Qiangmu
01 · Historical Records
The A Cham of Gongga Qude Monastery was created in 1464 by Zongba Gongga Langjie and has a history of more than five hundred years. Gongga Qude Monastery is located in Gongga County on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River; it is one of the important Sakya school monasteries in the region of central Tibet, and the A Cham is performed by the monks of this monastery. According to the records of the monastery, the A Cham of Qude Temple was created in 1464 by Zongba Gongga Langjie and has more than five hundred years of history. Because it may not be performed at will and, still less, taught to lay people, the dance segments, drum beats and formations of the A Cham were long confined to oral transmission from teacher to pupil among designated monks within the monastery.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
"A Cham" means beating a drum; it is a religious dance performed by the monks of Gongga Qude Monastery in Gongga County, Shannan Prefecture. The A Cham is performed twice a year: the first time on the fifteenth day of the first Tibetan month at the monastery's "Quzhui Duiqing" (religious celebration festival), the second time on the thirtieth day of the second Tibetan month when the "Cuoqu Sibang" (commonly called the "Treasure Offering Festival") is held in Lhasa. The A Cham has 16 dancers, together with one cymbal player who strikes the cymbals in accompaniment. During the performance the dancers wear no masks, painting only black facial patterns on their faces. The A Cham has no complicated plot or roles; the dancers hold the large, heavy great drum upright on their backs and beat it while dancing, with an awe-inspiring and steady manner. The performance formations consist only of clockwise circling and single-file marching, with a two-person drum dance inserted between them. Like the chams of the other monasteries, the A Cham of Qude Temple may not be performed at will and, still less, taught to lay people; it can be performed only by designated persons at prescribed times and places.
The two annual occasions
It is danced twice a year, at the monastery's Chotri Duchen festival and at the Lhasa Tsokchur Sipung, known as the Offering Assembly.
Sixteen drummers and one cymbal player
Sixteen dancers, faces painted black and large drums strapped upright to their backs, perform to a single cymbal player's accompaniment.
Circle and column formations
Without plot or characters, the dance uses only clockwise circling and column formations, with a duet drum dance interspersed.
Chongba Gonggar Namgyal and five centuries
Created in 1464 by Chongba Gonggar Namgyal, the cham has for five centuries been confined to designated monks, times and places.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Locally it is said that performing the A Cham brings favourable weather, peace to the household and good fortune to the whole family, and can prevent and ward off all manner of natural calamities and human misfortune. The A Cham of Qude Temple shares the same origin as the chams of the monasteries of Lhasa and Shannan but diverges in its current form: it wears no masks but paints black facial patterns, is marked by dancing with the drum carried on the back, and during the year is performed only in two places, Gongga Qude Monastery and Lhasa. In role setting and repertoire it forms a complete system of its own, distinct from the Samye Monastery cham and the Drikung Gar Cham.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Shigatse Zhashenlunbusiqiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu · Qiangmu.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Tudan Qunpei (record from the official inheritor file): Male, Tibetan, born June 1969, native of Gongga County, Tibet Autonomous Region. Beginning in 1986, he studied the performance of the A Cham under the guidance of Awang Danda, inheritor of the A Cham of Gongga Qude Monastery, and became skilled in the artistic performance forms, the artistic characteristics, the relevant history and the basic content of each dance segment of the Qude Temple A Cham. For more than twenty consecutive years he has organized the monks of the monastery every year, on the fifteenth day of the first Tibetan month, to perform the A Cham at the grand "Jian'a Quba Festival" great Dharma assembly, serving not only as organizer but also as inheritor, performer, cymbal player and holder of several other roles. Representative inheritor of cham (Qude Temple A Cham) among the fourth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. He has more than thirty disciples.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lama Ciren 02-0377
- Lama Mima 02-0378
- Baimaqunjiu 04-1565
- Tudanqunpei 04-1566
- Zhaxi 05-2232
- Ciyang 05-2233
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。