Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceChangxing, ZhejiangBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Already in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang dynasty there appear characters recording groups of people performing collective dragon sacrifice to pray for rain; the Han-dynasty record in Dong Zhongshu’s Chunqiu Fanlu already contains explicit accounts of various kinds of dragon dancing to pray for rain; from that time on, poems and prose of successive dynasties recording dragon dancing at court or among the common people are frequently met with. In 1957, the Baiye dragon won the Special Award at the Second National Folk Music and Dance Presentation, and on the recommendation of Premier Zhou Enlai took part in the performance at the “Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students” in Moscow, winning a Gold Award; in 2000 it again won the Gold Award of the dance competition of the “Stars Award”.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The most basic expressive means of dragon dancing are the modelling of its props, the changes of composition, and the sequences of movements. According to the different materials used to build the dragon-shaped props, dragon dances are divided into cloth dragon, gauze dragon, paper dragon, straw dragon, coin dragon, bamboo dragon, palm-fibre dragon, bench dragon, Baiye dragon, lotus dragon, fire dragon, chicken-feather dragon, flesh dragon, and so on; northern dragon dances are generally tall, large and heavy in construction, with a simple, archaic and vigorous style; southern dragon dances are exquisite and finely detailed, lively and nimble. The composition and movements of dragon dancing generally have the characteristics of “round curvature”, “rolling”, “twining”, “interweaving” and “leaping about”. The traditional performance procedure of dragon dancing is generally: “inviting the dragon”, “bringing out the dragon”, “dancing the dragon” and “seeing off the dragon”. Among the people there is a saying: “at seven or eight one plays with the straw dragon, at fifteen or sixteen one plays the small dragon, and young men dance the big dragon”. Dragon dancing may involve as few as one person dancing two dragons, or as many as a hundred people dancing one big dragon. The dragon is the totem and the ancestor believed in by the Chinese nation; dragon dancing is a symbol of the spirit of Huaxia, embodying the spirit of unity and cohesion and of striving and pioneering of the Chinese nation, and containing the cultural connotation of harmony between heaven and humanity and of benefiting humankind. It is the most common form of entertainment for Chinese people at auspicious times and at times of blessing; the atmosphere is ardent and stirring to the spirit, and it is an extremely precious heritage of the Chinese nation. The traditional Baiye dragon is mostly performed at temple fairs and festivals. It begins with formations such as “touring the four gates” and “circling the ground”; when the lotus lanterns gather into a circle and join one another to form the shape of a “dragon”, the outer ring of dancers dances fervently in order to block the audience’s line of sight. The moment the “dragon” takes shape it leaps into the air, all the other dance formations immediately scatter apart, setting off the Baiye dragon and bringing the performance to its climax. The performance modes of the Baiye dragon are also divided into different forms such as stage dancing, street dancing and square dancing, and they grow ever more elaborate in order to suit different performance occasions. Its main formations include the long snake formation, the linked dragons, the stamping of the four gates, the scissor formation and walking the four corners; its main movements include dragon swimming, dragon rolling, dragon coiled around a pillar, dragon soaring, dragon lying, dragon sleeping, dragon emerging from the water and dragon twitching its whiskers. In Baiye dragon dancing, the most striking feature is that the lotus blossom is transformed into the dragon in an instant, through which the traditional Chinese dragon dance is converted into a dragon dance; through movements and episodes such as rippling lake water, swaying lotus leaves, blooming lotus flowers, butterflies fluttering in, the lotus turning into a dragon, the flood dragon frolicking, and the dragon turning back into a lotus, a complete and perfect dance process is achieved, presenting the exquisitely beautiful artistic conception of the Jiangnan water town.

Main formations

The main formations of the Changxing hundred-leaf dragon, deployed with moves such as wandering dragon, rolling dragon, dragon coiling the pillar and sleeping dragon.

The lotus turns into a dragon

Its most striking feature: the lotus blossoms transform in an instant into a dragon, moving through rippling water, swaying leaves, blooming flowers and fluttering butterflies.

Stage, street and square versions

The three performance modes of the Changxing hundred-leaf dragon, increasingly elaborate to suit different occasions, traditionally opening with the four-gate tour and circle.

Twelve hundred-leaf dragon training bases

In 2004 Changxing established twelve training bases and appointed the inheritor Tan Xiaoming as chief artistic adviser, through whom dragon technique and prop making were passed on fully.

Lotus-lantern and butterfly props

Current in Lincheng township for more than 160 years, its props gather lotus lanterns into a ring linked to form the dragon while the outer dancers distract the audience's eye.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Dragon dancing, also called “dragon play”, is known among the people as “playing the dragon”, “playing the dragon lantern” or “dancing the dragon lantern”. It is widely distributed throughout the country and among all ethnic groups, and the diversity of its forms and varieties is beyond comparison with any other folk dance. By colour, dragon dancing can be divided into yellow, white, blue-green, red, black and so on, of which the yellow dragon is the most noble. The Changxing Baiye dragon originated and is transmitted in the area around Lincheng Town, Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, and has a history of more than one hundred and sixty years to this day.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Down to the present day, dragon dancing remains one of the dance forms commonly found in folk celebrations and on festival occasions. As a unique folk dance of the Han nationality in China, the Changxing Baiye dragon has extremely high artistic value. The changes of the times have affected the orderly transmission of the Changxing Baiye dragon, so that this precious folk art form faces a crisis of survival. In order to protect and transmit the art of the Baiye dragon, the Changxing local government prepared in advance and adopted a series of effective measures; an atmosphere favourable to protecting local cultural resources and jointly creating distinctive cultural brands is taking shape. Tan Xiaoming (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han nationality, born in 1949, native of Huzhou, Zhejiang. On the basis of the original movements, Tan Xiaoming developed movements such as dragon swimming, dragon rolling, dragon coiled around a pillar, dragon soaring, dragon lying, dragon sleeping, dragon emerging from the water and dragon twitching its whiskers. At the age of 55, Tan Xiaoming handed the task of leading the dragon head to his son Tan Yong. In 2004, Changxing County set up 12 Baiye dragon art training bases, and Tan Xiaoming was appointed art general adviser of the “Baiye dragon” art training base, handing down his dragon-dancing skills and prop-making techniques without reservation. Representative inheritor of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, Dragon Dance (Changxing Baiye dragon). By the end of the twentieth century, more than twenty “Baiye dragon” team members had been personally trained by Tan Xiaoming in his own village.

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)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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