Dragon Dance (Dragon Dance)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dragon Dance (Jiulong dance)

Applicant: Pingjiang County, Hunan Province

Item No.: 107

Project No.: Ⅲ - 4

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Hunan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Pingjiang County, Hunan Province

Protected by: Pingjiang Cultural Center

Introduction to Dragon Dance (Dragon Dance)

Applicant: Pingjiang County, Hunan Province

Dragon dance, also known as "Dragon Dance", is the most widely distributed and far-reaching folk dance in China. This kind of dance has various forms of expression, and the styles of dragon dance in different nationalities and regions are quite different.

According to the shape of the dragon, there are many forms of dragon dance, such as cloth dragon, yarn dragon, paper dragon, grass dragon, Qian dragon, bamboo dragon, brown dragon, bench dragon, shutter dragon, lotus dragon, fire dragon, chicken feather dragon, meat dragon and so on. Different forms of dragon have different dance styles and techniques. The traditional performance procedure of Chinese dragon dance is generally composed of "invite the dragon", "leave the dragon", "dance the dragon" and "send the dragon". Dragon dance is an important part of the spirit and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

Jiulong dance originated in Wushi Town, Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, and has been popular for a long time. It began in Han Dynasty and flourished in Tang Dynasty. It is said that after Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet, threw himself into the river, people would row a dragon boat to salvage it every year on the Dragon Boat Festival. This event moved the nine sons of the Dragon King of Dongting. Nine little dragons made a big fuss in Dongting, forcing the old dragon king to return Qu Yuan's body to the world. In order to commemorate Jiulong's righteous deeds, people imitated its dancing posture and created Jiulong dance.

The performance routines of Pingjiang Jiulong dance are complex, including 26 traditional routines, such as "Jiulong playing in the water", "babaolongdeng", "Jinpen hanging in the water", "Laolong shelling" and "Tielong Guanxiang". These routines are arranged in an orderly and unpredictable way. Sometimes the nine dragons are intertwined with each other, sometimes they form exquisite patterns, and then they change into new formations, which makes people dizzying. There used to be a standard Jiulong dance performance routine "Longpu" inherited in the local Yao family, and its paradigm is still in use today.

Jiulong dance has a strong performance line-up, which is magnificent and impressive. In the performance, nine colorful dragons are matched with four Dragon flags, four hall drums, four big gongs and four trombones. 186 dragon dancers wear dragon helmets, dragon costumes and dragon boots. They hold high the long banner of "harmony between the government and the people, good weather, long life, and peace all over the world". Jiulong dance comes out from Dongting array, through the links of "two dragons playing with pearls", "Five Dragons holding saints", "seven story Hualou", "Jiulong playing with water", "dragon gathering", "iron dragon closing tiger", "old dragon shelling" and so on, and finally ends with "dragon returning to the sea". Percussion instruments such as gongs and drums used in the performance are all made by the folk coppersmith and drummer artists in Pingjiang, with rich timbre, strong contrast and strong emotion. In the old days, there was a "dragon club" in Baiyang village. When the gong sounded, the whole village was ordered. Every time a dragon comes out, a incense table is set up in the ancestral hall, firecrackers are set off, and roosters are sacrificed to the dragon. Under the incense table, there is a big vat with five loads of water, which contains the clear spring water in Zhifeng mountain by the Miluo River. At the end of the sacrifice, nine colorful dragons swayed in front of the incense table in turn, and then rushed out of the ancestral hall with a loud roar. After Kowloon went out, the incense kept burning in the ancestral hall, and nine old people took turns on duty to worship day and night. The holy water in front of the incense table was given to the villagers for drinking, so as to eliminate diseases and disasters.

Jiulong dance is a unique folk art in China, which has spread all over the country. In recent years, the Pingjiang Jiulong dance artists are getting old, the survival and development is difficult, and the prospect is worrying, so it is urgent to strengthen the protection.

Chinese PinYin : Long Wu Jiu Long Wu