Minjian Shehuo Performance
01 · Historical Records
Folk shehuo is a popular self-entertainment activity performed during the Spring Festival; it originated in the ancient worship of the earth god and the fire god. It began in the early Tang dynasty and has a history of more than a thousand years, circulating mainly in the six streets of Linmingguan Town, Yongnian County, Hebei Province.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
"She" refers to the god of the earth; "huo" is the ancestral founder of fire, the legendary fire god. Historically a country founded on agriculture, China used its land for cultivation and its fire for cooking food and keeping warm; both were the material basis of people's survival and development. In antiquity, primitive thinking led people to believe that fire too had a "spirit," and they came to worship it as a divine object of special significance, thus forming the idea of venerating fire. From the ancient worship of the earth god and the fire god grew the custom of sacrificing to she and huo. As society developed and people's understanding deepened, elements of entertainment were gradually added to these sacrificial rites, which in the end developed into a folk entertainment activity of great scale and rich content. By performance form, shehuo falls into two categories: tableau shehuo and performance shehuo. Tableau shehuo includes the procession forms of cloth shehuo, back-carried shehuo, horse shehuo, cart shehuo, core-frame shehuo, mountain shehuo and mask shehuo, which mainly display character modelling and craftsmanship; performance shehuo includes ground-platform shehuo and stilt shehuo, which mainly stage combat performances in courtyards. Shehuo draws on folk legends and dramatic stories for its themes; one or a group of figures presents one story, and one story constitutes one "turn" of shehuo. The performers paint shehuo facial make-up, wear shehuo costumes and carry shehuo staffs. In a shehuo procession a scout on horseback goes first, followed by the shehuo association banner, the firearm (cannon) squad, the flag squad and the shehuo troupe, with the gong-and-drum band bringing up the rear. Reform and opening up brought new vitality to the art of folk shehuo; under the new conditions the traditional art has been carried forward and has become a folk cultural activity that the masses greatly enjoy. The Yongnian carried-flower-table integrates folk craft production, carrying dances, wind playing and percussion into one, and is a style of folk dance with the distinctive regional character of the Yanzhao area. A flower table generally weighs more than two hundred jin and is made by a distinctive traditional craft. On a table resembling an eight-immortal table, all kinds of flowers are inserted to form a high arched arrangement; two carrying poles up to five metres long are then slipped through it, and eight or sixteen people carry it, dancing on the spot or walking in flower steps, while one person steadies the poles, calls out slogans and directs the performance. The flower table is led by a Yongnian guchui (wind-and-percussion) band; the suona plays tunes to accompany the carriers as they advance, and the pieces most often played include "Ba Wang Bian" (the Overlord's Whip), "Xiao Mowan" (Little Wooden Bowl) and "Chebuduan" (Never Ending). Those who carry the flower table take no pay and are formed into groups spontaneously by the people; one table requires forty to fifty people. In carrying the flower table, the performers advance using a variety of dance steps — fore-and-aft rubbing steps, figure-eight steps, flower steps, yangge steps, and shoulder-shaking and shoulder-shifting — while the drums and music resound, the flowering branches fly about, and everyone's movements are neat and coordinated, making a most spectacular sight. The carried flower table is generally performed during the Lantern Festival, and from the offering to the table, the setting up of the table and the carrying of the table through to the final dismantling and sealing of the table, there is a set ritual sequence. Since it took shape, the carried flower table has been passed down from generation to generation as a traditional cultural activity, surviving to the present day and being continually enriched and refined in the course of its transmission.
Five-metre poles carried by eight or sixteen
Two five-metre poles are slipped through an arched table and carried by eight or sixteen, with one caller directing and forty to fifty people in all.
The guchui band leads the way
A guchui wind-and-percussion band leads, its suona playing named tunes while the drums count the carriers' steps.
Rubbing steps, figure-eights and shoulder work
A repertoire of steps and shoulder movements keep the carriers moving together in a dazzling, drum-driven spectacle.
Offering, setting up, taking down and sealing the table
From the offering and the setting up to the taking down and sealing of the table, a fixed ritual order is followed each year.
Building a two-hundred-pound table
Weighing over two hundred kilograms, the table is built by hand from local craft, its surface crowded with flowers forming a high arch.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Yongnian carried-flower-table is concentrated in the six streets of Linmingguan Town, Yongnian County, and is a rare style in the Yanzhao area that blends folk craft, carrying dance, wind playing and percussion into one. The form of the flower table is fixed: the tabletop resembles an eight-immortal table, all kinds of flowers are inserted to pile into a high arch, two carrying poles up to five metres long are slipped through the middle, and eight or sixteen people carry it, dancing on the spot or walking in flower steps, while one further person steadies the poles, calls slogans and directs the line. Those who carry the table take no pay and act entirely of their own accord; one table requires forty to fifty people. A Yongnian guchui band leads the way, the suona accompanying the carriers as they advance, and the pieces most often played include "Ba Wang Bian," "Xiao Mowan" and "Chebuduan." In the dance steps, fore-and-aft rubbing steps, figure-eight steps, flower steps, yangge steps and shoulder-shaking and shoulder-shifting are used in rotation; as the step pattern changes, the drumbeat changes with it, so that with drums and music resounding and flowering branches flying, the whole line naturally becomes one body. The festival season is fixed around the Lantern Festival, and from the offering to the table, the setting up of the table and the carrying of the table through to the dismantling and sealing of the table there is an agreed ritual sequence.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The carried flower table is a folk dance that puts flower-and-wood craft up on show: a single table of flowers is a small landscape, made by craftsmen who can bind and arrange, then carried by forty or fifty people through every street and lane, so whether a table looks good depends half on the craft and half on whether the footsteps of the crowd are in step. The guchui band and the suona qupai follow the old transmitted repertoire, and the titles of the pieces all carry a market-town flavour; the carrying dance steps rest on no written score, and are unified entirely by the single command of the leader — once flags and drums sound, the movements of forty or fifty people are gathered into one place. This practice of taking no pay and forming troupes of their own accord has allowed the carried flower table to continue even across changes of era: from the binding of a flower table to its sealing passes through many pairs of hands, whoever has time comes along, and once the carrying is done the crowd disperses, to return the same way the following year. After reform and opening up, the activity has been handed down from generation to generation while its content has continually grown richer, becoming the most eye-catching folk custom of the Lantern Festival season in the Yongnian area.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Du Tonghai 03-1470
- Zhao Xiwen 03-1471
- Yang Fengshan 05-2992
- Zhao Zhigao 05-2993
- Lvchunjing 05-2994
- Sun Shulin 05-2995
- Li Jianzhong 05-2996
- Pei Baolin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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