Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceFengshun, GuangdongBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Puzhai fire dragon is a traditional activity through which the villagers of Puzhai Town, Fengshun County, celebrate the Lantern Festival. According to the Fengshun County Gazetteer, as early as the sixth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1741) the locality already had the custom of fire dragon performance; at first it was simple in form, tied together with straw and charged with sulfur, white saltpetre and charcoal gunpowder.

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. The Puzhai fire dragon is a traditional element of the Lantern Festival celebrations of the villagers of Puzhai Town, Fengshun County, Guangdong Province; according to the Fengshun County Gazetteer, as early as the sixth year of the Qianlong reign (1741) Puzhai Town already had the custom of fire dragon performance. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, the villagers of Puzhai Town contribute money and labour to make the fire dragon and perform it on the night of the Lantern Festival at Longshen (a place name) in Puzhai, praying for favourable weather and rain, auspiciousness and harmony, a good harvest every year and peace in every year. When the fire dragon dances, tens of thousands of residents of the surrounding area come to watch at the sound of it; in time this became a folk tradition passed down through generations without interruption. The Puzhai fire dragon performance consists of three parts: setting off the 'Yu Gate', the 'smoke rack' and the 'fire dragon'. The 'Yu Gate' is 6 metres high and 10 metres wide, holds fireworks of various kinds inside, and is linked by fuse wires. The 'smoke rack' rises to more than ten metres, is built of timber, and has several storeys, each storey bearing a different landscape, also linked by fuse wires. The 'fire dragon' was earliest bound of straw, with gunpowder made of sulfur, saltpetre and charcoal simply tied onto it. After long and continuous practice the making of the Puzhai fire dragon became ever more elaborate; it reaches 35 metres in total length, holds fireworks and rockets of various kinds inside, and is faced with paper on the outside and painted in colour, so that it looks exquisite and lifelike. The finished 'fire dragon' can open its mouth, spit its pearl, bow its body, swish its tail and spout fire; when it dances it automatically ignites and fires all sorts of fireworks and gunpowder, creating dazzling spectacles. The 'fire dragon' performance is held at night in the square, with more than one hundred people from the fire-cable team, the firecracker team, the dragon lantern team and the drum-and-band team performing in concert. Bare to the waist, the performers raise the dragon head high, swing the dragon body and work the dragon tail, and as they dance fire off fireworks and rockets, and against a background of darting fish and shrimps they create a grandiose and magnificent scene.

Yumen (the dragon gate)

The first of the three parts of the Puzhai fire-dragon show, six metres high and ten wide, filled with fireworks linked by fuse; lost for over sixty years, it has been rediscovered and revived.

Yanjia (the smoke frame)

The second part, a timber frame over ten metres tall in tiers of changing scenes linked by fuse, grown from five and then seven tiers to thirteen today at fifteen metres.

The fire dragon

The main body of the show, once simple straw bound with sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal powder, now up to thirty-five metres long and lined with fireworks and rockets, able to open its mouth, spit pearls, bow, wag its tail and breathe fire.

The four supporting squads

Over a hundred performers in four squads; bare-chested men raise the head, swing the body and ply the tail, firing fireworks and rockets as fish and shrimp figures weave through.

Fire-dragon making workshops

The inheritor Zhang Zijin learned the craft from 1978, mastered the whole making process and devised new fireworks and rockets; he now runs workshops at the inheritance base and has trained over a dozen apprentices.

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

As it has developed to the present, the Puzhai fire dragon has grown from a little over three metres to more than thirty metres long, and the smoke racks from five and seven racks to the present thirteen racks, 15 metres high. Among them the 'Yu Gate', lost for more than sixty years, was re-excavated and developed into a form of folk art. In recent years the Puzhai fire dragon has few successors and faces a survival crisis; it urgently needs protection and transmission. Zhang Zijin (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in December 1957, native of Fengshun County, Guangdong Province. He began learning the making of the Puzhai fire dragon in 1978 and is familiar with the traditional overall making of the Puzhai fire dragon of Fengshun, which is exquisite in technique and lifelike. He has repeatedly organised and taken part in fire dragon performances, receiving warm welcome from audiences. He studied the making experience of his elders, and through self-taught knowledge and continual practice devised and installed several new varieties of fireworks and 'rockets', giving the fire dragon such functions as opening its mouth, spitting its pearl, bowing its body, swishing its tail and spouting fire, creating colourful and meaningful spectacles that are nothing short of a marvel. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Dragon Dance (Puzhai fire dragon). In order to protect and transmit the Puzhai fire dragon effectively, he has for years actively trained young people, running classes in making and dancing the fire dragon at the Puzhai fire dragon transmission base and training more than ten disciples.

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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