*Fluttercolor Show of Yakou Village, Nanlang Town

*Fluttercolor Show of Yakou Village, Nanlang Town

Nominating Unit: Nanlang Town, City of Zhongshan

Nanlang Yakou Piaose, originated from “disguising as Bodhisattva”, a sacrifice folkcustom in the Tang Dynasty, was later called Piaose held on “the Dragon King’s birth” on the sixth day of the fifth lunar month every year. It was also recorded in the Local Chronicle of Xiangshan County of Tongzhi Edition in the Qing Dynasty. This folk custom of seasons has been passed on till now in the Yakou Village, Nanlang Town.

Yakou Piaose is mainly themed on folklores and stories with strong narrative appeal, such as “Flooding Jinshan Temple” and “pines and cranes living long” and so on. Its biggest feature is the uniquely-designed “Swing Characters”, that is, characters acted by boys and girls don’t need to be fixed on steel stalks and can sway like a swing up and down on parade. The brilliant colors and ethereal beauty render the parade rhythmic.(https://www.daowen.com)

The parade of Yakou Piaose possesses comparatively stable and stringent procedures and rituals. Yakou Village is composed of eight fortresses, each with four kinds of Piaose. A pair of gongs clears the way and a pair of lanterns shines, followed by eight strong men carrying Bodhisattva on the dragon seat and Bayin orchestra as well as bridegrooms from 20 households who then escort Bodhisattva home for sacrifice. Afterwards, Piaose is on parade started by head plates and followed by canopies. Between Piaose there is an embroidered colored fl ag divided into “Dancai” and “Shuangcai”. “Dancai”, a piece of cloth 5 meters wide and 80 centimeters high and embroidered with ancient figures on both sides, is carried on a bamboo by heavily made up maidens. “Shuangcai”, a circle formed by a cloth of the same size to “Dancai” and embroidered with such auspicious animals as dragons and phoenixes or ancient figures, is carried on two bamboos by two heavily made up maidens for people to see the embroidery on its four sides. This kind of layout is seldom seen in other Piaose parades. The backmost of Piaose team is eight-tune choir of gongs and drums as well as kylin team and bunting team. After the Piaose team is nearly 50-meter-long great brazen dragon of east fortress. Yakou Piaose parade usually starts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., when parade team tours along the village road of each fortress. Afterwards, Piaose team will parade to the sea in particular praying for favorable climate, while on the way back, it will parade to the field praying for good harvest.

Head plate, canopy and colored flag are exquisite in their embroidery technique, a major feature of Yakou Piaose. Such precious Piaose cultural relics as head plate carved with Sun Yatsen’s head portrait and his teachings as well as camphorwood-enchased flower basket of the last century are still preserved in local region. In 2003, Nanlang Town, a major legacy place of Yakou Piaose, was named as “The Home of Ethnic Folk Art in Guangdong Province”. For a long time, the custom of Yakou Piaose parade has attracted a large number of compatriots living in Hong Kong, Macao and overseas and is well received by local people. Boasting of high folk culture and academic research values, Yakou Piaose was selected into the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

At present, Yakou Piaose is facing a lack of successors in the making of steel stalks and colored cabinets and in urgent need of corresponding salvage and protective measures.