Dragon Dance

Ⅲ-4Traditional DanceDazhou, SichuanBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Anren Bench Dragon is a traditional dragon dance transmitted in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province. It is distributed mainly over Anren Township of Dachuan District, Dazhou City and more than twenty other townships and towns, including Maliu Town, Tanmu Town, Huahong Township, Dongxing Township and Datan Township. The local residents are mainly Han Chinese, most of them descendants of immigrants from Hunan who came during the 'Huguang Replaces Sichuan' migration. According to legend, the Anren Bench Dragon was brought to Anren Township by the Tan family of Hunan origin during that migration and has been transmitted for more than three hundred years. In the past the project was always handed down within the Tan family through oral teaching and imitation, with a documented lineage reaching nine generations. It is a product of the mutual influence and blending of Ba-Chu cultures and bears witness to the history and reality of Hunan immigrants taking root and opening up new ground in Anren.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Anren Bench Dragon is mainly performed during rain-praying activities and annual celebrations. Its principal prop, the bench dragon, is made by an archaic technique and has an archaic shape. The dragon head and body are usually based on long wooden benches, made from bamboo strips, then decorated with straw and five kinds of crop residue such as maize husk, symbolising a bountiful harvest of the five grains; the four legs of the bench serve as the dragon's legs, expressing the wish for peace through the four seasons. The Anren Bench Dragon has many forms of performance. When performed by three men, the first two each hold one leg in a single hand and the last holds two legs in both hands, evoking the auspicious opening of the Three Signs. The performance of the Anren Bench Dragon follows a prescribed set of routines. Performers wear dragon horns on their heads, dragon scales over their bodies and dragon claws on their feet; to the drumbeats of four musical tune patterns expressing the accord of heaven, earth and humankind, they dance out various figures in a regular and rhythmic manner. Its basic movements include chasing, pressing, running, jumping, tumbling, staff-play, leaping and climbing; by imitating more than ten groups of forms such as dragon playing with water, dragon deploying the array, dragon seizing the pearl, dragon clutching the treasure, dragon paired with phoenix, storming the dragon palace, leaping the dragon gate and dragon returning to its nest, the performance fully displays strength, agility, flexibility and power. Its mode of performance is flexible: a single dragon may dance alone or several dragons may dance together; the performance site is not restricted and may be a village courtyard or a street, square or stage. The Anren Bench Dragon uses no music and no orchestral instruments at all, accompanying itself only with the rhythmic beats of gongs and drums; the rise and fall, the quickness and slowness with which the tune patterns are played are used to arrange and control the formation and the difficulty of the dragon dance. During the performance the drumbeats are urgent and the gong sound is stirring, matching the dancers' vigorous movements beat for beat and producing a strongly shocking effect. The Anren Bench Dragon is a product of the mutual influence and blending of Ba-Chu cultures and bears witness to the history and reality of Hunan immigrants taking root and opening up new ground in Anren; it integrates dance performance, craft production and percussion music into one and has strong artistic expressiveness; it has a broad mass base, for it both builds physical strength and enriches cultural life.

Five-grain decoration and four legs

Built on a long wooden bench with bamboo splints, the dragon is dressed with five kinds of crop straw for the five grains and stands on the bench's four legs for peace through the seasons.

Three dancers for the threefold auspiciousness

In one basic form three men perform, two grasping a leg one-handed and the third both legs with two hands, meaning the opening of three auspicious yang.

The basic actions

Its basic actions; the performers wear dragon horns, scales and claws and move to four drum tunes representing heaven, earth and human accord.

Ten-odd imitative figures

The dance imitates the dragon sporting in water, arraying itself, darting at the pearl, embracing treasure, skirmishing in the palace and leaping the gate.

Drums only, no strings or winds

It uses no melodic music, only the rhythms of gongs and drums, whose weight and pace govern formations and difficulty, the urgent beats locking with the dancers' force.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Anren Bench Dragon is a traditional dragon dance transmitted in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, distributed mainly over Anren Township of Dayi County, Dazhou City and more than twenty other townships and towns, including Maliu Town, Tanmu Town, Huahong Township, Dongxing Township and Datan Township. The local residents are mainly Han Chinese, most of them descendants of immigrants from Hunan who came during the 'Huguang Replaces Sichuan' migration.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

According to legend, the Anren Bench Dragon was brought to Anren Township by the Tan family of Hunan origin during the 'Huguang Replaces Sichuan' migration and has been transmitted for more than 300 years. In the past this project was always handed down within the Tan family through oral teaching and imitation, with a documented lineage reaching nine generations. As intangible cultural heritage protection has advanced, the local government has supported the inheritors in establishing a training base at Daxian Vocational High School, and has set up related experience venues and coaching stations, further widening the scope of transmission and dissemination for this project. Protecting this cultural heritage is of positive significance for promoting outstanding traditional culture, strengthening cultural identity and advancing social harmony.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Dragon Dance (Dazhou, Sichuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回英文名录。