MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Dances of the Southern Peoples

When the reed pipes sound, the whole dance ground moves

Introduction

Ritual and festival dances of the southwestern and south-central peoples, danced to reed pipes and bronze and wooden drums

Dances of the southern peoples is the umbrella for the dances of the peoples of southwestern and south-central China, among them the Miao, Yao, Yi, Tujia, Dong, Zhuang, Li and Wa. Dancers often play as they move, blowing lusheng reed pipes or striking wooden, bronze and long drums, and the dances serve ancestor rites, festivals, weddings and funerals, and the farming year. The main forms include the Miao lusheng dance (III-23), wooden-drum dance (III-25), bronze-drum dance (III-26), Tujia hand-waving dance (III-17), Yi sanxian dance with the Axi moon dance (III-75) and the Dong duoye (III-138); forty-four items are on the national list. Western Han bronzes of the Dian kingdom already show singing and dancing at sacrifices, in the Zhenyuan years of the Tang the Nanzhao kingdom presented the Nanzhao Fengsheng music and dance to the Tang court, and in the 1940s Dai Ailian created new stage works from Yao, Yi and other dances.

Timeline

Western Han to present
100 BCE · OriginIn the Western Han, the bronze cowrie container with a feast-and-sacrifice scene from tomb 12 of the Dian cemetery at Shizhaishan, Jinning, Yunnan, shows singing and dancing at a sacrifice, a sign that dance was part of Dian ritual.800 · EvolutionIn the Zhenyuan years of the Tang, Yimouxun, king of Nanzhao, sent envoys to Wei Gao, military governor of Xichuan, offering the songs of his people; Wei Gao made from them the Nanzhao Fengsheng music, a dance in six sections for sixty-four dancers who held feathers and formed characters, presented to the Tang court.1946 · EvolutionDuring the war Dai Ailian created stage works in Chongqing from southern ethnic dances: Yao Drum (1944) and the Yi-themed group dance Lolo Love Song (1946).2006 · ImpactIn 2006 twelve southern ethnic dances, including the Miao lusheng dance, Tujia hand-waving dance, wooden-drum and bronze-drum dances and the Li bamboo-pole dance, entered the first national ICH list; by the fifth batch in 2021, which added the Dong duoye, the family held forty-four items.
  1. 100 BCEOriginIn the Western Han, the bronze cowrie container with a feast-and-sacrifice scene from tomb 12 of the Dian cemetery at Shizhaishan, Jinning, Yunnan, shows singing and dancing at a sacrifice, a sign that dance was part of Dian ritual.
  2. 800EvolutionIn the Zhenyuan years of the Tang, Yimouxun, king of Nanzhao, sent envoys to Wei Gao, military governor of Xichuan, offering the songs of his people; Wei Gao made from them the Nanzhao Fengsheng music, a dance in six sections for sixty-four dancers who held feathers and formed characters, presented to the Tang court.
  3. 1946EvolutionDuring the war Dai Ailian created stage works in Chongqing from southern ethnic dances: Yao Drum (1944) and the Yi-themed group dance Lolo Love Song (1946).
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 twelve southern ethnic dances, including the Miao lusheng dance, Tujia hand-waving dance, wooden-drum and bronze-drum dances and the Li bamboo-pole dance, entered the first national ICH list; by the fifth batch in 2021, which added the Dong duoye, the family held forty-four items.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: III-17 Tujia baishou hand-waving dance · III-18 Tujia sayerhe funeral dance · III-23 Miao lusheng dance · III-25 wooden-drum dance · III-26 bronze-drum dance · III-30 Western Hunan Miao drum dance · III-31 Western Hunan Tujia maogusi dance · III-32 Li bamboo-pole (dachai) dance · III-35 Lisu achimugua · III-36 Yi hulusheng dance · III-37 Yi tobacco-box dance · III-38 Jino great-drum dance
  2. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: III-60 Yao long-drum dance · III-63 Maonan monkey-drum dance · III-64 Yao monkey-drum dance · III-65 Gaoshan hand-holding dance · III-67 Jiacuo · III-69 Yi bell dance · III-70 Yi dage · III-71 Yi tiaocai dish dance · III-72 Yi laohusheng tiger dance · III-73 Yi left-foot dance · III-74 Lezuo dance · III-75 Yi sanxian dance · III-76 Naxi remeicuo · III-77 Blang beehive-drum dance · III-78 Pumi cuocuo · III-79 Lahu lusheng dance
  3. 2008National ICH extension items2008: III-17 Tujia baishou hand-waving dance · III-23 Miao lusheng dance · III-26 bronze-drum dance
  4. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · 2011: III-98 staff-drum dance · III-101 Laogu dance · III-103 palm-fan dance
  5. 2011National ICH extension items2011: III-60 Yao long-drum dance
  6. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: III-119 zongbaonao · III-120 Yao golden-gong dance · III-121 wanniu ox dance · III-124 Ameiqituo · III-125 Buyi zhuanchang dance · III-126 erzi song-dance · III-127 mang-gong drum dance · III-128 water-drum dance · III-129 Nu dabiya dance
  7. 2014National ICH extension items2014: III-18 Tujia sayerhe funeral dance · III-23 Miao lusheng dance · III-26 bronze-drum dance
  8. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · 2021: III-137 Hainan Miao panhuang dance · III-138 Duoye · III-139 Zhuang pole-beating dance · III-140 Miao gourd-ladle dance