Miao Lusheng Dance

01 · Historical Records

According to the Great Song Records of Rise and Fall written by Xiong Damu of the Ming dynasty, in the Song dynasty the Black Barbarian Dragon followed Yue Fei in fighting the Jurchen and was made a general of dragons and tigers for his merit; later, after Yue Fei and his son were killed at the Wind and Waves Pavilion, he "wept for several days and died of fasting".

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lusheng dance, also called "stepping on the lusheng" or "stepping-song hall", is so named because it uses the lusheng to accompany the dancing and because the dancers both play and dance at the same time. Judging from the excavated bronze lusheng music-and-dance figurines of the Western Han dynasty, lusheng dance has a history of at least more than two thousand years. Lusheng dance is mostly performed at festive moments such as the New Year, gatherings and celebrations, and mainly takes three forms: self-amusement, competition and ritual. Gulong Guhu — Changshan Long is called "da rong da zu — a hong" in Miao, and is a Miao lusheng dance unique to Gusa Village, Xinpu Township, Guiding County, in the Xiaohua Miao settlement area at the foot of the Miao Mountains in Guizhou. It has a long history, reaching more than a thousand years to the present. People perform the Gulong Guhu — Changshan Long dance in memory of this Miao hero, and it has been handed down from generation to generation. In the past this Miao lusheng dance, Changshan Long, was performed only in funerals and in rituals for the village guardian deity; now it is performed at every major festival gathering, wedding, house-raising and "yue" (moon-jumping) traditional ethnic activity, becoming an important way of carrying out entertainment competitions and strengthening fellowship. When used in a funeral, it is performed at the head of the funeral procession; when used to worship the village guardian deity, it is performed on the first day of the second month of the solar calendar, at the moment of killing a bull to sacrifice to the ancestors and stamping out the ground; when used for house-raising, it is usually performed while the house site is being stamped out; and when used for "yue", it is mostly performed during the "yue field" activities from the first to the thirtieth day of the first lunar month. The dancers wear black large-lapel long gowns, insert two pheasant feathers into their heads, cap the "dragon" head with a bull-horn totem, wear a false beard, tie on a red silver-ornament belt, hold a lusheng, and playing while dancing execute movements such as "dragon fights horns", "dragon spouts water", "dragon emerges from the cave", "dragon spreads its wings", "lotus" and "paying respects", following the flowing melodies of the lusheng. The accompanying instrument of this dance, the lusheng pipes, is thick and long, giving a low, deep and full sound; the musical rhythm is distinct, and the dance movements are closely integrated with the music, forming an artistic form with its own charm.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It is transmitted in the Miao, Dong, Bouyei, Shui, Gelao, Zhuang, Yao and other ethnic groups' inhabited areas in Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan and elsewhere; it is the folk dance most beloved by the southern ethnic minorities and the most widely distributed among them. Changshan Long takes the forms of a men's duet, a four-person dance and group dances, and the whole dance is divided into three sections: the first represents the appearance of the dragons, the second represents dragons soaring and tigers leaping, and the third represents the dragons contending for treasure.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Gulong Guhu — Changshan Long has a long history and a distinctive dance form, and is a folk dance of value for research in anthropology, sociology, ethnology and folklore studies. Because of changes in the social environment and multiple factors such as outside culture, which have had many influences and impacts on the Miao villages, now there is only one village in which fewer than thirty people can dance Gulong Guhu — Changshan Long; this ancient folk art form has already entered a serious endangered state and urgently requires protection. Lan Heng (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Miao, born in July 1977, from Guiding County, Guizhou Province. At twelve years old he was already able to play and dance the lusheng and to perform independently. He is now the full-time teacher of the county's "Miao culture enters the campus" Miao lusheng dance inheritor training class, and has long devoted himself at home to the transmission and development of the Miao lusheng dance "Gulong Guhu - Changshan Long". Representative inheritor of the fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project Miao lusheng dance (Gulong Guhu — Changshan Long). While serving as a contract teacher at a county middle school, he opened an interest class in the "Changshan Long" dance to train successors.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Li Jinying 02-0379
• Yu Guizhou 02-0380
• Wang Jingcai 02-0381
• Lanheng 05-2234
• Li Guangde
• Zhu Ying

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Miao Lusheng Dance (Guiding, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lanheng · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗