openwork of the frame boards.
Round, pierced, relief and through carving
Four carving techniques used together on a single dragon so that its panels read in clear layers and openwork transparency.
Frame body, panels and gilt lacquer
Articulated body and panels run from ten-odd to over fifty metres, lacquered in gold and set with opera scenes, lanterns, pennants and bells, with handles for carrying.
Opera scenes, lanterns, pennants and bells
The fittings carried in procession: finely carved figures with lanterns, pennants and bells that make the dragon glitter in step with the drums.
Huang Deqing and The Yueqing Dragon
Born in Yueqing in 1942, Huang Deqing's dragons are compact and finely carved; his Yueqing Dragon was shown at the first national intangible heritage exhibition and in Paris.
The Lantern Festival procession
Tradition holds that since the Ming, Yueqing people have paraded the dragon at the Lantern Festival, a custom over five hundred years old that keeps renewing the object.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It embodies the local customs of Yueqing and the traditional concepts of the people, and forms an important part of ancient Ouyue culture. Yueqing dragon dang is distributed in Liushi, Beibaixiang, Hongqiao, Dajing, and other townships of Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, and is an indispensable prop for the local Lantern Festival parade. Since the Song dynasty, the woodcarving, lacquerware, and lantern-mounting trades have flourished in the Yueqing area — Yueqing boxwood carving originates in this county — so the plank carving and gold-lacquer painting of the dragon dang could draw on local materials and local labor. According to the records of the Yueqing Huang Family Dragon Dang Woodcarving Art Research Institute, the dragon dang made by Huang Deqing had mechanisms at the pavilion corners that could rotate; his works were collected by the Chinese National Academy of Arts, and the craft has now been passed on to his son Huang Bei.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Huang Deqing (record from the official inheritor archive): Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1942, from Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province. He has mastered the dragon dang making technique, with a solid foundation in woodcarving. The dragon dang works he makes have compact structure, well-arranged layouts, and fine, neat carving, being both exquisitely wrought and imposing; the pavilion corners of the dragon dang are fitted with mechanisms that can rotate. His works have been collected by the Chinese National Academy of Arts. The craft has now been taught to his son, Huang Bei. He is a representative inheritor of dragon dang (Yueqing dragon dang), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. His “Yueqing Dragon Dang” was shown in the First Exhibition of Achievements in the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China, the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival held by the Ministry of Culture at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, and various other exhibitions.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huang Deqing 03-1289
- Huang Bei
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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