*Human Dragon Dance

*Human Dragon Dance

Nominating Unit: Shunde District, City of Foshan

Xingtan Human Dragon Dance remains active in Guanghua village, Xingtan Township, Shunde District of City of Foshan, deep in the Pearl River Delta. In the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1830), the village martial art teacher Lin Shenghui created the Dragon Dance to welcome the return of a village fellow, Liang Yaoshu, who got the first place in an imperial examination for the selection of government officials. From then on, it has become a regular performance for every merry occasion and festival for the locals, and passed down on generations.

Xingtan Dragon Dance is composed of dozens, and even more than a hundred people, and stretches dozens of meters long. The dragon is composed of a Dun (the base of the dragon) and a body(the dragon face). The base performers wear a hood on their heads and a yellow martial art suit, and they lift the body performers with their shoulders and waists. The body performers wear suits covered with gold-red scales, take a ride-sit position, lying down with face up, and wave red silk ribbons as the claws of the dragon. The dragon head and dragon tail are both played by three people, all in a ridesit position, holding the horn or tail props. Only one person rides the base performer on his waist, protruding his torso to be the dragon’s tongue.(https://www.daowen.com)

Xingtan Dragon Dance is a traditional square dance. The dance is carried out in 10 segments under the strong rhythms of Three-Star gongs and drums, and dragon boat beats, including preparation, ferocious dragon revealing itself, man and dragon dance, crossing the gate, curbing waves, man dragon fly, dual dragon out of sea, coiled dragon lifting head, knocking on the door and returning to lair, triumphant dragon back into the sea. One martial art master would hold the dragon ball in his hands and direct all the segments and the positions of the dragon, incorporating movements from Traveler’s Staff of the Yong Chun Fist from the south. The whole dance features capricious formation which joins and separates, rises and falls with rhythms, forming a splendid scene. Compared with costumed dragon dances, Xingtan Dragon Dance bears a special charm. Xingtan Man Dragon Dance pursues a similarity in spirit, and is a breakthrough from costumed dragon dances. It is a presentation of strength and beauty of the body, a combination of dance and martial art, a blending of man’s spirit with a dragon’s, and bears special cultural values.

Due to many social and cultural factors, quite some performers of Xingtan Dragon Dance are losing their interests, and its transmission is faced with a breakdown. Measures are needed now to protect it from extinction.

In 2008 it was enlisted into the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage.