Stilt Walking
01 · Historical Records
The tall stilts of Kushui Street, Yongdeng County, Gansu Province, originated in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties and have a history of nearly seven hundred years up to the present.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Gaoxiao, also called "gaoxiao yangge", is a folk dance widely transmitted throughout China; it takes its name from the way the dancers tread on wooden stilts with both feet. Gaoxiao has a very long history, originating in a form of technical display among the ancient hundred entertainments; stone carvings of stilt-walking dating from the Northern Wei dynasty already exist. Gaoxiao is generally performed by dance troupes of from a dozen-odd to several dozen people; most dancers portray the role of a character from an ancient myth or historical story, and their costumes largely imitate opera stage dress; common props include fans, handkerchiefs, wooden sticks, spears and sabres. Performance takes two forms, "treading the street" and "parking the field"; the latter comprises the "great field", in which the troupe dances while moving through various formations and patterns, and the "small field", performed by two or three people; male and female roles often dance facing each other, sometimes dancing and singing at the same time. The wooden stilts used for gaoxiao in different places range from 30 to 300 centimetres in height, varying widely. In terms of performance style it is further divided into "civil stilts" and "martial stilts": the civil stilts emphasise twisting, stepping and plot-based performance, while the martial stilts emphasise the display of technical feats. Tall stilts are a folk performing art handed down through generations in the locality, and also a traditional retained programme in the shehuo of the second day of the second lunar month, when the dragon raises its head. The performers put on traditional theatrical costume, paint on the facial makeup of characters from Qin Opera plays, take up their props, mount the tall stilts, form a long column, and go out into the street to perform under the powerful escort of the Taiping drum troupe. The leg-stilts of Kushui tall stilts reach a height of 3 to 3.3 metres, the highest in the country.
Stilts three to three-point-three metres tall
The stilts reach three to three-point-three metres, the tallest in the country; Ju Haiquan raised them from two metres to make the height the form's defining feature.
The dragon-raisers' festival procession
The tall stilts are a fixed item of the second-month dragon festival, a folk art handed down for generations in Kushui street.
Led by the peace-drum troupe
Costumed in theatre dress with Qinqiang face paint and props, the stilts walk in long files behind the powerful peace-drum troupe.
Qinqiang face paint and opera costume
The performers take their looks from Qinqiang stage characters, wearing opera dress, painted faces and props.
Ju Haiquan and the raising of the stilts
Born in Yongdeng in 1954, Ju Haiquan began learning in 1969 and has since organised, trained and performed, winning a gold Sun Bird award at the Chengdu intangible heritage festival.
Seven centuries since the Yuan-Ming transition
The tall stilts of Kushui street in Yongdeng arose around the Yuan-Ming transition and have been carried on for nearly seven hundred years.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Kushui tall stilts are distributed in the area of Kushui Street, Kushui Town, Yongdeng County, Gansu Province, and are a traditional retained programme in the local shehuo of the second day of the second lunar month, when the dragon raises its head. The performers put on traditional theatrical costume, paint on the facial makeup of characters from Qin Opera plays, take up their props, mount the tall stilts, form a long column, and go out into the street to perform under the powerful escort of the Taiping drum troupe. Kushui Town lies on the lower reaches of the Zhuanglang River, northwest of Lanzhou City, where temple fairs and shehuo have deep traditions; the shehuo procession on the second day of the second lunar month each year takes its main points of interest from the Taiping drum and the tall stilts. The leg-stilts of tall stilts reach a height of 3 to 3.3 metres, the highest in the country.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking · Stilt Walking.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, Kushui tall stilts face an awkward situation in transmission; the performers are unsettled in mind, the survival of the dance form has come into crisis, and the relevant departments need to commit financial, human and material resources to uncovering and protecting it. Ju Haiquan (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han nationality, born in April 1954, native of Yongdeng County, Gansu Province. He began learning tall stilts in 1969, practised hard for several years and steadily improved his skills. After 1974 he used his spare time to organise stilting for cultural activities or shehuo performances, combining management, training and performance in one person. On the basis of continuing the tradition he innovated actively, raising the stilts from 2 metres to more than 3 metres, which brings out even more the distinctive height of tall stilts. Since 2009 he has planned, organised and guided Kushui tall stilts to take part many times in various kinds of performance events at national and provincial level. He persists in taking apprentices and passing on the art, so that tall stilts in Kushui Town now has several dozen inheritors. Representative inheritor of the fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project Gaoxiao (Kushui tall stilts). He won the gold award of the "Sun and Immortal Birds" Prize at the second China Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival, hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xing Chuanpei 02-0357
- Yang Min 03-0915
- Wang Xinhui 03-0916
- Duan Tiecheng 04-1561
- Zhang Zhongxian 05-2214
- Wang Zonglu 05-2215
- Wei Pingjun 05-2216
- Juhaiquan 05-2217
- Wang Jixian
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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