Chengjiaqiao Village Woman Dragon Dance Listed In the Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage
Source:Artistic CollectionWriter: Peng ZhongTime:2014-09-29Clicks：次
In Chengjiaqiao Village of North Pagoda District in Shaoyang City, there is a woman dragon-dance team that consists of sixteen young villagers including 14 females and 2 males. Their dragon dance with the fame of “Flower Dragon of Yu Family” was put onto the list of the municipal intangible cultural heritage this July.
The dragon is designed and made in a special way. Unlike other dragons with the body skin made of cloth whose printed designs show the dragon’s scales, the crystal scales of this dragon are woven to the cloth skin , making the dragon look so brightly colorful and move so flexibly that it can fulfill such performances as “Two Dragons Twining A Tree”, “Jumping Dragon”, “Winding Dragon” and “Boat-rowing Dragon”. While acting it looks like a real-life dragon.
“Flower Dragon Of Yu Family”, originating in Emperor Daoguang’s reign of the Qing Dynasty, has a history of over 160 years. A legend goes that as a little child the forefather of Yu Family named Yu Taitong was lost because of his carelessness one day when he was out playing, while his family were worried after trying their best to search for him. Suddenly a golden dragon appeared in the wood and guided him out of the forest.
In order to express her gratitude to the dragon for rescuing her son, the child’s mother led all her daughters and daughters-in-law to play a dance with a colored dragon model on March 3 every year. This gradually developed into the custom of performing flower dragon dances on lunar year’s March 3.
(translated by Yi Daoqun)