Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceZhangjiajieshicili, HunanBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

From 2014 the form of bringing out the board board dragon lantern changed from being organized by clan unit, as in the past, to townships and towns organizing large dragon dance teams to bring out the dragon.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The board board dragon lantern, popularly called the “board board lantern,” is one kind of bench dragon; it is a traditional dragon dance passed down in Cili County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province. Sericulture, the planting of hemp and the growing of cotton are important modes of production and sources of livelihood for the people of Cili. People pray for favourable wind and rain and for abundant harvests of mulberry, hemp and cotton; because the Dragon King governs wind and rain, the dragon must be welcomed with sacrifice at the beginning of spring, and the custom of sacrificing the dragon lantern in spring derives from this. The Gazetteer of Cili County records: “there is what is called the board lantern dragon lantern, … dozens or hundreds of benches joined into one dragon, which is indeed a strange spectacle.” The board board dragon lantern opens the way with cloth gongs and cloth trumpets, uses the silk-worm lamp placed on the sitting board of each household's weaving loom as its dragon body, and performs the “ritual of tending the mulberry” by weaving through the mulberry groves, preserving the long-standing agricultural and sericultural cultural customs. When dancing, its principal expressive form is a linear or chain formation. Before the dragon comes out, people burn incense and sacrifice to the ancestors, dot the dragon's eyes, a nine-eyed gun is fired to clear the way, and an auspicious lantern procession leads in front. Grooms with bells tied round their ankles carry the bodhisattva shrine on their shoulders, pony riders escort the dragon head, and dragon dancers shoulder the lantern boards and grip wooden tenons; led by the lantern guide they wind forward amid drums, music and firecrackers, cheering and dancing wildly, praying for favourable wind and rain and for the nation to prosper and the people to live in peace. Its basic movements include dragon walking step, dragon running step, dragon retreating step, dragon swaying step, dragon swaying head, dragon shaking head, dragon nodding head, the zigzag dragon walk and the divine dragon swaying its tail. Its dance routines include circling the pan, dragon striding like a tiger, and riding the clouds and the mist. The music of the board board dragon lantern is artistically stirring, the movements coordinated and balanced, the composition beautiful, the emotions rich, and the collective character prominent. It integrates bamboo work, paper pasting and hand painting into one, fuses physical culture, acrobatics and dance in a single art; in the form of entertainment it teaches people unity and cooperation, harmonious coexistence, perseverance and courage to press forward, and it has exerted far-reaching and wide influence in western Hunan, possessing cultural and artistic value that cannot be underestimated.

The basic steps

Its basic actions, which with head-shaking, nodding and thrashing movements form a system performed chiefly in linear or chain formations.

Coiling and striding routines

Its dance routines, balanced and well-composed, emotionally rich and strongly collective in character.

Traditional formation patterns

The traditional ground patterns, to which recent years have added new formations such as the Chinese Dream and Long Life and Rich Harvests.

Silkworm lanterns on loom seats

Because sericulture, hemp and cotton were the region's livelihood, cloth gongs lead the way and silkworm lanterns form the body, preserving an ancient mulberry-and-silk custom.

Incense, ancestors and dotting the eyes

Before setting out the villagers burn incense to the ancestors and dot in the dragon's eyes, a nine-barrelled gun clears the way and bell-footed horsemen carry the shrine ahead.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The board board dragon lantern, popularly called the “board board lantern,” is one kind of bench dragon, passed down in Cili County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, and mainly handed down in eighteen villages of the townships of Longtanhe, Erfangping and Gaoqiao, extending as well to the towns of Huangshi and Jiuxi in Taoyuan County, Changde City. Traditionally it was handed down through generation after generation by more than twenty clans including the Li, Zhu, Zhang, Ye and Pan clans, and the dragon was brought out on a clan basis; from 2014 this was changed to townships and towns organizing large dragon dance teams to bring out the dragon, so family transmission gave way to social transmission, and today the Cili County Board Board Dragon Lantern Association already has three dragon lantern teams — at Longtanhe, Erfangping and Gaoqiao — with 221 members.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

It is mainly handed down in eighteen villages of the townships of Longtanhe, Erfangping and Gaoqiao in Cili County, extending to the towns of Huangshi and Jiuxi in Taoyuan County, Changde City. Traditional formations include “the taiji diagram,” “the golden line with the gourd suspended,” “the baby (butterfly) spreading its wings” and “one stroke of blessing”; in recent years formations such as “the Chinese Dream” and “longevity with years of plenty” have also been devised and performed. Traditionally the board board dragon lantern was handed down through generation after generation by more than twenty clans including the Li, Zhu, Zhang, Ye and Pan clans, but it has now been extended into social transmission. At present the Cili County Board Board Dragon Lantern Association has three dragon lantern teams at Longtanhe, Erfangping and Gaoqiao, with 221 members, and is mainly engaged in the investigation, research, transmission, protection and performance of the board board dragon lantern, playing a positive role in the transmission and spread of the project.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

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

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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