Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceDalianshijinzhou, LiaoningBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the seventh year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1881), Commander Liu Shengxiu of the Yi Army led the cavalry and infantry of twelve battalions to garrison at Jinzhou; at every Lantern Festival dragon dance was performed inside the barracks, but it was forbidden to be taught outside.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Classified by the form the dragon takes, dragon dance includes cloth dragon, gauze dragon, paper dragon, straw dragon, coin dragon, bamboo dragon, palm-fibre dragon, bench dragon, hundred-leaf dragon, lotus-flower dragon, fire dragon, chicken-feather dragon, flesh dragon and many other types; because the forms differ, their dance postures and dancing techniques also differ in their own ways. The traditional performance procedure of Chinese dragon dance generally consists of such segments as 'inviting the dragon', 'sending the dragon out', 'performing the dragon dance' and 'seeing the dragon off'. Dragon dance embodies cultural meanings of pioneering effort and of the unity of humanity and nature, and is an important part of the spirit and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. In the eleventh (1885) to thirteenth (1887) years of the Guangxu reign the Mingzi Army took over the garrison, and dragon dancing was still performed at every Lantern Festival. At that time ordinary people were allowed into the barracks to watch together with the officers and soldiers; Chen Deyuan, a shed-builder from Yuanyi Village outside the west gate of Jinzhou, and Li Tianying, a paper-maker, took the opportunity to copy a dragon in secret and gradually remodel it, and so the wondrous and enchanting Jinzhou dragon dance took shape. The Jinzhou dragon dance is performed mainly in the slack farming season and at festivals as an entertainment; its movements are highly varied, and it has become a form of folk dance with distinctive features of the southern Liaoning region. In a performance, one dragon dance team is made up of two dragons and one dragon pearl, with 19 people in all. The dance postures are highly varied, with close to 40 patterns. The accompanying music mainly uses tune patterns of the Northeast yangge, with no strict requirements as to instruments or the tune patterns played. As an art form that has long circulated among the people and remained vigorous, the Jinzhou dragon dance is no longer merely a pastime of farmers in the slack season, nor only an entertainment for festivals; it has become a folk dance form with distinctive features of the southern Liaoning region and has high historical and cultural value.

Two dragons and one pearl, nineteen performers

The performing unit of the Jinzhou dragon dance: two dragons and one pearl, nineteen dancers in all, with nearly forty figures.

Traditional techniques

The traditional techniques of the Jinzhou dragon dance, on which the inheritor Li Chengjia and his team built a large body of new routines.

Modern routines

Representatives of over forty routines created by Li Chengjia's team, who also compiled a complete written and pictorial archive of routines, costumes and props.

Northeast Yangge tunes

Its accompaniment draws mainly on Northeast Yangge tunes without strict rules as to instruments, showing the interpenetration of southern Liaoning dance and Northeast Yangge.

Chen Deyuan and Li Tianying copy the dragon

The origin story: when the Mingzi army took over garrison duty in the 1880s and let villagers watch the lantern-festival dragon, the shed builder Chen Deyuan and paper craftsman Li Tianying secretly copied and gradually reworked it.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Dragon dance, also called 'dragon performance', is known among the people as 'playing the dragon', 'playing the dragon lantern' or 'dragon lantern dance'; it is the most widely distributed and most far-reaching folk dance in China. This dance takes varied forms in its performance, and dragon dances among different ethnic groups and different regions differ markedly in style.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Jinzhou dragon dance, also called the 'West Gate Dragon Dance', is popular in the Jinzhou area of Dalian City, Liaoning Province; it has now been transmitted through nine generations, a history of more than 120 years. The image of the dragon is dashing and handsome, of aesthetic value; the coordination of the dragon's movements displays the temperament of the Chinese nation and is rich in local flavour. In recent years, under the impact of the market economy and the influence of modern ways of life, transmission of the Jinzhou dragon dance is difficult; only two dragon lantern teams still keep up their activities, and without timely rescue and protection this precious form of folk dance faces the risk of disappearing. Li Chengjia (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1957, native of Jin County, Liaoning Province. He joined the Jinzhou dragon dance team at the age of 20 and learned dragon dance skills from old artisans; because of his steady footing, fast speed, high toss and strong endurance, he was chiefly responsible for working the 'dragon neck' position, which links the upper and lower parts. On the basis of inheriting traditional dragon dance techniques such as coiling the dragon, walking the dragon and reversing the pole, he and his teammates researched and created more than forty new set movements, including leaping over the spine, the dragon somersault, small waves and 'turning the river and emptying the sea', and compiled textual and photographic materials on all the set movements, costumes and props of the Jinzhou dragon dance into volumes, establishing a complete set of Jinzhou dragon dance archives. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Dragon Dance (Jinzhou dragon dance).

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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