Lantern Dance

Ⅲ-45Traditional DanceQingtian, ZhejiangBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The origins of the Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance can be traced back to the Jingyun reign of the Tang dynasty; the Qingtian County Gazetteer compiled in the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty already records the lighting of lanterns at festival time in its chapter on festivals and customs. Its lanterns imitate the birds of the forests around Shankou in Qingtian and also absorb the flower-and-bird modelling of Qingtian stone carving, and out of a wish for blessing a phoenix lantern is often added as well. The local hundred-bird lantern performance first issues lantern cards and then calls at doorsteps to offer congratulations.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance is a traditional dance that takes birds as its subject matter. It is spread mainly in Hecheng Subdistrict, Ounan Subdistrict, Shankou Town, Fangshan Township and Renzhuang Town of Qingtian County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, and has also been passed on to places such as Hangzhou City and Quzhou City. This heritage project has a long history: according to the Qingtian County Gazetteer compiled in the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, its origins can be traced back to the Jingyun reign of the Tang dynasty. The Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance generally first issues lantern cards and then calls at doorsteps to perform congratulations. In performance each person holds up one bird lantern; two "peony flowers" inserted in a vase lantern act as the leaders, with the phoenix at the head followed closely by lantern birds of many kinds, and through "formation marching" various formations are changed to interpret seven themes — "A Hundred Birds Awaken", "Orioles Sing and Swallows Dance", "The Peacock Displays Its Tail", "A Hundred Birds Contend in Song", "The Magpie Carries Plum Blossoms", "Evening Birds Return to the Nest" and "Pines and Cranes Longevity". Through the natural bearing of birds in their life of flight, and through the ingenious combination of dance steps and bodily movement distinctive in themselves with the forms of the lantern display, the dance images take on a distinctive local rural flavour. In the dance the flock of birds rises and sinks in waves, flying and alighting in turns, and a relaxed, lively and joyous atmosphere runs through the whole dance. The musical accompaniment uses percussion instruments, with drums, gongs and cymbals striking out the folk tune Ten Brocades. At the climax of the dance a sudden burst of suona is added, doubling the festive atmosphere. The melodies employ folk qupai and ditties such as Spring Warmth and Flowers Bloom and Ten Thousand Years of Joy, in a style that is beautiful, plain, lively and joyful. The Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance imitates lanterns modelled on the birds of the forests of the Shankou area of Qingtian County, and out of auspiciousness and the wish for blessing a phoenix lantern is often added as well. Later on, following the habits of the birds, it absorbed the flower-and-bird modelling of the world-famous Qingtian stone carving, enriching the variations of the marching formations and of the movements and poses. After improvement and composition through successive generations, the performance props, dance formations, dance movements and accompanying music have all become mature, making the dance suitable for many kinds of performance ground such as squares, stages and farm courtyards. The Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance is performed for the most part as entertainment for the performers themselves, on New Year festivals and celebratory days. Because its prop images are exquisite, its dance movements are easy to learn and it has strong artistic quality and visual appeal, it is deeply loved by the people of Qingtian.

The seven themes

Through shifting formations the dance presents seven themes, among them birds awakening, orioles and swallows, the peacock's display and the crane of longevity.

The Shiyangjin tune and the shawm

The music is percussive, playing the folk tune Shiyangjin on drum, gong and cymbals, with a sudden shawm entry at the climax and tunes such as Spring Warmth and Flowers Blooming.

Vase lanterns leading, phoenix first

Each dancer carries one bird lantern; two peonies set in vase lanterns lead, the phoenix comes first and the other birds follow in rising and settling waves.

Sending lantern invitations

The troupe first sends out lantern invitations and then performs at each household, mostly for its own and the village's enjoyment on festivals and joyful occasions.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The documented line of transmission of the Qingtian hundred-bird lantern dance locally has already reached the seventh generation.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance · Lantern Dance.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At the same time, this heritage project brings out the joyful scene of humans and birds living together in harmony, and it also plays a certain part in promoting the cherishing of nature and raising awareness of ecological and environmental protection. Guo Bingqiang (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1940, native of Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province. In 1965 he apprenticed himself to the folk artist Chen Guoguang and studied the formation charts and music of the Qingtian fish lantern. By collecting fish lantern drum beats and fish lantern dance formation charts, he distilled nineteen basic fish lantern tunes and fixed down thirty-nine commonly used formation charts, and later organized and developed seven new fish lantern drum beats and one new combination of formation charts. He brought the technical characteristics of the "fan" style of fish lantern dance into a summary within Qingtian fish lantern culture. The Qingtian Fish Lantern that he compiled in 1987 was selected for inclusion in the Collection of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dances, Zhejiang Volume, and in 2014 Zhejiang Province Intangible Cultural Heritage Series: Qingtian Fish Lantern Dance was published. After retiring in 1992 he went to Brazil to take part in overseas cultural and artistic exchange activities, and taught the techniques of the Qingtian fish lantern dance to overseas Chinese of Qingtian origin there. After returning to China in 2005 he frequently took part in going out into the countryside to teach, and has gone to Shankou, Fushan, Gaoshi, Haixi, Wenxi and other places to give guidance and training in the techniques of the fish lantern dance. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage project Lantern Dance (Qingtian Fish Lantern Dance) in the fifth batch.

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 ↗

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回英文名录。