Lion Dance
01 · Historical Records
The Waga Buyi high-platform lion lantern dance is an ethnic folk dance transmitted in Waga Village, Maling Town, Xingyi City, Guizhou Province. It was introduced into the Panjiang river basin during the Eastern Han and became gradually prevalent after the Three Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties. In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, lion dance activities circulated widely among the Buyi people of this area. In the performance of the Buyi high-platform lion lantern dance, six or eight eight-immortal tables are stacked into a high platform, and the topmost table is turned upside down with its four legs in the air. The lion spirals upward from below, sometimes turning and sometimes leaping, completing thrilling movements such as turning, tumbling and stacking in the process. Waga stockade lies in Maling Town, Xingyi City, in the Buyi settlement area of the Nanpanjiang river basin. The Buyi high-platform lion lantern dance was introduced into the Panjiang river basin in the Eastern Han, became gradually prevalent after the Three Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties, and in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties lion dance activities circulated widely among the Buyi people of this area. Lion dance is both an entertainment at festival celebrations and is woven into life rituals such as weddings and funerals; before the lion is brought out, ancestors and deities are usually informed according to the rules of the stockade, the lion team is made up of the young and middle-aged men of the village, and the making of props and the preparation of the site are undertaken in rotation by the branches of the lineage.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Lion dance, also called “shizi wu” (lion dance), “shi deng” (lion lantern), “wu shi” or “wu shizi”, is an important component of the traditional Chinese hundred-performances and acrobatics repertoire. Lion dance has a long history. It is widely popular in the Han areas of China and appears frequently in festival celebrations such as the Spring Festival, using lively and cheerful performance to express the Chinese people's good wishes for auspiciousness and the warding off of disaster. It is generally divided into two major types, the southern lion and the northern lion. The southern lion is agile and fierce and often performs high-difficulty techniques; the northern lion is playful and naive and usually performs teasing and frolicking movements. Once it has reached the top, the lion dances in mid-air on the four table legs. For this mid-air performance, the Waga lion lantern artists use the high-difficulty “leaping feet” (tiaojiao) technique to jump over quickly and accurately, displaying superb skill. The percussion instruments of the high-platform lion lantern are called “xiangqi”, consisting of horse gong, bowl, hall gong, drum and the like. There are over a hundred ways of playing them, novel and distinctive, with great variation. The Waga Buyi high-platform lion lantern dance is active in the traditional festivals of the Buyi people and in occasions such as weddings and funerals; it is an important part of the traditional culture of the Buyi people. It vividly displays the production conditions, life customs, religious beliefs and ideal aspirations of the Buyi people, and has played a positive role in strengthening national cohesion and promoting fine national culture.
A tower of six or eight tables
Six or eight square tables are stacked into a tower, the topmost upturned, and the lion spirals up from below, turning and leaping as it performs its rolls and stacks.
The airborne foot-change
On the four upturned legs at the summit the lion dances in the air, the artists leaping swiftly and precisely from foot to foot to show their skill.
The percussion ensemble
The percussion of the high-platform lion, horse gong, bowl, hall gong and drum, played in over a hundred patterns that govern pace and peril.
Rolling and stacking feats
The rolls and stacks performed while climbing the tower, the technical core distinguishing this form from ground and bench lion dances.
Festivals and life rites
The dance appears at Buyi festivals and at weddings and funerals, an important part of Buyi tradition and a medium of village exchange and cooperation.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The forms of lion dance differ from place to place across China, and their regional characteristics are very distinct.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the high-platform lion lantern dance faces a survival crisis, and effective protection measures urgently need to be formulated in order to rescue and protect it. The percussion instruments of the high-platform lion lantern are called “xiangqi”, consisting of horse gong, bowl, hall gong, drum and the like. There are over a hundred ways of playing them, novel and distinctive, with great variation. After the lion reaches the top it dances in mid-air on the four table legs, and the artists use the high-difficulty “leaping feet” technique to jump and change position quickly and accurately, displaying superb skill. The whole performance vividly displays the production conditions, life customs, religious beliefs and ideal aspirations of the Buyi people, and has played a positive role in strengthening national cohesion and promoting fine national culture; yet today the old artists who can climb onto the high platform decrease year by year, and effective protection measures urgently need to be formulated in order to rescue and protect it.
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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