Lion Dance
01 · Historical Records
It grew out of the court lion dance of the Tang dynasty; after the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms, as migrants from the Central Plains moved south, the culture of the lion dance was carried into the Lingnan region. During the Ming dynasty the Xing lion appeared in Guangdong, originating in Nanhai County. Since the 1980s, almost every village has had its own Xing lion team. Throughout the four seasons the sound of gongs and drums rings out at opening celebrations, and at New Year and other festivals the lion teams take to the streets to pluck the greens and tour in procession.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The lion dance, also called “shizi wu”, “lion lantern”, “wuxi” or “playing the lion”, is performed mostly at New Year and other celebratory occasions. In the minds of all the peoples of China the lion is an auspicious beast symbolizing good fortune and the fulfilment of wishes, so lion dancing carries the people's hope of warding off disaster and harm and of seeking good fortune and blessings. The lion dance has a distant history; the “elephant men” recorded in the “Treatise on Rites and Music” of the Book of Han were its predecessor, and Tang and Song poems and prose contain many vivid descriptions of lion dancing. Surviving lion dances fall into two great categories, the southern lion and the northern lion. The southern lion features many difficult and demanding martial techniques and looks vigorous and fierce; the northern lion is naive and charming and takes playful romping as its main content. Because the materials and binding methods used for the lion head differ, lion dances of many kinds abound in each locality, glittering in their variety. The Xing lion belongs to the southern lion of the Chinese lion dance. The Xing lion is a cultural activity that integrates martial arts, dance and music and the like. During the performance, as gongs and drums are beaten, the lion dancers first strike a set of southern boxing blows, which is called “opening the posts”; then two persons play the part of a single lion and dance it, while another, wearing a smiling “big-headed Buddha” mask and holding a large palm-leaf fan, leads the lion onto the stage. The movements of the lion dancers are based mainly on the horse stance of southern boxing, and the movements of the lion include “opening the eyes”, “washing the whiskers”, “licking the body” and “shaking the fur”. The main routines include “plucking the greens”, “drinking at a high platform”, “the lion spits the ball” and “treading plum-blossom stakes”. Among them, “plucking the greens” is the essence of the Xing lion. It has stages of opening, continuation, turn and conclusion, and possesses dramatic and narrative qualities. “Plucking the greens” has undergone many changes, giving rise to a variety of routines that circulate widely. In performance, the Suixi Xing lion developed gradually from the traditional ground lion to the bench lion, from the bench lion to the high-platform lion and the tall-pole lion, and from the tall-pole lion to the stake lion. The difficulty of the stake lion also kept increasing, with the addition of performance types such as tightrope walking and airborne leaps. The tallest stake approaches 3 metres and the largest span reaches 3.7 metres, fully embodying the characteristics of “new, high, difficult and dangerous”; it is acclaimed as “a unique wonder of China”. The characteristic styling of the props of the Shakeng Xing lion of Guangzhou City is this: the lion head has a high, narrow forehead, large eyes that can turn, a broad mouth traced with lines, a broad back, a flattened nose and full cheeks, and teeth that can be either hidden or revealed. Performance is divided into three major categories: the civil lion, the lion dance and the few-lion form. Through such high-difficulty movements as springing, shifting, dodging, pouncing, spinning and leaping, on the ground or over the array of stakes, the performance renders the lion's eight states of joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, movement, stillness, fright and suspicion, expressing the lion's ferocity and vigour. Since ancient times the Guangdong Xing lion has been regarded as an auspicious beast that wards off evil and harm; at every festival or major activity the Xing lion is bound to appear to add zest, and it has flourished without decline, passed down through the generations. The popularisation of lion arts among the masses in the towns and villages has also been unprecedented. The Guangdong Xing lion has become a nationally known folk dance brand peculiar to Guangdong.
The Shaken lion head
The Shaken lion's head has a high narrow brow, large movable eyes, a wide mouth with brush, a broad back, a flat nose and full cheeks, teeth that appear and hide.
Civil, martial and young lions
The three categories of southern lion: the civil emphasising expression, the martial emphasising hard technique, and the young lion performed by a single dancer.
The lion's eight states
Through leaping, shifting, flashing, pouncing, wheeling and vaulting on ground or stakes the lion enacts joy, anger, sorrow, delight, motion, stillness, alarm and doubt.
The core actions
The core vocabulary of the southern lion, taken directly from southern boxing footwork and martial body technique.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It is now transmitted among Guangdong, Guangxi and the overseas Chinese of Southeast Asian countries; within Guangdong it is distributed mainly in counties and cities such as Foshan, Suixi and Guangzhou.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Xing lion activities are also widely transmitted in overseas Chinese communities, becoming a cultural bridge by which compatriots abroad recognize their ancestry and return to their roots; their cultural value and significance are profoundly far-reaching.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Lizhong 02-0345
- Li Dengshan 02-0346
- Wang Yueyou 02-0347
- Li Rongzai 02-0348
- Wang Jianwen 03-0905
- Yin Shaoshan 03-0906
- Li Dazhi 03-0907
- Yang Jingwei 04-1549
- Sun Bingxiang 04-1550
- Xie Daxiang 04-1551
- Li Jintu 04-1552
- Li Daohai 04-1553
- Wen Yansen 04-1554
- Tang Shouyi 04-1555
- Liu Guoping 05-2199
- Deng Yaming 05-2200
- Huang Qintian 05-2201
- Chi Hongqing 05-2202
- Sun Shuqiang 05-2203
- Deng Minghua 05-2204
- Huang Xingliang
- Zhao Xuelin
- Li Zhongchun
- Zhao Weibin
- Li Yongmao
- Mao Yunfeng
- Huang Zhengquan
- Ma Xinjian
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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