Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceSongjiang, ShanghaiBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The grass-dragon rain prayer is an ancient custom of Yexie Town in Songjiang District, Shanghai. According to legend, a severe drought once struck this area in the Tang dynasty; Han Xiangzi, one of the Eight Immortals, was a native of Nianjing Village in Yexie Town, and in order to relieve the danger hanging over his home town he summoned the Azure Dragon of the Eastern Sea to send down heavy rain, so that both banks of the Yantie Tang canal in Yexie Town were revived. As late as 1950, Yexie Town was still holding grass-dragon dance ceremonies to end the drought.

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. Afterwards the villagers every year made a grass dragon of golden straw, four zhang long and in four sections, with an ox head, a tiger's mouth, deer's antlers, a snake's body, eagle's talons and a phoenix's tail, in order to pray for favourable weather and timely rain. Grass-dragon dancing is a collective sacrificial activity, held at the local Guandi Temple fairs on the thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month and the thirteenth day of the ninth lunar month every year. The activity has seven segments: 'prayer', 'walking the clouds', 'praying for rain', 'fetching water', 'sending rain', 'rolling the dragon' and 'returning to the palace'. During the ceremony tablets symbolising Han Xiangzi, the 'divine flute', and the 'Azure Dragon King' are offered up, and offerings such as old rice, wheat, beans, a local gourd and carp are laid out to express gratitude. In the performance the dragon dancers fully apply four techniques, of hands (swinging, waving, turning), eyes (looking, glancing, watching), body (turning, leaning back, twisting) and steps (stamping, squatting, shuffling), with the whole team cooperating and flute and dragon united as one. When the performance reaches the 'sending rain' section, eight village girls, while stepping through the lively 'harvest dance', splash water from their basins and buckets onto the spectators; this is called 'spraying the dragon water'. Being splashed is auspicious, so spectators vie with one another to have the girls splash them, pushing the grass-dragon dance to its climax. Afterwards the activity was interrupted for a long time as the temple fair declined.

The seven-stage rain rite

The seven stages of the straw-dragon rite, a collective sacrificial activity held at the local Guandi temple fairs on the thirteenth of the fifth and ninth lunar months.

Sprinkling dragon water

In the rainfall section eight village girls dance a harvest step while flinging basin and bucket water over the crowd; to be splashed is auspicious, so onlookers vie for it, driving the dance to its climax.

The four methods

The four methods of the straw-dragon performers: hands that fling, swing and turn; eyes that watch, look back and yearn; a body that turns, tilts and twists; and feet that tread, crouch and shuffle.

The straw dragon's composite form

Villagers annually bind golden straw into a four-zhang, four-section dragon with ox head, tiger mouth, deer horns, snake body, eagle claws and phoenix tail to pray for timely weather.

The divine flute and the Azure Dragon King tablet

Objects enshrined during the rite, offered with grain, beans, melon and carp; legend holds that Han Xiangzi of Nianjing village summoned the azure dragon to end a Tang-era drought.

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. The grass-dragon dance, simple and archaic in style, has deep cultural content, a distinctiveness and representativeness, and an exceptionally pronounced regional character.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In the course of transmission, folk dances such as the grass dragon dance, the rolling-lamp dance and the aquatic-creature dance gradually took shape. In recent years the grass-dragon dance has been somewhat revived in Yexie Town, but many techniques have gradually been lost, and it urgently needs rescue and protection. Fei Tugen (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1947, native of Shanghai. He learned bamboo-weaving skills as a child and can make farm implements such as bamboo baskets, bamboo panniers and bamboo winnowing trays. In 1987 he joined the rolling-lamp and grass-dragon making teams organised by the Yexie cultural station. For twenty years he took part in designing and making rolling lamps and grass dragons, and improved the making techniques so that they would meet the needs of various dance conditions. He has fully mastered the entire procedure of grass-dragon dancing, including the dragon-dancing sacrificial ceremony, and he trains disciples; he has some influence in the surrounding townships. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Dragon Dance (grass-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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