Pi Xiu Dance

36.Pi Xiu Dance

Nominating Unit: City of Guangzhou

Pi Xiu Dance is a traditional dance of Hakka people in Zengcheng Municipality, and is also called Hakka Cat Dance. It is mainly distributed among such townships as Paitan, Zhengguo, Licheng, etc. According to the locals, the dance was originated when the majority of the Hakka people migrated to Zengcheng at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and has a history of nearly 400 years now.

The prop, Zengcheng Pi Xiu, is made mainly with mud and paper, and has a unique style: long body, round head, the face of a monkey that looks like a cat from distance, some with a horn on the head. Besides, there are differences in their characters. For example, when a “big cat” is on stage together with a “small cat”, the big one is a cat mum and the small one a cat baby; if there is only one cat, then it is the cat husband.(https://www.daowen.com)

Zengcheng Pi Xiu Dance borrows its plots from the folklore about “Journey to the West”, stating that Master Tang Seng and his disciples tamed a wild lion on their way to India for the Buddha’s manuscript and drove away plagues for the Hakka people in the mountainous areas. The roles of the dance include a Pi Xiu, Sha Seng in big-headed Buddha style, and Monkey King in a monkey style. The dance is mostly performed with 5 people, 3 of whom would wear a Pi Xiu prop with one playing the head and two playing the body and tail respectively, and the rest two of whom play Monkey King and Sha Seng. Before the dance, there is usually a rite of “Four Corners”, in which the performers would pay tribute to the God of Land first. The performance begins with Sha Seng soliciting the Pi Xiu onto stage with a fan in one hand and a bundle of leaves on the other, followed by the debut of Monkey King. The Pi Xiu will first perform a sequence of jumping and rotating before it joins Sha Seng and Monkey King for the rendering of “Paying Tribute to Mountain”, “Coming out of Mountain”, “Teasing the Monkey”, “Picking up the Green”, “Returning to Mountain”, etc. in order. The whole show features teasing, playing, and amusement, rendering a happy and merry atmosphere of the harmonious coexistence of man and beast.

Pi Xiu Dance is performed by Zengcheng’s Hakka people for the celebrations of festivals, new years, and other merry occasions such as shop opening and home building, etc. Besides the expression of happiness and praying for good luck, it also embodies the indication of driving away plagues, and possesses rich folk and cultural values. Due to many reason, the Pi Xiu making and performing skills are faced with a breaking down in its transmission, and urgent protective measures are called for.