Kuozi
01 · Historical Records
The yak-hide boat has been the principal water transport of the Tibet region since the Tubo period. More than two thousand years ago the Tibetan people were already using yak-hide boats to ferry and carry goods, and historical records dating from the Tubo period describe yak-hide boat racing on the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the Lhasa River; the murals of Samye Monastery, the Potala Palace and Norbulingka also depict it. Junba Village in Qushui County lies on the north bank at the confluence of the Lhasa River and the Yarlung Tsangpo River, and its villagers have made a living by ferrying on yak-hide boats for generations. According to the project file and the account of the inheritor Zhasang, the history of Kuozi can be traced back at least to the time before the Fifth Dalai Lama; the boatmen would shoulder their yak-hide boats and dance at festivals such as the Shoton Festival and the Wangguo Festival, both for their own amusement and with a sense of sacrificing to the waters and praying for peace.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Kuozi is an entertainment song-and-dance of the Tibetan boatmen, transmitted in Junba Village, Qushui County, on the north bank of the confluence of the Lhasa River and the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the hinterland of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and its history can be traced back at least to the time before the Fifth Dalai Lama. In Tibetan, “kuo” means a yak-hide boat and “zi” means dance, so Kuozi is also called the “yak-hide boat dance”. The yak-hide boat has been the principal water transport of the Tibet region since the Tubo period. More than about two thousand years ago the Tibetan people were already using yak-hide boats to ferry and carry goods; historical records dating from the Tubo period begin to describe yak-hide boat racing on the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the Lhasa River, and the murals of Samye Monastery, the Potala Palace and Norbulingka also depict it. Whenever traditional festivals such as the Shoton Festival and the Wangguo Festival arrive, the boatmen shoulder their yak-hide boats and perform Kuozi.
The hide boat
The hide boat was Tibet's chief water transport since the Tubo period, shown in the murals of Samye, the Potala and Norbulingka; kuo means hide boat and tse dance.
Four sections of the hide-boat dance
Drawn from local gorshe, it runs through a spoken prologue, a yak dance, the offering of a scarf and a blessing song, crisp and plainly rustic.
Dancing with the boat on the back
The boatmen shoulder the heavy hide boat as they step and turn; the weight, difficulty and long apprenticeship discourage younger learners.
The are, or lead dancer
Born in Qushui in 1937, Zasang was the dance's lead, mastered song and movement, fused farming and religious culture and founded a performing group.
Shoton and Ongkor festivals
At Shoton, Ongkor and other festivals the boatmen of Junba shoulder their boats for the dance, a fixed point in the village year.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Kuozi takes most of its material from the local guoxie dance; it is flexible and varied in form and beats out the rhythm with stamping feet. The first section of the dance is “narrating the proem”, the second is “zhongzi” (the wild yak dance), the third is “lifting the khata” and the fourth is the “song of blessing”. The whole dance is vigorous and forceful, bold and unadorned, and displays a distinctive regional style.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Kuozi is rich in local and folkloric character, combining entertainment value, artistry, local character, spontaneity and ethnic character in one, and it is of important value for the study of ethnic culture, folklore and history and culture. At present Junba Village has only two old artists who can still dance Kuozi. Because Kuozi took shape under special historical circumstances and living conditions, is difficult to perform, takes a long time to learn and uses extremely heavy props, modern people — young people especially — are unwilling to learn it. As a result Kuozi has few successors and is in an endangered condition, and awaits rescue and support from the government. Zhasang (associated inheritor, as recorded in the official file): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in August 1937, native of Qushui County, Tibet Autonomous Region. He took part in the yak-hide boat dance performances of Junba fishing village from childhood, and is the “are” (lead dancer) of Kuozi; he attaches great importance to and cherishes the yak-hide boat dance as a piece of local folk art. He has mastered the singing and dance movements of Kuozi, and has highly fused the local farming and pastoral culture with religious culture, making the dance movements vigorous and forceful, bold and unadorned. Representative inheritor of Kuozi, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national batch. As the inheritor of an endangered project, he has done everything in his power to carry on the transmission of the yak-hide boat dance, trained a group of performers of the yak-hide boat dance, and set up a yak-hide boat dance performance group, so that this distinctive traditional art has been effectively protected and transmitted.
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)
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