Xierongzhongzi
01 · Historical Records
The emergence of Xierong Zhongzi is directly connected with the Shoton Festival: during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, villagers of Xierong village, in order to travel to Lhasa to take part in the annual Shoton Festival, choreographed this wild yak dance on the basis of Tibetan opera performance. Taking blessing, auspiciousness and completeness as its theme, the dance borrows the story of a male and a female wild yak braving wind and snow and ridding people of their troubles, shaping the tough and unyielding character of the wild yak on the snowy plateau; the lead dancer "Are" declares in the spoken narration that he and the two wild yaks took part in the grand consecration ceremony of Samye Monastery, and indeed the murals of Samye Monastery, the first monastery in Tibet, do depict scenes of people leaping in the wild yak dance at the monastery's completion ceremony. During the Fifth Dalai Lama's time, Xierong Zhongzi performed on the same stage as the white-mask Tibetan opera "Zhaxi Xueba" at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Shoton Festival, and its influence was very great.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
"Xierong Zhongzi" is a transliteration from Tibetan; "Xierong" is the name of a village in Qushui County southwest of the ancient city of Lhasa, "zhong" refers to the wild yak, and "zi" means to dance or to play. "Xierong Zhongzi" is the wild yak dance of Xierong village. Xierong Zhongzi is performed by seven men: one "Are" (lead dancer), one for each of the female and male wild yaks (two men play a single yak), one on the drum and one on the cymbals. When performing, the lead dancer first describes the history of the wild yak dance in his spoken narration: "I, the old man Are, and these two wild yaks, a male and a female, took part in the grand consecration ceremony of Samye Monastery..." (In the murals of Samye Monastery, the first monastery in Tibet, the part depicting the monastery's consecration ceremony indeed shows scenes of people leaping in the wild yak dance. ) The wild yak dance of Xierong village was choreographed by villagers of that village during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, on the basis of Tibetan opera performance, in order to travel to Lhasa to take part in the annual Shoton Festival. The dance takes blessing, auspiciousness and completeness as its theme, and by borrowing the story of the two wild yaks braving wind, snow and hardship to rid people of their troubles, it shapes the tough and unyielding character of the wild yak on the snowy plateau. During the Fifth Dalai Lama's time, at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Shoton Festival, this dance performed on the same stage as the white-mask Tibetan opera "Zhaxi Xueba" and exerted considerable influence. The basic dance steps of Xierong Zhongzi include "six steps and one lift", "T-shaped shuffling step", "running-jumping step", "rolling on the ground", "shaking the head on the spot", "picking up the khata" and so on; the performance formations are mostly circular, triangular, alternating paired formations, in a single straight line, and so on. But however the formation changes, Are always stands in the centre of the performance ground.
The leader and the two yaks
Seven men perform it: the leader Are, a male and a female yak each danced by two men, and a drummer and a cymbal player; Are stays at the centre whatever the formation.
The basic steps
Its basic steps include six-steps-one-lift, T-shaped shuffling, running jumps, rolling on the ground, head-tossing in place and picking up scarves.
Sharing the stage with Tashi Sholpa
In the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama the dance appeared at the Shoton festival alongside the white-masked Tashi Sholpa opera, gaining wide influence in Lhasa.
The yak dance in the Samye murals
The murals of Samye, Tibet's first monastery, show a yak dance in the consecration scene, supporting the leader's claim of having danced there.
Samdrup and the performing troupe
Samdrup, born in 1959 in Qüxü county, learned the singing, recitation, dance and prop making from the age of thirty and leads the troupe at Shoton and the local harvest festival.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Xierong Zhongzi has a strong local Tibetan character; its joyful, ardent and uninhibited dancing reflects the vicissitudes of Tibetan traditional culture.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present only two old artists in Xierong village can really dance the wild yak dance. The People's Government of Qushui County is taking active measures to rescue and protect this traditional form of cultural expression. Sangzhu (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in April 1959, from Qushui County, Tibet Autonomous Region. He began learning the performance techniques of Xierong Zhongzi at the age of thirty, rehearsing it during the slack farming season and mastering its vocal styles, spoken narration, dance movements and the making of props. At the annual Shoton Festival and other large-scale celebrations, the Xierong Zhongzi performance team he leads is always invited to perform, and he also organises members to perform at the Wangguo Festival in his home village. He has trained close to ten apprentices and collected and sorted out relevant academic materials, promoting the sustained transmission of Xierong Zhongzi. Representative inheritor of Xierong Zhongzi, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth national-level batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sangzhu 04-1587
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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