Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceTaishun, ZhejiangBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Shiyang Town holds the national-level cultural relic protection unit known as the “Shishui Stepping Stones,” which were built in the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1794). Measuring 144 metres long with 233 stone teeth in all, they link the villages of Xidong and Chaoyang. According to the Lin clan genealogy of Chaoyang Village: in celebration of the completion of the Chaoyang Lin ancestral hall, a descendant of the Lin family suddenly came up with the idea of performing the dragon lantern on the stepping stones, inventing this for the occasion.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The stepping-stone dragon is a style of dragon dance with a character all its own, passed down in Shiyang Town, Taishun County. The stepping stones serve as the platform on which the dragon dance is performed; it was first created in the third year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty (1798). The props of the stepping-stone dragon are woven from bamboo splints into round cages, which are covered with cloth on the outside and painted with patterns of dragon scales; the sections are joined one after another, and each section is fitted with a wooden handle for holding it. From “opening the dragon gate” to “closing the dragon gate” there are more than sixty routines, and every movement is performed on the stone stepping stones in the stream. The main movements of the stepping-stone dragon include setting the dragon on the flat, dragon playing with the pearl, dragon licking the pearl, dragon biting the pearl, forming the character “shou” (longevity), crouching horse dragon, and so on. Amid the clanging of drums and gongs, the dragon dancers stride with vigorous steps, leaping and tumbling on the narrow stepping stones; the coiling, undulating coloured dragon and the dancers' figures are reflected in the calm, mirror-like surface of the water, so that from a distance it looks like a moving picture, a splendid and awesome sight. Performing the stepping-stone dragon requires a skilled and solid foundation in dancing together with strong physical stamina.

The Shishui stepping stones

The natural stage of the dance, a nationally protected 1794 causeway 144 metres long with 233 stone teeth linking two villages; every movement is performed on the stones in the stream.

The main movements

The main movements of the Dengbu dragon, one of more than sixty routines from opening to closing the dragon gate, danced with vigorous steps on the narrow stones.

The bamboo-cage body sections

Each section is a round bamboo cage covered in cloth painted with scales, linked end to end, every one fitted with a wooden handle.

A late-Qing manuscript of sixty-three movements

The inheritor Lin Shile, organiser of the amateur team since 1983, preserved a late-Qing manuscript of sixty-three movements and has taught them without charge for decades.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The stepping-stone dragon is passed down in Shiyang Town, Taishun County, Zhejiang Province, using the Shishui Stepping Stones as its performance platform. The Shishui Stepping Stones were built in the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1794), 144 metres long with 233 stone teeth, linking Xidong and Chaoyang, the second village. According to the Lin clan genealogy of Chaoyang Village, a descendant of the Lin family, in celebration of the completion of the Chaoyang Lin ancestral hall, suddenly came up with the idea of performing the dragon lantern on the stepping stones, inventing it for the celebration; the stepping-stone dragon thereby became the central programme of clan celebrations and of the first-month Lantern Festival in the mountainous area of Taishun.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In recent years many elderly performers who are already advanced in age “can no longer shoulder the burden,” and the state of transmission is not encouraging. At present the cultural authorities of Taishun County have formulated a series of protection measures, giving the transmission and development of the stepping-stone dragon a new turn. Lin Shile (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han nationality, born in September 1941, native of Taishun County, Zhejiang Province. Beginning in 1958 he studied the stepping-stone dragon dance from his father and took part in amateur dragon dance teams performing outside the township. From 1983 to the present he has been responsible for much of the organizational work of the amateur stepping-stone dragon performance team, devoting himself to the protection and transmission of the stepping-stone dragon and preserving a copybook of sixty-three stepping-stone dragon movements dating from the late Qing dynasty. Over the years he has spared no effort in promoting and carrying forward the stepping-stone dragon and in transmitting it, teaching the movements of the stepping-stone dragon dance free of charge. He has carefully organized the stepping-stone dragon performance team, going every year in the first lunar month to dance the dragon lantern in the neighbouring villages, and has also been invited many times to perform in Xiapu, Fu'an, Zherong, Fuding and other places in Fujian, receiving praise from all sectors of society. Representative inheritor of the dragon dance (stepping-stone dragon) inscribed in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.

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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