Dragon Dance (Fenghua Bulong)

Chinese national intangible cultural heritage Name: Dragon Dance (Fenghua Bulong)

Applicant: Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province

Item No.: 107

Project No.: Ⅲ - 4

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Zhejiang Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province

Protection unit: Ningbo Fenghua District Cultural Center

Introduction to Dragon Dance (Fenghua Bulong)

Applicant: Fenghua City, Zhejiang Province

Dragon dance, also known as "Dragon Dance", is also called "Dragon Dance", "dragon lantern dance" or "dragon lantern dance" among the people. It is widely distributed in all parts of the country and among all ethnic groups. Its variety of forms is incomparable to any other folk dance. As early as the Shang Dynasty, oracle bone inscriptions have been used to offer sacrifices to the dragon and pray for rain by several people; the records of Dong Zhongshu's Chunqiu Fanlu in the Han Dynasty have clearly recorded all kinds of dragon dances to pray for rain; since then, it has been common to record the palace or folk dragon dances in the poems of all dynasties. Until now, dragon dance is still one of the popular dance forms in folk festivals. The basic performance means of dragon dance are its props modeling, composition changes and action routines. According to the different materials of dragon shaped props, they are divided into cloth dragon, yarn dragon, paper dragon, grass dragon, Qian dragon, bamboo dragon, brown dragon, bench dragon, shutter dragon, lotus dragon, fire dragon, chicken feather dragon, meat dragon and so on; the northern dragon dance is generally tall and thick, with simple and vigorous style; the southern dragon dance is exquisite and delicate, lively and agile. Dragon dance can be divided into yellow, white, green, red, black and so on in color, and Huanglong is the most noble. The composition and action of dragon dance generally have the characteristics of "round song", "tumbling", "entanglement", "interpenetration" and "jumping". The traditional performance procedures of dragon dance are generally: "invite the dragon", "give the dragon", "dance the dragon" and "send the dragon". There is a folk saying that "seven or eight years old play grass dragon, fifteen or sixteen play little dragon, young adults dance big dragon". When the number of dragon dancers is small, one person will dance two dragons, and when the number of dragon dancers is large, one hundred people will dance one dragon.

Dragon is the totem and ancestor of the Chinese nation; dragon dance is the symbol of the Chinese spirit, which embodies the spirit of unity and development of the Chinese nation, and contains the cultural connotation of harmony between man and nature and the benefit of mankind. It is the most common way of entertainment for the Chinese people in auspicious and blessing seasons. The atmosphere is warm and inspiring. It is a very precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

Fenghua Bulong, named after its origin and spread in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province, is one of the most influential representative dragon dances in China. It has evolved from the folk ceremony of worshiping, inviting and entertaining gods into a distinctive folk dance with a history of more than 800 years.

The main artistic features of Fenghua Bulong are lively dance, round dance, true expression, many routines and fast speed. The whole dance is composed of basic routines such as pan, roll, swim, turn, dance and play, and transitional movements such as little dragon, big dragon and dragon drilling tail. The dancers are vigorous, versatile and skillful. All the dance movements are carried out in the swimming of the dragon, which can achieve the goal of "changing the shape of the Dragon constantly, and the Dragon follows the routine", "people are tight, the dragon is round, the Dragon flies, and people dance", with vivid modeling, ingenious transformation, and very compact convergence and progression between the movements. Because the dragon body is light and fast to dance, the Dragon circle is closely linked and the dragon body is tightly intertwined. There are more than 40 traditional routines of dragon dance in Fenghua, which are rarely seen in the general dragon dance. Some of them have been used as the required actions in the national sports dragon dance competition and transplanted to the dragon dance in the north and south of the river.

As the cultural value of Bulong in Fenghua is prominent, and the ecological environment of folk distribution is facing potential crisis, the local government has taken the lead in its protection. In 1990, Fenghua Bulong was selected into the collection of Chinese folk dance (Zhejiang volume); in 1996, Fenghua City was named "the hometown of Chinese folk art" by the Ministry of culture; in 2005, Fenghua Bulong was listed in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage representative works by Zhejiang provincial government.