Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceZhijiangdongzuzizhi, HunanBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

This dragon dance originates in the local folk legend of the “rebellious dragon”: the dragon was originally the Dragon King of the South Sea, and his temperament was extremely violent — the least anger would make him overturn the rivers and seas.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

“The rebellious dragon” (also called the “inferior dragon” or “snake dragon”), a traditional folk dance passed down in the village of Fujiatuan, Tuqiao Township, Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province, is a dragon dance performed by two people. In performance, one person raises a prop with a bamboo-splint dragon head and a paper-covered snake body, while the other holds a bamboo-splint dragon pearl in each hand; the two circle and dance to the accompaniment of percussion music. In the past, whenever the Lantern Festival came, the dance went from house to house to perform on the threshing floors of the various farmsteads. To express their gratitude, whenever the Lantern Festival came they would dance the rebellious dragon on a tour through the villages, to ward off evil spirits and pray for a bumper harvest. This folk traditional dance with a transmission of more than a hundred years, after continual refinement and reform by local folk artists, has now developed into a folk dance art with a complete form, considerable performing skill and a romantic colour, and is deeply loved by the people of the Dong villages. From the making of its props to its dance performance, the Zhijiang rebellious dragon has distinct local cultural characteristics, and it is also a case for studying the traditional culture of the local Dong people.

A two-man dragon with serpent body

The basic form: one dancer raises a paper-and-bamboo head on a serpent body, the other holds two bamboo pearl props, and the two whirl to percussion.

Lantern Festival village rounds

At every Lantern Festival the dragon toured the hamlets' threshing floors to overawe evil spirits and pray for good harvests, an indispensable part of the Tujia-Dong new-year sequence.

The legend of the unruly dragon

The narrative source: the dragon, once the South Sea king, was violent in temper yet kind at heart, never harming crops and often driving off evil for the villagers.

Bamboo and paper head and pearls

The props are built of bamboo splints and pasted paper with painted scales, the pearls likewise, light enough for prolonged dancing and continuous with Dong village craft.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

But it was good at heart, never damaged the crops, and often drove away evil for the local people, and so people held it in great veneration. At present, as the older generation of folk artists passes away one after another and large numbers of local young and middle-aged people leave to trade and work elsewhere, the traditional dance of the Zhijiang rebellious dragon faces the danger of having no successors. The Zhijiang rebellious dragon is passed down in the village of Fujiatuan, Tuqiao Township, Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, and is popularly called the “inferior dragon” or the “snake dragon.” The local legend of the rebellious dragon holds that it was originally the Dragon King of the South Sea, of extremely violent temperament, so that the least anger made him overturn the rivers and seas, yet he was good at heart, never damaged the crops, and often drove away evil for the local people, and so people held him in great veneration. As the older generation of folk artists passes away one after another and large numbers of local young and middle-aged people leave to trade and work elsewhere, the traditional dance of the Zhijiang rebellious dragon faces the danger of having no successors.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In both the making of its props and its dance performance, the Zhijiang rebellious dragon has distinct local cultural characteristics: the prop, with a dragon head and a snake body, is framed from bamboo splints, covered with paper and painted with scales, and is accompanied by two bamboo-splint dragon pearls; the two performers dance in pairs, one raising the dragon head and the other holding a pearl in each hand, circling and dancing to the accompaniment of percussion music, with small amplitude of movement and a dense rhythm. In former times, whenever the Lantern Festival came, the rebellious dragon went from house to house to perform on the threshing floors of the various farmsteads, to ward off evil spirits and pray for a bumper harvest. With a transmission of more than a hundred years and continual refinement and reform by local folk artists, it has now developed into a folk dance art with a complete form, considerable performing skill and a romantic colour; it is both a concrete expression of the Dong villagers' psychology of venerating and fearing the dragon and a vivid case for studying the traditional culture of the local Dong people.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Dragon Dance (Zhijiangdongzuzizhi, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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