*Shanwei Rolling Dragon Dance

*Shanwei Rolling Dragon Dance

Nominating Unit: City of Shanwei

According to the records in the collection of the elder Huang Tianshu from Nanxi Village, City of Shanwei, Guangdong Province, and the narration of some informants, “Gundijinlong” (Rolling Dragon Dance) originated in Southern the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty when Emperor Jiajing took the throne, the whole family of Huang Guangzhao immigrated from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province to Nanxi Village, City of Lufeng, Guangdong Province and brought with them the book The History and Memoir of Gundijinlong. “Gundijinlong” of the Huang family in Nanxi village is passed along for seventeen generations and later disseminated by the local Jinlong artist and traditional martial artists to Shengou in Tanxi Town, Anbo Village, Xia’anlian Village, Dingtan Village, Antang Village in Da’an Town, Liang Village and Xia Village in Xi’nan Town, Shangshenshan Village in Chengdong Town, all of which are in City of Lufeng.

During the dance, two people enter into a bed sack to resemble the body of a dragon, with one acting the head and the other acting the tail. The whole show can be divided into eight phases: “Kaichangjianli”(the prelude), “Daweixundong” (going around the dragon hole), “Youtanxishui” (swimming and playing the water), “Chenjixilin” (washing the scales), “Fuzhewenlei” (hearing the thunder), “Yingleiqiwu”(dancing to the thunder), “Jiayunfenteng” (fl ying on a cloud) and “Shouchanghuanli” (the ending show). The acts of the dragon flying, paddling, contemplating, curling and advancing are imitated during the dance. The obligato is “Paizidaluogu” of Hailufeng Zhengzi Opera, loud and clear, with Da Suona playing different tunes according to different dancing paces, such as Gong’eyuan, Kuhuangtian, Shanpoyang, and Babantou. To sum up, the basic characteristics of this dance are: rich expressions, plenty of forms, tremendous dancing phases and excellent artistic elements and techniques.(https://www.daowen.com)

In 1996, Nanxi Village has been conferred an honarable award of “Homeland for Folk Art in Guangdong Province”by the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province. Gundijinlong has been selected into The Record of Chinese Dance.

Shanwei Gundijinlong was selected into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.