Dragon Dance

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dragon Dance

Applicant: Rucheng County, Hunan Province

Item No.: 107

Project No.: Ⅲ - 4

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Hunan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Rucheng County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Rucheng County Cultural Center

Introduction to Dragon Dance (Rucheng fragrant fire dragon)

Applicant: Rucheng County, Hunan Province

Dragon dance, also known as "Dragon Dance", is the most widely distributed and far-reaching folk dance in China. This kind of dance has various forms of expression, and the styles of dragon dance in different nationalities and regions are quite different.

According to the shape of the dragon, there are many forms of dragon dance, such as 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. Different forms of dragon have different dance styles and techniques. The traditional performance procedure of Chinese dragon dance is generally composed of "invite the dragon", "leave the dragon", "dance the dragon" and "send the dragon". Dragon dance is an important part of the spirit and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

Rucheng County is located in the southeast of Hunan Province, at the junction of Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces. It is said that the incense fire dragon in Rucheng originated from the folk activities of worshiping the dragon to stop rain and water in history, and its image mainly came from the Dragon murals and sculptures in local temples. Xianghuolong is mainly made of rice straw, brown leaves, bamboo slices, bamboo poles and special Longxiang produced in Rucheng. It is made by local traditional binding process.

Most of the Dragon Dance ceremonies are held during the Lantern Festival every year. At that time, people gather in the empty space and dance dragon lanterns in the night to pray for a smooth new year's weather, abundant grain and peace of the country. During the ceremony, there were some movements, such as rolling, sprinkling, sinking, jumping, swallowing and sleeping. Among them, "sinking" and "swallowing" were more difficult. In addition to their respective rolling and jumping movements, the two lions that lead and follow also do some "escort" movements to lead and follow the dragon. The dragon head of incense fire is complex and exquisite, with gentleman's horn and secondary mouth, followed by dragon's whiskers, which are tightly connected to form a whole. After the parts are tied up, the dragon incense is inserted horizontally on both sides of the dragon body, and the thin strips are used to connect them to form a line, which is dense and magnificent. It's very beautiful to install the lifting rod.

More than 120 villages, such as Yidao village, Jinjiang village, houfang village and Guang'an Suo village in Tuqiao Town, are the most popular in Rucheng incense Fire Dragon Festival. The incense fire dragons in these villages are exquisitely shaped, powerful and bright. The atmosphere of dragon recruitment ceremony is warm, and the scenes are spectacular, showing a bright regional characteristics.

The incense fire dragon and its related dragon ceremony in Rucheng are integrated with traditional crafts, music, dance and folk rituals, which vividly shows the wisdom of the local people and their ardent expectation for a better life. In the study of regional ethnic origin, national character, traditional crafts and local folk music, dance, etiquette, etc., Rucheng incense fire dragon has an extremely important reference value. In recent years, the inheritance of Rucheng fragrant fire dragon is difficult, and there is no successor. The survival of Rucheng fragrant fire dragon is in crisis.