Cangzhou Luozi

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Cangzhou Luozi

Applicant: Nanpi County, Hebei Province

Item No.: 643

Project No.: Ⅲ - 46

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Hebei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Nanpi County, Hebei Province

Protection unit: Nanpi County Cultural Center

Introduction to Cangzhou Luozi

Applicant: Nanpi County, Hebei Province

Luozi, also known as "yuezi", is one of the representative folk dances in Hebei Province. It originated in the years of Jiaqing and Daoguang in Qing Dynasty. It was active at the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, especially in Nanpi County and Cangxian county. When Cangzhou Luozi performed, a pair of young men and women were singing and dancing with "colorful fans", "bamboo boards" and "overlord whip" in their hands. In the early stage of development, only 4 people performed in Cangzhou Luozi. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, there were some semi agricultural and semi artistic Luozi artists, gradually forming the performance form of 10 people performing in the whip, 6 people performing in the board and 4 people performing in the fan. Luozi can be divided into civil and martial arts. Those who mainly sing are called "wenluozi", while those who intermingle martial arts and traditional opera somersaults are called "wuluozi".

At first, Cangzhou Luozi only wore life clothes. Later, in order to beautify his performance, he began to wear opera clothes. The female characters are similar to Wudan or Huadan, while the male characters are similar to Huang Tianba and Yang Xiangwu on the opera stage. The dancing posture, rhythm, rhythm and connecting action of Luozi have distinctive martial arts characteristics. Each action grabs two beats. The second half of the grabbing is the "starting method". The weak beat is the movement process of the action. The first half of the next section of the strong beat completes the whole action, and the second half starts the "starting method" of the next move. It continues and repeats until the end.

Cangzhou Luozi's traditional programs mostly show love stories and the miserable life of the working people in the old society, reflecting people's longing for freedom, happiness and a better life. There are a number of representative works, such as jasmine, flying kites, sighing lovers, embroidering handkerchief, and nuns thinking of the world. "Jasmine Flower" and "flying a kite" are more beautiful and moving after being processed and sorted out, and have become the reserved programs of traditional dance for a long time.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Luozi has adapted measures to local conditions and improved according to the time in its continuous development. It has absorbed some movements and skills in traditional Chinese opera and changed itself to become a folk dance with distinctive local characteristics. It is of great value for the study of local social and historical changes and the development of traditional Chinese opera culture.

Cangzhou Luozi has become a popular folk dance through the inheritance and development of artists in past dynasties. At present, affected by the trend of cultural standardization and market economy, the ecological environment of Cangzhou Luozi is deteriorating day by day, the economic situation of the performance class is very poor, there is no successor, the prospect is worrying, and it is in urgent need of rescue and protection.