Zhuma
01 · Historical Records
The Jiangtang horse-lamp dance is a folk dance transmitted in the area of Jiangtang Village, Shezhu Town, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, and its subject is the way the Yang family warriors of the Northern Song fought bloodily against the enemy and together celebrated their victory. It is handed down among the folk from generation to generation that the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance began in the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, arising from the ritual performed by Yu Shun, leader of the Jiangtang righteous army, when he sacrificed to the Yang family generals, the heroes who had resisted the Liao.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The performance of the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance is divided into an upper and a lower half: in the upper half, ten divine generals and ten divine horses continually change their formation, showing the Yang family leading their men in a bloody struggle against the enemy, resisting the enemy and winning victory; in the lower half, the ten divine horses and the ten divine generals are set out one after another into the formation pattern of 'Tian, Xia, Tai, Ping' (heaven, the realm, great peace), showing the shared celebration of victory and blessing the people so that they may settle down and work in happiness. The Jiangtang horse-lamp dance fuses folk sacrifice and entertainment into one, commemorating national heroes in the form of dance and using this to express the people's hope for peace under heaven. It is a traditional folk art combining folk dance, national costume and folk fine art, and it has fairly high artistic and aesthetic value.
First half: ten generals and ten horses in battle
In the first half ten generals and ten divine horses shift formation to depict the Yang family fighting and defeating the enemy.
Second half: the four-character formation
In the second half the horses and generals form the four characters for universal peace to celebrate victory and bless the people.
Bamboo horses, masks and percussion
Ren Qiusheng commands the history, formations, bamboo-horse construction, mask making and percussion of the Jiangtang horse-lantern dance.
The ritual origin in the Yang family cult
Tradition traces the dance to Ming Jiajing-era rites held by the rebel leader Yu Shun in honour of the Yang generals who fought the Liao.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jiangtang horse-lamp dance is centred on Jiangtang Village, Shezhu Town, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, and it is scattered among the eight natural villages around it. According to legend this dance took shape when Yu Shun, leader of the Jiangtang righteous army, sacrificed to the Yang family generals who had resisted the Liao; it was already in embryo during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, and in later generations teams were organised by village, bringing out the lanterns at the Spring Festival and at temple fairs. Around 1988 the inheritor Ren Qiusheng gathered together the bamboo-horse props lying in the eight separate natural villages, gradually restoring the horse-lamp dance that had been transmitted for more than five hundred years, and in 1992 he founded the Jiangtang Horse-Lamp Dance Association, so that the scattered village troupes merged once more into a single team. The performers wear masks and armour-style costume and play ten divine generals and ten divine horses, while the changes of formation proceed to the sound of the three-barrel matchlock (sanyanchong), the large gong and the suona. The belief in Cishan Mountain around Shezhu and the legends of the Yang family intertwine with each other, together making up an important ritual scene of the local spring season.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Zhuma · Zhuma · Zhuma.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Ren Qiusheng (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1946, a native of Liyang City, Jiangsu Province. He has loved the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance since childhood, and has thoroughly mastered the historical origins of the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance, its performance formations, and the techniques of bamboo-horse shaping and decoration, mask making, and drum, music and gong instruments. After 1988 he gathered together the bamboo horses scattered across the eight natural villages, gradually restoring the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance that had been transmitted for more than five hundred years. In 1992 he founded the Jiangtang Horse-Lamp Dance Association and served as its president. The Jiangtang horse-lamp dance he organises is imposing in its formations, stirring in its melodies and sumptuous in its props. As a folk artist charged with the important task of transmitting the Jiangtang horse-lamp dance, he has for many years devoted himself to the performance, collection and sorting of the dance and to the training of successors. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item Bamboo Horse (Jiangtang Horse-Lamp Dance) in the fifth national batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tang Yudao 03-0929
- Qu Shaojin 05-2250
- Ren Qiusheng 05-2251
- Fang Bingkun 05-2252
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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