Lion Dance

Ⅲ-5Traditional DanceXushui, HebeiBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The lion association of Beili Village, Xushui County, was founded in 1925 and existed in the form of a folk flower gathering; it developed rapidly after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Xushui lion dance occupies an important position in Chinese folk art performance. In 1953 it went to the capital Beijing to take part in the national folk art gathering performance, and on behalf of the country it visited and performed abroad many times. In October 2001, the Hebei Acrobats Association formally named Beili Village the "Hometown of Acrobatic Lion Dance".

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lion dance, also called "shizi wu", "shi deng", "wu shi" or "wu shi zi", is performed mostly at New Year festivals and in celebratory events. The lion is regarded as an auspicious beast in the hearts of all the peoples of China, symbolizing good fortune and the fulfilment of wishes; accordingly, lion-dance performances embody the people's good wishes to ward off disaster and harm and to seek auspiciousness and blessings. Lion dance has a long history: the "xiangren" (elephant men) recorded in the "Treatise on Rites and Music" of the Book of Han are the forerunner of lion dance; Tang and Song poems and prose contain many vivid descriptions of lion dance. The lion dance that survives today is divided into two great categories, the southern lion and the northern lion. The southern lion has many acrobatic, highly difficult techniques and a vigorous, fierce bearing; the northern lion is naive and cute, and its performance content is mostly play and frolic. According to the differing materials used to make the lion head and the differing methods of tying and constructing it, the lion dances of the various localities are numerous and richly varied. Hebei is the birthplace of the northern lion. The performance times of Xushui lion dance are mainly during the Spring Festival and the spring temple fair rites. In performance two people cooperate, one in front and one behind: the one in front puts the prop on his head with both hands to play the lion's head, while the one behind bends forward, grips the front person's waist with both hands and covers himself with a lion skin decorated with cow hair to play the lion's body; the two work together to form one large lion, called the "tai shi" (great lion). In addition one person wears a lion head mask on his head and drapes a lion skin over his body to play a small lion, called the "shao shi" (lesser lion); the person who holds an embroidered ball and teases the lion is called the "yin shi lang" (lion-leading man). The lion-leading man plays an important role in the whole lion-dance performance: he must have not only a heroic bearing but also good martial skills, being able to perform movements such as "a somersault forward over the lion", "a back somersault up onto a high table" and "a somersault down from the sky onto the plum-blossom stakes". The tacit cooperation between the lion-leading man and the lion forms an important feature of northern lion dance. The basic feature of Xushui lion dance lies in its exaggerated outward form: the lion head is round and large, the eyes are quick and lively, and the big mouth opens and closes in good measure — at once awe-inspiring and mighty yet clumsy and endearing. In performance it can imitate the real lion's actions of looking, standing, walking, running, jumping, rolling, sleeping and shaking its fur, taking on a lifelike form; it can also display such high-difficulty techniques as "playing with the long bench", "plum-blossom stakes", "jumping the stakes", "leaping across stakes", "a showy pose", "a 360-degree twist", "a one-stance jump", "a forward somersault with a double descent off the stakes" and "a back somersault down off the stakes". It won first prize in the competition of the "Fourth World Festival of Youth and Students" held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

Great lion, small lion and the teaser

Two men form the great lion, one holding the head prop and the other bending to seize his waist under a cowhair skin; a single performer makes the small lion, and the teaser holds the embroidered ball.

Bench and plum-blossom stake feats

One group of the difficult feats, alongside posed figures, the 360-degree twist, the single-stake jump and various somersault dismounts.

The 360-degree twist and single-stake jump

Its most representative hard techniques, requiring the twist and one-footed jump on stakes or high platforms with exceptional strength and balance.

Imitating the real lion

Its mimetic actions: with an exaggerated round head, mobile eyes and measured jaws the lion imitates watching, standing, walking, running, jumping, rolling, sleeping and shaking its coat.

The 1953 national festival and foreign tours

The dance performed at the 1953 national folk arts festival in Beijing and toured abroad repeatedly, taking first prize at the fourth World Festival of Youth in Bucharest.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xushui lion dance belongs to the northern lion system; Hebei is the birthplace of the northern lion; the lion association of Beili Village, Xushui County, was founded in 1925 and existed in the form of a folk flower gathering, and developed rapidly after the founding of the People's Republic of China; in October 2001 the Hebei Acrobats Association formally named Beili Village the "Hometown of Acrobatic Lion Dance". Its performance times are mainly during the Spring Festival and the spring temple fair rites; in performance two people cooperate to form one large lion, called the "tai shi", while one other person plays the small lion, called the "shao shi", and the person who holds an embroidered ball and teases the lion is called the "yin shi lang". The lion-leading man must have a heroic bearing and good martial skills, being able to perform movements such as "a somersault forward over the lion", "a back somersault up onto a high table" and "a somersault down from the sky onto the plum-blossom stakes"; his tacit cooperation with the lion has become an important feature of northern lion dance.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, because lion-dance props are expensive and it is difficult to train new performers, Xushui lion dance faces a crisis of transmission and urgently needs rescue and support from the relevant departments. Wang Lizhong (official file record of the associated inheritor): male, Han nationality, born in 1943, native of Xushui, Hebei. On the basis of the inherited traditional performance routines, he innovated boldly, reformed the lion-dance props and innovated lion-dance technique, changing the formerly stiff and clumsy movements into flexible ones and making the dance better able to express the lion's brave and mighty image. Wang Lizhong has deep foundation in lion dance, nimble movements, and performs the various expressions of the "lion" vividly and lifelessly. Representative inheritor of Lion dance (Xushui lion dance), the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects.

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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