Xiangxi Miao Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
Historical documents record that this dance originated before the Han dynasty, taking shape within the sacrificial activities of the Miao people. The Xiangxi Miao drum dance has a long history. In the people's struggles against outside forces and their resistance to the feudal court, the Miao drum and horn served to rally and encourage the masses, forming an enormous force of national cohesion, and the Miao drum came to be a sacred object of the Xiangxi Miao people.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xiangxi Miao drum dance is transmitted in Jishou City and in the counties of Fenghuang, Luxi, Baojing, Huayuan and Guzhang within Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province. As times have changed, the Miao drum dance has become the dance form most beloved by the Miao people. The Xiangxi Miao drum dance has dozens of varieties; the common ones include the flower drum dance, the monkey drum dance, the women's solo drum dance, the men's solo drum dance and the reunion drum dance. These dances are sharply individual in character. The performers dance while beating the drum, with a brisk rhythm, alternately striking the drum with the two hands, taking turns in the jumping of the two feet, and twisting the whole body without pause; the movements are open and unconstrained. The monkey drum dance is nimble and varied, witty and humorous; the flower drum dance is gentle and charming, with soft and graceful bearing; the men's and women's drum dances mostly use bent-knee, low-squatting postures with bold and vigorous movements; the women's drum dance has flexible steps and restrained lyricism; the reunion drum dance presents a grand scene, stirring and lively. Since ancient times, the performance of the Miao drum dance has embodied the Miao people's devout faith and their national spirit of daring to create and of struggling stubbornly onward.
Flower, monkey and dozens more
Dozens of kinds exist, among them flower, monkey, women's solo, men's solo and reunion dances, ranging from the nimble and comic to the tender and the grand.
Alternating hands and jumping feet
Dancers strike with alternating hands and jump on alternating feet, body twisting, the men's style squat and bold, the women's nimble and lyrical.
The skin-headed sacred drum
The drum is wood with a cowhide head, struck by stick, beater or palm; the drum itself is held sacred and bound up with Miao ritual, warfare and festival.
Drums as a rallying cry
Recorded as pre-Han and rooted in sacrifice, the dance's drum and horn once rallied the people in their struggles, making the drum a sacred object.
Hong Fuqiang's eight-harmony drum
The second-batch inheritor Hong Fuqiang, born in 1936, broke down the eight-harmony boxing routine into fifty-odd drum movements and created the eight-harmony drum and other new patterns.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Xiangxi Miao drum dance is inherited in the Miao villages and hamlets of Jishou City and of Fenghuang, Luxi, Baojing, Huayuan and Guzhang counties. Because of differences in locality and in lineage of transmission, it has branched into dozens of playing styles such as the flower drum dance, the monkey drum dance, the women's solo drum dance, the men's solo drum dance and the reunion drum dance; each locality has its own approach to the drumbeat patterns, the footwork and the way the drum is struck.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Protecting and developing the Xiangxi Miao drum dance is of considerable significance for the study of Miao history, warfare, religion, migration, production, love, folk customs and the like. Hong Fuqiang (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Miao, born in 1936, native of Xiangxi, Hunan. In 2003 he took apart move by move the forms of the Miao martial art “Bahe Quan” (Eight-United Fist), developed them into more than fifty drum-dance movements, and created the “Bahe Drum”, which combines features of martial arts movements with high-difficulty drumming technique. Later, building on the traditional Miao drum dance and the “Bahe Drum”, he composed new Miao drum styles including the auspicious drum, the ruyi drum, the unity drum and the iron-shed drum, making an important contribution to the inheritance and development of the Xiangxi Miao drum dance. Representative inheritor of the Xiangxi Miao drum dance, second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. Shi Shunmin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, Miao, born in 1949, native of Xiangxi, Hunan. From childhood Shi Shunmin was influenced by her mother Long Poying (deceased) and learned to dance the Miao drum dance. The Miao drum dance she dances is rich in movement, with graceful carriage, a strong sense of rhythm and technically demanding difficulty; it is highly engaging to watch and has formed a style distinctly her own. Representative works include Qing Fengshou (Celebrating the Harvest), Yingbin Drum (Welcoming the Guests) and Tuan yuan Drum (Reunion). Representative inheritor of the Xiangxi Miao drum dance, second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. She has taught the Miao drum dance since the 1980s, and in 2004 raised the funds herself to open the first Miao drum dance training centre in Xiangxi — the Shunmin Miao Drum Dance Training Class — which trains rural students free of charge.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hong Fuqiang 02-0389
- Shi Shunmin 02-0390
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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