Lantern Dance

Ⅲ-45Traditional DanceQingtian, ZhejiangBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Lantern dance has existed since ancient times. There are Qing-dynasty records of 'lantern dance' in which characters were formed through dancing with lanterns as props. Liu Ji, a founding meritorious minister of the Ming dynasty whose ancestral home was Qingtian, developed the kinds and the numbers of fish used in the local fish lanterns and at the same time incorporated a large number of drill formations, and out of this grew the Qingtian fish lantern dance, which carries the character of military drill.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

On every festival (especially the Lantern Festival) and on rites such as prayers for rain, sacrifices and supplications for a good harvest, both the court and the people would hold lantern dance performances. At first lantern dance was characterized by arranging characters; later it gradually developed into a folk dance style in which coloured lanterns are arranged to build patterns and create a poetic mood, and it spread throughout the country. Classified by the shape of the lantern display, lantern dance falls chiefly into three kinds: those imitating animals, namely dragon lantern dance, lion lantern dance, fish lantern dance, clam lantern dance, butterfly lantern dance and hundred-bird lantern dance; those imitating flowers, namely lotus lantern dance, chrysanthemum lantern dance and wax-flower lantern dance; and other forms such as boat lantern dance, cart lantern dance, cloud lantern dance and embroidered-ball lantern dance. Lantern dance performances are rich in form; they are generally staged at night as mass dances and on a grand scale. The performers dance as they move, the formations keep changing, and fireworks and firecrackers are let off during the dance, making a magnificent spectacle. This folk dance style appears mostly in Han areas, while also being popular in some minority areas. Qingtian fish lantern dance is the most representative traditional folk dance of the fish-lantern genre in Zhejiang Province. It is passed on mainly in Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province, and is the product of combining Qingtian fishing culture with folk art. The props of Qingtian fish lantern dance present images of freshwater fish centred on the field fish, and the dance movements are designed according to the living habits of fish. During the performance, gongs, drums, cymbals and chao are used as accompanying instruments, and the performers wear wrapped headscarves, tie waist sashes, fasten wrist guards and put on leg wraps, so that their dress resembles that of ancient warriors. On every festive occasion the people of Qingtian's villages hold fish lantern dance performances. On that occasion the leader raises a large red pearl on a long pole, each participant holds up one fish lantern, and they move through the various drill formations at the command of whistles blown by the person holding the red pearl. Performances commonly begin with the 'entering-the-gate' formation; in the marching passages the 'woven-hedge' formation serves as the basic drill; at the climax they divide into formations such as 'spring fish at play in the water', 'summer fish leaping the shallows', 'autumn fish lingering on the bank' and 'winter fish forming a dragon', and they finish with 'carp leaping the dragon gate'. It has taken part many times in cultural exchange activities at home and abroad and has achieved excellent results, and is acclaimed as 'the finest fish under heaven'. Under the impact of modern commercial culture the traditional Qingtian fish lantern dance began to decline; people skilled in performing technique, prop-making and musical accompaniment are steadily decreasing, so it urgently needs protection.

The entering and fence-weaving formations

The dance opens with the entering formation and advances in the fence-weaving pattern, both directed by whistle from the leader carrying a long-stemmed red pearl.

The four seasonal formations

At its climax the dance divides into four seasonal patterns of fish at play, leaping the shoal, lingering by the bank and knotting into a dragon.

Closing with the carp leaping the dragon gate

The dance traditionally ends with the carp leaping the dragon gate, a wish for advancement and good fortune.

Warrior dress and the field-carp props

The lanterns take freshwater fish, chiefly the field carp, for their shape; the dancers wear headcloths, belts, wrist guards and leg wraps like ancient warriors.

Liu Ji and the formation charts

Liu Ji, the Ming founder's strategist and a Qingtian native, enlarged the fish lantern set and added many military-style formation charts.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Qingtian fish lantern dance is passed on in the townships of Hecheng, Shankou, Fushan, Gaoshi, Haixi, Wenxi and elsewhere, and the fish lantern teams are densest in the area of Shankou and Fushan.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Qingtian fish lantern dance has extremely high artistic and historical and cultural research value. Guo Bingqiang (official archive record of the associated inheritor): A man of Han ethnicity, born in April 1940, from Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province. In 1965 he apprenticed himself to the folk artist Chen Guoguang to learn the Qingtian fish lantern formations and music. By collecting fish lantern drum patterns and fish lantern dance formations, he distilled nineteen basic fish lantern tunes and established thirty-nine commonly used formations, and later organized and developed seven new fish lantern drum patterns and one new combination of formations. He drew the technical characteristic of the 'fanning' of the fish lantern dance into the Qingtian fish lantern culture. The *Qingtian Fish Lanterns* he wrote in 1987 was selected for inclusion in *Zhongguo Minzu Minjian Wudao Jicheng · Zhejiang Ce* (Compendium of Chinese Ethnic Folk Dances · Zhejiang Volume), and in 2014 he published *Zhejiangsheng Feiyi Congshu · Qingtian Yudeng Wu* (Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Series · Qingtian Fish Lantern Dance). After retiring in 1992 he went to Brazil to take part in international cultural and artistic exchange activities and taught Qingtian fish lantern dance skills to overseas Chinese of Qingtian origin there. After returning to China in 2005 he frequently took part in teaching in the countryside, going to Shankou, Fushan, Gaoshi, Haixi, Wenxi and other places to give guidance and training in fish lantern dance technique. Representative inheritor of the fifth batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item Lantern Dance (Qingtian Fish Lantern Dance).

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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