Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DancePingyang, ZhejiangBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

According to the 1925 edition of the Gazetteer of Pingyang County, the Aojiang great dragon rowing has a history of at least a hundred years. The Aojiang great dragon rowing began in the Qing dynasty and has been transmitted in living practice through five generations locally; it is an important folk cultural activity of the Lantern Festival, widely taken part in by the people.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Its principal area of activity is Aojiang Town, Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province, and its reach extends throughout the county. Its birthplace lies beside the river facing the sea, and is called “Aojiang” because the tidal surge at the river mouth resembles a giant ao carrying a mountain; it is a century-old commercial port and a fishing harbour and distribution centre for seafood. The Aojiang great dragon rowing is jointly financed and organized by local fishermen, merchants and entrepreneurs who select the leading households; it preserves folk items such as making the great dragon, the consecration of the dragon lantern, dotting the dragon's eyes, street parades, deity sacrifice rituals, and binding and transforming the dragon, and includes scenes of prayer and blessing, worship and incense offering, the joyful welcoming of holy water, and artistic performances such as dragon dance, lion dance and dry-land boat rowing. The great dragon parade usually lasts three days, twice a day in the morning and the evening, winding through the villages, communities and streets where the people have long lived; along the way the people welcome the great dragon, either making offerings or burning incense or giving red envelopes or joyfully receiving the holy water, and enjoy the joy and blessing brought by the folk culture. After the parade, the rites for sending off the deity are held, including collecting the incense, binding the dragon and the dragon transforming and flying away. The Aojiang great dragon rowing is superbly made and gigantic. The dragon body is immensely large, its design gorgeous and vivid, its bearing heroic, giving people a sense of pride and of striving forward. The dragon head is five metres in diameter, the body is more than seventy metres long, and it weighs about 2,500 kilograms. On the dragon horns are written the credos “the nation prospers and the people live in peace, the wind and rain are favourable.” Exquisite pictures are painted along the dragon body. In the pavilion on the brow of the dragon head stands Master Yang. On the dragon's back are scenes drawn from classics such as “the boy worshiping the sea” and “the Eight Immortals crossing the sea”; at night lamps are lit and the dragon is radiant with colour. The greatness of the Aojiang great dragon rowing is a symbol of power and safety; it is saturated with the collective consciousness and the spirit of striving of a united people, cooperation, sharing weal and woe, and withstanding risk, and it reflects the prosperity of commercial-port culture and the way fishing trade draws people and gathers wealth. The marine culture, the development of fisheries and the course of the century-old commercial port of Aojiang are fully embodied and displayed in many dimensions in the Aojiang great dragon rowing. The local customs and the spiritual outlook of the Aojiang people are fully expressed through the Aojiang great dragon rowing; this heritage project is saturated with the plain affection, kind wishes and patriot love of home of the people, and is one of the effective ways of strengthening local feeling and uniting hearts.

Making, consecrating and dotting the dragon's eyes

The first phase of the Pingyang great dragon rites, funded by headmen chosen from fishermen, merchants and entrepreneurs, includes making, consecrating and dotting in the eyes.

Procession, sacrifice and the burning

The latter phase: the dragon processes for three days, morning and evening, through the villages and streets, followed by the incense collection and the burning of the dragon.

A five-metre head and seventy-metre body

The dragon is colossal and gorgeous: a head five metres across, a body over seventy metres and some 2,500 kilos, its horns inscribed with prayers for peace and timely weather.

Figures on the dragon's back

The body is finely painted, a pavilion on the head carries the deity Yang, and the back bears scenes such as the Boy Worshipping the Sea and the Eight Immortals.

Headmen's funding and three days of procession

The organising method of headmen elected by fishermen, merchants and entrepreneurs, embodying the crowd- and wealth-gathering character of the century-old port.

Sacrifice, incense, red packets and holy water

Villagers along the route welcome the dragon with worship, incense, red packets or by receiving holy water, amid dragon and lion dances and land-boat shows.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Dragon dance, also called “dragon dancing,” is a traditional dance form widely distributed in China, varied in form and far-reaching in influence.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Aojiang great dragon rowing is a marine cultural custom created by the people of Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province, during the Lantern Festival in the hope of favourable wind and rain, loaded fishing boats and a bumper harvest, and it has been handed down to the present day.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Dragon Dance (Pingyang, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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