During the Spring Festival, China's British song and dance became popular all over Chinese social with its strong and expressive movements and rich historical elements, and the clips of the performance were widely shared on the Internet. In addition to winning praise from Chinese netizens, Ying Song and Dance has also gone abroad. During this year's Spring Festival, the Nanshan Singing Troupe from Puning, Guangdong Province, was invited to the UK to put on an exciting performance at Burlington Arcade, London's oldest commercial street. In an interview, a reporter from the Global Times found that traditional Chinese cultures such as English singing and dancing, dragon and lion dances, etc., have become more and more "out of the circle" overseas in recent years.
The wait was totally worth it."
To the sound of dense drums, dancers dressed in bright costumes and painted faces danced with drums and marched into the arcade in a sonorous procession, presenting a wonderful flash mob performance. This is the first official appearance of Puning Yingge, a national intangible cultural heritage, in Europe, and topics such as "London blows the wind of English singing and dancing" also dominates many hot search lists.
Puningying song and dance is a kind of folk dance commonly found in the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province, where the performers wear colorful costumes, hold wooden sticks, and dance in an orderly manner. The characters and stories of Ying Song and Dance are based on "Water Margin", which combines forms such as martial arts, opera and dance. Chen Laifa, coach of the Puning Nanshan Ying Song Team and the national representative inheritor of Puning Ying Song, said in an interview with the Global Times that the traditional English song and dance has a strong heritage, and the performance forms in various places are very distinctive. Chaoshan Yingge has a history of more than 300 years, and the performance is majestic and majestic, giving people a feeling of never getting tired of watching.
Chen Laifa said that performing abroad on behalf of China requires careful selection of team members to ensure the quality of the performance. To this end, the team carefully selected members with 15 years of performance experience, not only trained for more than a month in advance, but also redesigned the performance costumes and team flags, and strived to show the best style of British singing and dancing in front of international friends. He revealed that after the success of the London performance, the British Song Troupe has accumulated valuable experience and is ready to accept invitations from all over the world.
The Burlington Arcade is a well-known cultural landmark and cultural heritage building in London, which has a history of 205 years since its establishment in 1819, and is the pioneer of European shopping galleries and modern shopping centers in the mid-19th century. Burlington Arcade's commercial director, Trupti Shah, told the Global Times, "To commemorate the arcade's 205th anniversary, we wanted to celebrate it with a year-long one-of-a-kind surprise. English song and dance is the perfect partner to kick off our celebrations, as its tradition dates back 300 years. ”
The arcade will hold activities every year to welcome the arrival of the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, this year's performance of British singing and dancing in the arcade not only attracted local Chinese and overseas Chinese, but also many foreign friends have stopped to enjoy. Mark Lord, the arcade's director, said: "We waited 300 years for this company to come to Europe to perform. I must say that the wait was totally worth it. Some foreign netizens commented under the Burlington Arcade social account, "This is the most exquisite costume and the most wonderful performance I have ever seen!" ”
Thailand can be called the "second home" of British singing and dancing
In fact, the history of British singing and dancing to the sea may be older than many people think. It is understood that British singing and dancing has been inherited and evolved in Thailand for more than 100 years. In Thailand's 120,000-strong county, there were three singing troupes on the night of last year's Mid-Autumn Festival, and two of them were even composed of primary school students.
Lawyer Deng Yao, an expert in the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Guangdong Province, has been concerned about the inheritance and development of Chaoshan Yingge culture, and in recent years, he has traveled to Thailand and China to promote Sino-Thai-British song and dance non-governmental exchange activities. Deng Yao told the "Global Times" reporter that some Chinese exclaimed when they were singing and dancing in Thailand: "I have never seen such a lively Mid-Autumn Festival in China, and the first time I watched British singing and dancing was in Thailand!" According to some of Deng Yao's visits and research, British singing and dancing were brought into Thailand with the Chinese immigration, where they took root and spread out, and now they have spread to more than 10 provinces in Thailand, forming dozens of English singing teams, and some schools have also incorporated English singing and dancing into the local cultural curriculum. "Thailand has become the most influential country for the spread and development of Chaoshan English songs in overseas regions, and can be called the 'second hometown' of British songs and dances. ”
Deng Yao said that the form and connotation of Thai English songs have a strong traditional Chinese cultural color. "The Thai English song teams I visited all have Chinese names. The Chinese character 'Yingge' and other elements of traditional Chinese culture can be seen on the flags, gongs and drums, costumes, and straw hats of Chinese Ying Song team. In Thailand, the song is also a symbol of good and evil, auspiciousness and peace, and is also performed on major festivals in Thailand. For example, the 'Harvest Festival' in Old Gang County, Thailand, every May, has a parade and performance of English songs. ”
Deng Yao believes that Thailand has preserved the tradition of English songs relatively intact. "In terms of costumes, Thai English songs have not yet widely used theatrical costumes, and the colors of English song costumes are relatively simple.
1. Darker. Most of the singing troupes still retain the tradition of wearing leggings and straw hats. At the same time, British singing and dancing also incorporated some local elements in Thailand. "For example, Yingge in Udon Thani, Thailand, embroidered the most famous 'red lotus' in the region on the costumes of the women's Yingge and dance. ”
More young foreigners are learning lion dance.
In addition to the recent "out of the circle" overseas singing and dancing, dragon and lion dances have long been known and loved by many foreign people. On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, in the 19th round of the Italian Women's Volleyball League, Zhu Ting, the Chinese women's ranking leader, was delighted to see a dragon and lion dance performance by a local martial arts school between the games, and the performers were young Italians who were interested in Chinese culture and kung fu. Coincidentally, at the Chinese New Year show held in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, two red lions and two yellow lions jumped to the sound of drumming, attracting applause from the audience. These 4 lions, which seem to have a deep "Chinese kung fu" skill, are also played by locals. Nascimento, who led the performance, loves Chinese culture and said, "It is an honor to bring the best elements of traditional Chinese culture to Brazil. Hopefully, our lion dance performance will make the local Chinese diaspora feel the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year better, as if they were at home. ”
Liu Jing, an international-level referee of the Dragon and Lion Project and a professor at the Wushu College of Shanghai Sports University, told reporters, "This is the natural result of Chinese culture's 'going out' and increasing influence overseas in recent years." The festivity and harmony symbolized by the dragon and lion dance are the common expectations and pursuits of the people of all countries. It transcends language barriers and connects everyone's best wishes. ”
*: Global Times.