Nuo Dance
01 · Historical Records
According to legend, in the Zhou dynasty there were already the terms 'great nuo' and 'villagers' nuo'; after the Han dynasty nuo gradually became an important component of the state's orthodox system of ritual law. The Aishe nuo dance originated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in remote antiquity; it is an extremely ancient and primitive folk dance form from the birthplace of Yellow River culture, and now survives only within the territory of Shouyang County, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, at the western foot of the Taihang Mountains.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The nuo dance is a primitive dance of a sacrificial-ritual nature in traditional society, and has a long history. The nuo dance takes driving out plague and pestilence and praying for peace and safety as its principal aim, and involves a very strong degree of mass participation. In performance the dancers wear masks, shout as they drive things away, and attract a large crowd of followers and onlookers, so the scene is very lively. Among the many ethnic minorities of the southwestern region there also survive numerous nuo rituals and nuo dances of diverse form and complex function, with strong ethnic character. Shouyang was anciently known as Upper Ai, Middle Ai and Lower Ai, the last being present-day Yuxian, which is where the Aishe nuo dance gets its name. The Shouyang Aishe nuo dance uses the shamanic nuo form to enact the legend of the battle between Xuanyuan and Chiyou, expressing the nuo worship consciousness of humanity's remote hunting era and the national spirit of the descendants of Yan and Huang as industrious, brave and stubbornly struggling. The Aishe nuo dance is performed mainly on occasions such as the birthday celebration of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, sacrifices and prayers for rain, and takes about 50 minutes from beginning to end. The dance troupe consists of 24 people, of whom 6 'big ghosts' wear ghost-face masks and perform, while 18 'little ghosts' stand in the form of city walls on the two sides to support them. The whole performance consists of sections such as 'martial momentum', the basic movements showing preparations before battle, 'toppling against the wall', deploying the array in confrontation, 'straight wall', the formation changing like a snake shedding its skin, 'small field', the assault on the city failing and the array being redeployed, 'clearing the pass', taking off the boots for a surprise attack and scaling the walls to seize the flag, and 'playing the table', the assault on the city succeeding and the common people lining the streets to reward the troops; it displays simple and natural characteristics.
The six episodes of the Aishe dance
The six episodes: preparation, lines facing off, snake-shedding formation, regrouping after a failed assault, the sneak attack over the wall, and the victory feast along the street.
Six great ghosts and eighteen lesser ones
The troupe of twenty-four has six masked great ghosts performing and eighteen lesser ghosts ranged in a city-wall formation; a full performance takes about fifty minutes.
Shang'ai, Zhong'ai and Xia'ai
Shouyang was anciently called Shang'ai, Zhong'ai and Xia'ai, from which the Aishe dance takes its name.
The Yellow Emperor's war with Chi You
The legend enacted through Nuo form, evoking the totemic worship of the hunting age and the shift from hunting to farming civilisation.
Han Fulin, fourth-generation all-rounder of Hangou village
From 1963 Han Fulin organised the dance movements, then learned the percussion and mask carving, becoming Hangou's fourth-generation all-rounder and organiser of its Nuo customs.
The craft of the ghost Nuo masks
The ghost-face masks are made by village craftsmen through carving and layering; with the inheritors ageing, the craft is nearly lost and urgently needs rescue.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The nuo dance is widely transmitted throughout the country, and is distributed most densely in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi and Anhui in the Yangtze River basin, and in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Hebei in the Yellow River basin.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Shouyang Aishe nuo dance reflects the historical process by which remote humanity moved from a hunting civilisation to an agrarian civilisation; excavating and organising this ancient art helps promote the propagation and transmission of traditional culture in Shanxi and indeed in the whole Central Plains region. At present the Aishe nuo dance inheritors are growing old, and the craft of making masks is close to being lost, so it urgently needs to be rescued. Han Fulin (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): from 1963 he began to organise the dance movements of the Aishe, and afterwards studied the percussion instruments of nuo opera and the craft of making ghost nuo masks, becoming the fourth-generation all-round practitioner of the Aishe in Hangou Village and the convener and organiser of its nuo customary activities. He led the nuo opera troupe many times to take part in street cultural touring performances. In 1985 he worked with the county Cultural Centre to collect and organise material on the Aishe, which was included in the Collection of Chinese Folk Dances. As a folk artist shouldering the task of transmitting the art of the Aishe nuo dance, he has long been devoted to Aishe performance, to collecting and organising material and to training successors. Male, Han Chinese, born in July 1943, died in January 2017, a native of Shouyang County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level intangible cultural heritage project Nuo Dance (Shouyang Aishe). In 2008 he performed for the China Nuo Drama Symposium and received unanimous praise from the experts.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Luo Huiwu 02-0353
- Hu Zhenkun 02-0354
- Chengzhangqing 03-0911
- Peng Yingfang 03-0912
- Yu Yangfu 03-0913
- Fan Tinglu 03-0914
- Han Fulin 04-1557
- Wang Xuanzhi 04-1558
- Gong Maofa 04-1559
- Cheng Jinsheng 04-1560
- Wang Shunqing 05-2210
- Zhou Guoping 05-2211
- Yulinji 05-2212
- Banyongming
- Xiao Yiping
- Peng Qiusheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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