Stilts (fire sedan)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: stilts

Applicant: Qinyang City, Henan Province

Item No.: 112

Project No.: Ⅲ - 9

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Henan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Qinyang City, Henan Province

Protection unit: Qinyang Cultural Center (Qinyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Brief introduction of stilts

Applicant: Qinyang City, Henan Province

Stilts, also known as "stilt Yangko", is a kind of folk dance with a long history, which is widely spread all over the country. It gets its name because it often uses both feet to step on stilts when performing. Stilts are usually performed in the form of dance teams, with more than ten to dozens of performers. Most of them play characters in ancient myths or historical stories. Most of their costumes imitate the costumes of traditional opera. The commonly used props in the performance include fans, handkerchiefs, sticks, knives and guns, etc. Stilt has two forms of performance: "stepping on the street" and "abandoning the field", of which "abandoning the field" is divided into "big field" and "small field". The "big stage" is performed by the dance team, and various formation patterns are carried out while dancing; the "small stage" is performed by two or three people, mostly men and women, sometimes singing while dancing. Stilts used in various places range from 30cm to 300cm. According to the performance style, stilts can be divided into "Wenqiao" and "Wuqiao". Wenqiao focuses on twisting and stepping and plot performance, while Wuqiao focuses on dazzling performance.

High lift fire sedan is a folk dance style in Henan Province. It is popular in Wannan village of Qinyang City. It has a unique form and has a great influence within 500 Li. Wannan has a long history of raising fire sedan chair. It is said that during the Tang and Song Dynasties, local residents had the custom of walking on stilts, carrying flower sedan chair and making spring festival.

The fire sedan is performed in the form of dance and rap, accompanied by Guanzi, suona, gongs and drums. During the performance, 16 people were divided into two classes, alternately stepping on five foot stilts to carry the sedan chair. The actors sitting in the sedan chair talked and sang. Four to six people walk on 6-foot stilts and turn "auspicious umbrellas" to lead the fire sedan. Others walk on 2-foot to 5-foot stilts and play palace lanterns, screen lanterns, auspicious umbrellas, chess pieces and avoid silence cards to simulate the emperor or official's tour and people's marriage. The performance also includes "gonggujingpu", "xingshici", "qinglici" and so on. The fire sedan is usually performed on the night of major festivals. The flower sedan in folk dance is changed into fire sedan, and the cloth sedan into yarn sedan. The candle is inserted to show the meaning of prosperity. The whole performance is full of thrilling and festive atmosphere, showing distinctive local characteristics.

It has a long history to lift the fire sedan. Later, after the transformation of Zheng Wang Zhu Zaiyu, a music temperament expert in Ming Dynasty, the folk art of walking on stilts and carrying sedan chair was integrated into a unique skill, which raised the humble status and image of the grass-roots "sedan chair man" with its unique means of artistic expression. In recent years, the artists of high lift fire sedan are aging, lack of successors, and many special skills are gradually lost, which are in urgent need of rescue and protection.