(New Year's News) "Aerial Acrobatics" in Northwest China has been inherited for 600 years and interprets "Don't Wait"
China News Agency, Huangzhong, Qinghai, February 4th: "Aerial Acrobatics" in Northwest China has been inherited for 600 years to interpret "Don't Wait"
Author Li Jun
"I am 'Monkey King', and I am 'God of Wealth'..." According to the character design, a group of little boys huddled in the room at 7:30 in the morning, making facial makeup for the day's "Aerial Acrobatics" high stage.
Every year, the thirteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the most anticipated day for all people in Qianhuying Village, Lanlongkou Town, Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province, the "hometown of Chinese folk culture and art (Gaotai)".
The high platform known as "Aerial Acrobatics" has a history of more than 600 years in Qianhuying Village. It involves children dressed in traditional theater characters tied to wood or iron poles close to two stories high, and supported by a platform underneath. It tells traditional drama stories such as "Five Tiger Generals", "Feng Shen Bang", "Havoc in Heaven" and other traditional dramas. It is a high-altitude plastic art that integrates local painting, embroidery, wood carving and other folk skills.
In 2008, it was included in the second batch of "National Intangible Cultural Heritage List" in China.
"The older generation said that the Qianhuying Gaotai was passed down from Nanjing during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and my generation is the 13th generation." Li Fuxian, a 61-year-old national intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Qianhuying Gaotai, said, "Gaotai dolls are It’s a five or six-year-old baby, you have to be brave and endure hardships to be tied up, but when you grow up, you’ll gain weight, and you’ll be unsteady on a high platform.”
At 10:30 in the morning, the villagers gathered at the mountain temple in the village. More than 20 little boys dressed up climbed up the roof one by one.
On the side, the children who didn't "grab" the appearance looked envious.
"Gaotai dolls are the incarnations of Bodhisattvas and heroes in the stories, which imply auspiciousness. Children in the village rush to go up to the high platform every year. If they hesitate a little, they miss the opportunity." Chen Hubang, one of the 14th generation successors of Qianhuying Gaotai, said, "When we were young, The older generation said, 'Don't wait, the first wait is 3 years.'”
"The first wait is 3 years. Many dolls will grow up a lot after 3 years, and they can't be tied up if they want to." Li Fuxian said, according to the rules left by the old people, tied to a high platform, tied for three years before changing people, and he was six years old. Tied up.
Every year, due to the different repertoire of the drama, the shape of the high platform will also be different, but the "Kuixing" high platform with its feet on the top and a hideous face has not changed in 600 years.
"'Kuixing' means 'the number one scholar'. People in the village who are taking college entrance examinations all wear red to pray for the top spot." Li Fuxian said that the high platforms of the Qianhu Camp have changed from the first three to the subsequent five, seven, and nine. Binding singles but not doubles, so now it has increased to nineteen.
At 12:00 noon, accompanied by firecrackers and the sound of gongs and drums, the Shehuo team, mainly on the high platform of Qianhuying, began to perform. Cheers and yells continued everywhere they went, and villagers stepped forward to pray for blessings from time to time.
In the Shehuo team, the thrilling and eye-catching stilt performance is similar to the "air acrobatics" high platform.
More than 20 drama characters such as "Nezha" and "Wukong" twisted their bodies on stilts more than two meters high, humorous and vivid.
"The tallest stilts are more than three meters long and weigh thirty to forty catties, which is also a feature of our Huangzhong." According to Chen Hubang, Lushaer Town, Huangzhong County is "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art (stilts)". Stilts are called "dancing in the sky" by the people.
In the agricultural area of Qinghai Province in Northwest China, many places have traditional performances on high platforms and stilts, but the performance culture of Qianhuying is more profound, and the scene of children scrambling to tie the high platform is also unique.
"The old people say that if you tie a high platform and walk on stilts during the New Year, the children will be healthy and successful in their studies, and everything will be auspicious in the coming year." Li Fuxian said.
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