The picture shows the dragon dance performance during the day. Photo by Duanmu
China News Service, Chifeng, February 10th (Olan Dandezhi) At night, the long green dragon walks in the dark with its green eyes; during the day, accompanied by folk performances such as Yangko, the long red dragon changes into different shapes, attracting Cheers burst out.
Since New Year's Eve, the dragon dance performance with a history of nearly 300 years, commonly known as "Ziwu Dragon Dance", has been wonderfully staged in Sanzuodian, Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Chifeng City is the "Hometown of the Chinese Jade Dragon". In 1971, a dragon-shaped jade artifact known as "China's First Dragon" was unearthed here - a large "C" shaped jasper carved dragon, a representative artifact of the Hongshan Culture.
People in southeastern Inner Mongolia have the custom of playing (dancing) dragons during the New Year, and the "Hometown of the Chinese Jade Dragon" is no exception. According to reports, in the eighth year of Qianlong's reign (1743), a Guandi Temple was built in the center of Sanzuodian Street. Where there is a temple, there will be a temple fair, and performances such as dragon dance and Yangko came into being.
"Ziwu Dragon Dance" involves two dragons, one red and one green, also known as Ziwu Dragon. The red dragon is a fire dragon, dancing during the day, which means bringing light to the world; the green dragon is a water dragon, dancing at night, which means good weather. Nowadays, during the Spring Festival, people go out one after another to perform dragon dances and participate in temple fairs to pray for good weather and peace for the country and the people in the coming year.
The picture shows the dragon dance performance at night. Photo by Duanmu
After the sun sets on New Year's Eve, the night dragon dance performance begins. The green dragon head is held high by the person holding the dragon head, and the green dragon body and tail decorated with gold patterns swing with the dancing of others. Each section of the keel is illuminated by candles. From a distance, the lights on the dragon's body complement the night stars and street lights, making it particularly eye-catching. The tour lasted until around 11pm.
The daytime dragon dance performance on the first day of the Lunar New Year starts at approximately 10 am. Amid the exciting and cheerful sounds of gongs and drums, the Dragon Pillar leader holds the dragon ball and guides the dragon to dance. The colorful dragon, which is tens of meters long, sometimes "raises its head and roars into the sky", sometimes "enters the sea and breaks the waves", sometimes "dragon chases the pearl", sometimes "circles around the pillar", its shapes are vivid.
This year's "Ziwu Dragon Play" performance is scheduled to last until the 16th day of the first lunar month. The dragon dance performance team consists of 13 people, all of whom are local villagers. Everyone was dressed in festive costumes, wearing dragon dance hats, holding dragon dance pillars in their hands, moving around in high spirits.
The dragon dance performance also specially incorporated elements of the "Jade Dragon's Hometown" into the performance and combined it with martial arts movements. The performers danced vigorously and boldly, attracting tourists and villagers to take photos.
"Today I saw a lot of dragon elements, dragon symbols and dragon meanings. There are so many!" Tourist Cheng Weijia told reporters that many of them have never been seen before. "From it, I can feel the spirit of the dragon and the strong traditional culture here." (End)