Qilin Dance
01 · Historical Records
The qilin dance of Dashuan'keng Village began in the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty (the time when the ancestors of the Xie clan settled in this locality), and it has a history of more than 400 years to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
All the residents of Dashuan'keng Village are Hakka; according to legend their ancestors came from Wuyi Lane in Henan and later moved into Guangdong by way of Fujian. The qilin dance custom of Dashuan'keng Village is a typical expression of Hakka folk custom. The 'qilin' used in the Dashuan'keng performance is about six metres long, draped in red and hung with green, dazzling to the eye; the dance consists of such routines as Paying Homage at the Front Hall, Walking the Great Enclosure, Meeting of the Two Qilins, Gathering the Greens, Touring the Garden, Dozing Off, Walking the Great Enclosure again, and the Three Bowings. A martial arts performance follows. The accompanying instruments are the drum, bronze gong, bronze cymbals and suona (called xidi by the local people). The performance is led mainly by the tune pattern [Sanqi Tou], and the melodious music is closely matched to the qilin dance, each giving the other its due. The Dashuan'keng qilin dance comparatively comprehensively and completely inherits the routines and the performance techniques of the qilin dancers of former generations. It is representative among the local traditional dances of Shenzhen and enjoys a certain influence in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Greeting the hall, circling the enclosure and the meeting of two qilin
The opening routines: saluting the ancestral hall, circling the ground, and the meeting of two qilin that raises the first climax.
Plucking greens, strolling the garden, dozing, triple bow
The main body of the dance: plucking the greens, strolling the garden, dozing, then a second circling closed by three bows before the martial display.
The six-metre qilin and the xidi melody
The local specification: a six-metre qilin in bright colours, accompanied by drum, gong, cymbals and the local shawm chiefly playing the Sanqitou tune.
The Xie lineage and the Wuyi Lane tradition
All the villagers are Hakka, said to descend from Henan by way of Fujian; the qilin dance began when the Xie ancestors settled here in the Jiajing era.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Dashuan'keng qilin dance is centred on Dashuan'keng Village, Dalang Subdistrict, Longhua District, Shenzhen City, and the villagers are all Hakka; according to legend their ancestors came from Wuyi Lane in Henan, moved through Fujian into Guangdong, and settled here during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty. The village is formed around the Xie clan as its main body. The qilin team assembles before the clan hall, offers worship and then sets out, performing on occasions such as the Spring Festival, clan ancestral rites, weddings and the completion of new houses in the village. Its influence reaches as far as the New Territories of Hong Kong, where village artisans once crossed the border to teach, so that one and the same set of qilin routines circulates among the Hakka villages of Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance · Qilin Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Dashuan'keng qilin dance fairly completely preserves the routines and performance techniques of the earlier generations, and it is one of the representative branches of the local traditional dances of Shenzhen. Its qilin is about six metres long, draped in red and hung with green and dazzling to the eye, accompanied by drum, bronze gong, bronze cymbals and suona (called xidi locally), with [Sanqi Tou] as the principal tune pattern, and the melodious music matches the qilin dance closely. At present the qilin association takes the young and middle-aged men of the village as its backbone and keeps up year-round performances at the Spring Festival, at clan activities and in community shows, but the mnemonics for the routines still depend on face-to-face teaching by veteran artisans. The children's practice of martial arts and dance is concentrated in the village clan hall, and only those whose results stand out are allowed to hold the qilin's head. Compared with the surrounding Hakka villages, the qilin of Dashuan'keng is somewhat larger in scale, and when it dances it lays more weight on steady footwork and the spread-out formation; the spacing of passages such as Paying Homage at the Front Hall and Walking the Great Enclosure is widened accordingly.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Yinhai 03-0928
- Zhang Xishan 05-2248
- Songzhang 05-2249
- Liu Jintang
- Hanzhiyong
- Xie Yuqiu
- Zhang Zhiming
- Liu Weituan
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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