Yao Zhang Drum Dance

01 · Historical Records

The Yao long drum dance has a long history. It grew out of the dances performed in the Panwang worship rite, which originated very early, and in certain shamanic activities, and has now developed into a mass recreational activity. The Liannan Yao long drum dance is a festive open-square dance. It was brought to Liannan when the ancestors of the Paiyao migrated there during the Sui and Tang dynasties, and afterwards became popular as the shuagetang (song-gathering hall) gatherings flourished.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Yao long drum dance is a folk dance of the Yao people of China, popular in the Yao-inhabited areas of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and other provinces. It is mostly performed at Yao traditional festivals and on days celebrating a good harvest, a move into a new home, or a wedding. In the Yao language the long drum is called "gong". The Yao long drum is made by joining two drum bodies together; its middle waist is relatively slender so that it can be gripped, and each of its two ends is covered with a sheepskin drumhead. The Yao long drum dance has many performance routines: some specially depict the actions of building a house, while others incorporate interesting forms of animals and plants into the dance. The dance movements are agile and unrefined, vivid and lively, strange and wonderful, and full of imagination. By performance form, the Yao long drum dance includes types such as the "Pangu long drum dance", the "gongsheng long drum dance", the "desktop long drum dance", the "lusheng long drum dance" and the "sheep-horn short drum dance". By number of performers, it is further divided into solo dance, duet and group dance. In performance, the drumming is divided into "martial" and "civil" styles, and also into "high-post" and "low-post" styles. The Jianghua Yao long drum dance is the cultural entertainment form that draws the largest audience in Yao areas. It displays a moving curvilinear beauty through the curved postures of "qu" and the twisting position changes of "ning", reflects the life customs and spiritual outlook of the Yao people, and enjoys broad social influence. This long drum dance is divided into solo dance, duet and group dance. On traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival, the third day of the third lunar month, the sixth day of the sixth lunar month and the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month, and on the days of the shuagetang, the Paiyao people gather on the open ground in front of the village or in the fields after the harvest, blowing cow horns, beating bronze gongs and dancing the long drum dance to celebrate the festival. The Fuchuan Yao long drum dance presents a magnificent spectacle. Bamboo flutes play out exquisite melodies, those who blow the lusheng play while dancing, and those beating the big long drum, the small long drum and the small gong strike the beat in time with the music, while calling out work chants to raise the mood. The flutes and lusheng, together with the chants, form multi-part harmony that is resonant, stirring and uplifting, carrying the event to its climax. The dance vocabulary of the Yao long drum dance is very rich, reflecting from every aspect the production and life customs and the primitive religious beliefs of the Paiyao.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Fuchuan Yao long drum dance is transmitted mainly in the Yao-inhabited townships of Xinhua, Fuli, Chengbei and other places in Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; the Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County Cultural Centre is the protecting unit. Inheritors such as Huang Daosheng often lead long drum dance teams to other places to take part in Panwang Festival and artistic performances.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

It organically brings together the history, art, literature and religion of the Yao people, forming a long drum dance culture distinctive to the Pingdi Yao, and it has research value in history, culture, ethnology and many other fields. As times develop, fewer and fewer people make the drums, performing artists are steadily declining, the dance faces a crisis of decline, and it urgently needs rescue and protection. Huang Daosheng (associated inheritor, official archival record): Male, Yao, born in May 1959, a native of Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He has mastered a wide range of dance steps at will, including half-squat, full squat, twisting the waist and kicking out the leg, and hooking the foot for a heavy stamp on the ground; he can also lead other dancers, with each supporting and setting off the others. He often leads the local long drum dance team to other places to take part in Panwang Festival, artistic performances and competitions. He can make long drums and lusheng himself, and has trained nearly one hundred outstanding Yao long drum dance artists. Representative inheritor of the Yao long drum dance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fifth batch.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Zhao Minghua 03-0938
• Panzhensong 04-1575
• Tangqiaoxinergong 05-2263
• Huang Daosheng 05-2264
• Zhao Xiong
• Panjinhai

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yao Zhang Drum Dance (Fuchuanyaozuzizhi, Guangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Huang Daosheng · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗