China News Service Nanning, February 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and foreign tourists experience Guangxi's thousand-year-old custom dance "Cannon Dragon".
China News Service reporter Huang Yanmei.
On February 20th, the eleventh day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi Province was crowded at night, and more than 100 cannon dragons in the county flew and leaped.
On the evening of February 20, in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, the dragon dance was staged. Photo by Chen Guanyan.
The 1,000-year-old cannon dragon dance was staged in Binyang County, the "hometown of China's cannon dragons", that night. After the experience, the British tourist Mark exclaimed: "It's exciting, it's enjoyable, and the atmosphere of the Spring Festival is 'full'." ”
Zeng Yueshan, a blogger from Nanning, and her companions came to Binyang County to shoot a short film on the culture of the firecracker. "In the Year of the Dragon, I must come to experience the Dragon Festival, and I want to introduce this unique Guangxi folk custom to more people. She said.
On the evening of February 20, in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, the dragon dance was staged. Photo by Chen Guanyan.
The custom of Binyang dragon dance originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, which is the crystallization of the fusion of Zhuang and Han ethnic cultures, and is known as "a unique in China". The Binyang Cannon Dragon Festival was included in the list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage.
At 18:58 that night, the Bailong Dance Pennsylvania activity began. A dragon gathers in the temple, and after the elders of the clan complete the opening ceremony of the cannon dragon, the gongs and drums are noisy, and ten thousand cannons are fired in unison. Giant dragons move up and down, walking the streets and alleys to send blessings, and hundreds of thousands of tourists dance with the dragons, which is spectacular.
On February 20, in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, tourists took a group photo with the cannon dragon. Photo by Chen Guanyan.
The cannon shook thousands of mountains and woke up, and Longteng was prosperous. Binyang County believes that the dance of the cannon dragon can get rid of bad luck, bring rain, harvest, auspiciousness and stability, and entrust the people's desire to "seek peace, blessing, prosperity and happiness".
Regarded as a New Year's fetish, the cannon dragon is about 30 to 40 meters long. The cannon dragon has a saying that "the cannon sound does not stop, and the dragon dance does not stop". Wherever the cannon dragon passed, the crowd in the middle of the road "bombarded wildly".
At the event site, I saw the dragon dancers wearing bamboo hats and shirtless, waving their dragon heads and dragon bodies, carrying out the "game of the brave", and letting the firecrackers explode and bounce down. Bold tourists have strings of firecrackers around their necks, lit string after string, and have fun with great interest. Many people also "risk" drilling dragon belly, pulling dragon whiskers, and catching dragon scales in order to seek blessings.
On February 20, in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, blogger Zeng Yueshan and her companions were filming a short film on the culture of the firecracker. Photo by Chen Guanyan.
The dragon is the totem of the Chinese nation, and the cannon dragon is a symbol of auspiciousness in the hearts of Binyang people. Liao Guowei, a dragon dance artist on Jing'an Street in Binyang County, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that the Cannon Dragon Festival is the most lively event in the local Spring Festival.
This year, 56-year-old Liao Guowei has been dancing the cannon dragon since he was 8 years old and is the inheritor of the Binyang cannon dragon dance skills. Obsessed with the dragon culture, he created a dragon performance routine with local characteristics, and also organized the Binyang County Dragon Team to perform more than 100 times in Singapore and other countries and regions, cultivating a large number of Binyang dragon lovers and inheritors.
The cannon dragon is made of bamboo strips, paper, cloth and other materials, and the production of the cannon dragon needs to be done by hand throughout the process, and there are more than 30 processes. This year coincides with the "natal year" of the cannon dragon in the year of the dragon, and the production orders of the cannon dragon in Binyang County have surged, and the local Zhalong people are busy non-stop.
On February 20, in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, Zou Yute, an old craftsman from Zhalong introduced the production process of the cannon dragon to a reporter from China News Service. Photo by Chen Guanyan.
Zou Yute, a 70-year-old craftsman in Zhalong who has been "dancing with dragons" for 55 years, is a well-known master of making cannon dragons. For decades, Zou Yute has continued to study the skills of Zha Long, and actively promoted the spread of cannon dragon culture at home and abroad. "My greatest wish is to teach the skills of Zhalong to the younger generation, and I hope that more and more young people will bravely pursue their dreams and make Binyang Cannon Dragon endless. He said.
In recent years, Binyang County has been empowered by culture and actively building a cultural brand of Paolong. In the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, Binyang County launched a series of activities such as the Cannon Dragon ** Festival, the Cannon Dragon Starlight Market, the Sports Temple Fair, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Parade Performance, and the "Cannon Dragon" Folk Stage Play, so that local people and tourists can celebrate the festival together. (ENDS).