Dragon Dance (human dragon dance)

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

Applicant: Foshan City, Guangdong Province

Item No.: 107

Project No.: Ⅲ - 4

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Guangdong Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Foshan City, Guangdong Province

Protection unit: Xingtan town cultural station, Shunde District, Foshan City

Introduction to Dragon Dance (human dragon dance)

Applicant: Foshan City, Guangdong 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.

Human dragon dance is a traditional folk square dance popular in Guanghua village, Xingtan town, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province. Guanghua village, a water town in Lingnan, is a famous Southern martial arts town with profound traditional culture. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, dragon dance was popular in Guanghua village. In the 10th year of Daoguang (1830), Liang Yaoshu, a member of Guanghua village, was the number one scholar in high school. The Wulin experts in the village automatically initiated 180 people to perform dragon dance activities to welcome the number one scholar back to his hometown, which caused a sensation in the whole village. Since then, dragon dance has been performed in every festival in Guanghua village, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

During the dragon dance performance, dozens to hundreds of people formed a dragon shape with a length of tens of meters. The whole dragon is divided into two parts: Dragon pontoon (the bottom of the Dragon) and dragon face (the body of the Dragon). The Dragon pontoon must be strong and able to support the body with his shoulders and waist. The dragon body rider sits on the shoulder of the Dragon pontoon and lies back on the shoulder of the latter one, waving the red ribbon with both hands as the Dragon claws. The dragon head is composed of three people. One is riding on the shoulder of the Dragon pontoon with the Dragon horn in both hands, and the other is holding the waist of the Dragon pontoon tightly with both feet. His upper body is hanging forward to make a dragon tongue. The dragon's tail is also composed of three people. One person holds his hands together and holds it high as the dragon's tail, or holds the dragon's tail props and sits on the shoulders of the former dragon pontoon and leans back, with the last dragon pontoon supporting his back with his head. Dragon Dance Team dress neat, dance with gongs and drums, showing the face of masculine atmosphere.

The human dragon dance retains the relic of the dragon totem belief of the ancient Baiyue nationality and shows the essence of the dragon culture in the water town of southern China. It integrates folk dance elements into southern martial arts, and is praised by the media as "unique in China, no other dragon". In recent years, the living space of human dragon dance is shrinking day by day, and its development and inheritance are facing many crises, which need urgent protection and support.