Yangge Dance
01 · Historical Records
According to the Longqing Zhi gazetteer compiled in the Ming dynasty, the Yanqing land boat can be traced back as far as the middle of the Ming dynasty, more than four hundred years ago. In the 1930s the three-boat form was developed, and was afterwards widely popularized.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yanqing land boat belongs to the yangge family; it is a traditional dance performing art prevalent in Yanqing, Beijing, and is usually exhibited at New Year festivals, temple fairs and large-scale celebratory events. Yanqing County (today Yanqing District) is a remote outlying county in the northwest of Beijing, and land-boat dance is widely distributed among the townships of Yanqing. Over its long history it has been both inherited and developed. It was originally a large boat, ridden and danced by two people together. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China nine boats appeared one after another in Yanqing, and this performance form afterwards became the main type of Yanqing land boat. The story plots enacted by Yanqing land boat are vivid and moving, with a clear theme and strong artistic appeal, and they enjoy a deep social foundation among the folk; the themes include "The Legend of the White Snake", "Liang Hongyu Fights the Jin Troops" and "The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea". Its dance performance combines firmness and gentleness, having both the bold and uninhibited character of the north and the delicacy and softness of the south. Its performance characteristics can be summed up in four words: fast, steady, floating and turning. "Fast" requires the performer to hold the upper body erect and the legs pressed together, using the running-round-the-stage step of the operatic stage to convey a boat travelling swift as a shuttle and fast as the wind; "steady" requires that in moving forward the boat body neither sways nor wobbles, giving the impression of a mirror-flat level and a boat gliding smoothly on; "floating" means that the land boat carrying two riders weighs as much as 80 jin (about 40 kilograms), yet must run as lightly as a small boat; "turning" means that one boat must have both clockwise and anticlockwise turns, and that with several boats the spinning changes are varied, including the single turn, the double turn, the three-person turn, and even self-turn combined with circling turns.
The Legend of the White Snake
One of the stories enacted by Yanqing land boats, built on the water-borne episodes of the White Snake legend and deeply rooted in local taste.
Liang Hongyu Resists the Jin
One of the enacted stories, drawn from the Song heroine Liang Hongyu's river battle and naturally suited to the boat prop.
The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea
One of the enacted stories, its theme of eight immortals displaying their powers used to showcase boat formations and turns.
Fast, steady, drifting, turning
The four hallmarks: speed through upright carriage and tight legs, steadiness without sway, drift despite a boat of some forty kilos, and turning both clockwise and anticlockwise.
One boat, three boats, nine boats
The formal evolution from a single two-person boat to the three-boat form of the 1930s and the nine-boat form that became the dominant type before 1949.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yanqing land boat is widely distributed among the townships of Yanqing, and teams are generally organized by village; performances are commonly given at New Year festivals such as the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, as well as at temple fairs and large-scale celebrations. One boat is usually ridden by two people, the body is framed in bamboo and wood and draped with painted cloth canopies, and a "boatman" holding an oar is set in front of the boat to match the dancers' movement. The grouping and spinning changes of several boats are a direct expression of a troupe's strength.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yanqing land boat has been handed down to the present through two channels, family inheritance and master-disciple transmission. With support from the cultural and tourism administrative departments, the relevant departments and the people have organized a series of protection and transmission measures. Yanqing land boat creates a beautiful artistic conception integrating "poetry, painting, dance and music", fully displaying the artistic charm of traditional Chinese dance, reflecting the thoughts, moral ethics and ideal aspirations of the local people, enriching the cultural life of the masses and promoting social harmony; at the same time it provides a vivid example and precious physical material for research into the artistic value and development history of folk dance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhou Hehua 02-0332
- Yu Zhenjiang 02-0333
- Yang Kesheng 02-0334
- Wu Yingmin 02-0335
- Wang Fa 02-0336
- Juhongjun 02-0337
- Li Zengheng 02-0338
- He Junyi 03-0899
- Yao Daxin 03-0900
- Zhao Fengling 04-1541
- Qin Mengyu 04-1542
- Ding Shisuo 05-2182
- Sheng Yubin 05-2183
- Yu Xin 05-2184
- Wei Jianming 05-2185
- Liu Jianping
- Xiujianguo
- Lizhangxi
- Ba Hengjin
- Zhao Chenghai
- Wang Yuanqing
- Song Jianliang
- Yuan Guilin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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