Xiangxi Tujiazumaogusi Dance
01 · Historical Records
In the Tujia language the Maogusi dance is called the “Gusiba Pa dance”, the “Papa Gezi” or the “Bobuka”; in Chinese it is generally called “Maogusi” or “Maolie dance”. It arose within the sacrificial ceremonies of the Tujia people, and is usually performed in the taisi hall after the waving-hand dance.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Maogusi dance, called “Gusiba Pa dance”, “Papa Gezi” or “Bobuka” in the Tujia language, is generally known in Chinese as “Maogusi” or “Maolie dance”. The Maogusi dance arose within the sacrificial ceremonies of the Tujia people. It is an ancient form of dance among the Tujia of Xiangxi, transmitted mainly in Longshan County, Yongshun County, Baojing County and Guzhang County of Xiangxi. The Maogusi dance is a primitive theatrical dance with characters, dialogue, a simple plot and a certain performance procedure. It presents the productive content of the Tujia ancestors — fishing, hunting and farming — by artistic means such as those of Chinese opera: suggestiveness, convention and supposition. It has both the features of a dance and the performative quality of drama, the two interweaving into an integrated whole. Performances are mostly interspersed with the waving-hand dance, and are sometimes given on their own on certain occasions. The movements of the Maogusi dance are distinctive in their own way. The performers bend the knees, tremble all over, with straw covering their bodies rustling, and the five large braids on their heads swing constantly from side to side; in the performance they advance and retreat in short steps, leap and sway to the left and right, shake the head and jerk the shoulders. Contents such as “Sprinkling the Dew”, “Sweeping In, Sweeping Out”, “Encirclement Hunt” and “Celebrating the Victory of the Hunt” can be clearly told apart from the movements performed. The most prominent feature of this dance lies in its costume: the performers wear straw coats and tree bark, rustic and unadorned, imbued with a strong primeval character. When speaking their lines, the performers are required to change their voice and intonation so that the audience cannot tell who the performers really are.
Dew, sweeping and the hunt
Episodes such as beating the dew, sweeping in and out, the hunt and celebrating the kill can be read directly from the performers' movements.
Straw garments and five plaits
Knees bent and bodies shaking, five plaits swinging and straw rustling, the performers wear garments of straw and bark of striking primal simplicity.
Disguised speech
A proto-dramatic dance with characters, dialogue and simple plot, it requires performers to distort their voices so their identity cannot be recognised.
Interwoven with the hand-waving dance
It is mostly interleaved with the hand-waving dance, sometimes performed alone, its movements drawn from ancestral fishing, hunting and farming.
Peng Yingwei and the Shebari rite
The second-batch inheritor Peng Yingwei, born in 1933, led the vigorous maogusi at the county's Shebari ancestor rite in 1997.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Maogusi dance is transmitted mainly in Longshan County, Yongshun County, Baojing County and Guzhang County of Xiangxi, and is most concentrated in the villages around Longshanpojiao and the Shuangfeng area of Yongshun. The villages differ slightly in their cast of characters, their dialogue and their sequence of scenes; the content links up with the waving-hand dance, forming the two successive sections of music and dance in the Tujia sacrificial activities.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Most important of all, the Maogusi dance, as an ancient and highly distinctive art form, can provide comparatively reliable clues for the study of the origins of Tujia dance. The Maogusi dance is not only of great value for the study of the earliest forms of life and the modes of living of the Tujia people; the ancient belief symbols preserved in its performance form — nature worship, totem worship and ancestral deity worship — together with artistic elements such as suggestiveness, convention and imitation make it a cultural heritage of rare preciousness. Peng Yingwei (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Tujia, born in 1933, native of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan. In 1997 he served as the lead performer of the Maogusi dance, which is bold and unrestrained, vigorous and stirring, at the county-wide “Shebari” activities (the Tujia ritual for sacrificing to the clan's ancestors). Peng Yingwei is known as the leading master of the Tujia Maogusi dance of Yongshun County. Representative inheritor of the Xiangxi Tujia Maogusi dance, second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. Peng Nanjing (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Tujia, born in June 1942, native of Longshan County, Hunan Province. He began performing the Maogusi dance with the older generation at the age of 13. He served in the army and joined a cultural troupe; after being demobilised he continued to study the performing techniques of the Maogusi dance. He visited many folk artists, learning, collecting and excavating materials on folk culture. Besides performing the Maogusi dance, he is also skilled in the Tujia waving-hand dance, the dongdongqin and other forms, combining a number of techniques in one person. He actively organised local people to carry out Tujia folk cultural activities, and has cooperated many times with China Central Television and Hunan Television in filming documentaries. Representative inheritor of the Xiangxi Tujia Maogusi dance, fourth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. In addition, he has helped the township cultural station train a batch of new talents in folk culture and made every effort to pass on the techniques; among his disciples are Peng Yinghua, Tian Zhiyong, Peng Caineng, Peng Yingjin and some thirty others.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Peng Yingwei 02-0391
- Peng Nanjing 04-1569
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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