MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Huagudeng and Lantern Song-Dance

A thousand drum troupes, a hundred lantern teams

Introduction

The Huai River duet of drum-boy and orchid-girl, with its lantern and tea-picking kin

Huagudeng is a Han folk song-and-dance of the middle Huai River that joins dance, lantern songs, gong-and-drum music and short after-plays. The male 'drum-frame' (gujiazi) and the female 'orchid' (lanhua) dance in the large group scenes (dahuachang), in the small duet and trio scenes (xiaohuachang) and in the stacked 'drum-tower' (pangu) feats; its three schools are Bengbu (Huaiyuan), Fengtai and Yingshang in Anhui (III-6). Related small-scene song-dances are Nanxian dihuagu (III-99), Zuoquan xiaohuaxi (III-113), the Longyan tea-picking lantern dance (III-116), Gulin huadeng (III-122) and Taixing huagu (III-134). Huagudeng is said to go back at least to the Song; it had matured by the mid-Qing, and the Huaibei flower-drum opera and Sizhou opera grew out of it.

Timeline

Mid-Qing to present
1750 · OriginBy the mid-Qing, Fengtai huagudeng had 'taken shape and matured', and the Gulin county gazetteer records that Gulin huadeng was popular by the mid-Qing; this is the earliest firm date for the family, while the Song origin remains a tradition.1796 · EvolutionNanxian dihuagu in Hunan is said to have begun in the Jiaqing reign (1796 on the ICH site), growing from mountain songs, ditties and work chants and preparing the ground for Hunan flower-drum opera.1935 · EvolutionIn the 1930s and 1940s huagudeng, centred on Bengbu, Huainan and Fuyang, spread to more than twenty counties in Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu along the middle Huai; the Bengbu area was said to have 'a thousand drum troupes and a hundred lantern teams'.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 the Bengbu, Fengtai and Yingshang huagudeng (III-6) entered the first national ICH list; Nanxian dihuagu (2011), Zuoquan xiaohuaxi, the Longyan tea-picking lantern dance, Gulin huadeng (2014) and Taixing huagu (2021) followed.
  1. 1750OriginBy the mid-Qing, Fengtai huagudeng had 'taken shape and matured', and the Gulin county gazetteer records that Gulin huadeng was popular by the mid-Qing; this is the earliest firm date for the family, while the Song origin remains a tradition.
  2. 1796EvolutionNanxian dihuagu in Hunan is said to have begun in the Jiaqing reign (1796 on the ICH site), growing from mountain songs, ditties and work chants and preparing the ground for Hunan flower-drum opera.
  3. 1935EvolutionIn the 1930s and 1940s huagudeng, centred on Bengbu, Huainan and Fuyang, spread to more than twenty counties in Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu along the middle Huai; the Bengbu area was said to have 'a thousand drum troupes and a hundred lantern teams'.
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 the Bengbu, Fengtai and Yingshang huagudeng (III-6) entered the first national ICH list; Nanxian dihuagu (2011), Zuoquan xiaohuaxi, the Longyan tea-picking lantern dance, Gulin huadeng (2014) and Taixing huagu (2021) followed.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · Ⅲ-6 Huagudeng (Bengbu · Fengtai · Yingshang) · no. 109 · nominated by Bengbu · Fengtai and Yingshang · Anhui
  2. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · Ⅲ-99 Nanxian dihuagu · no. 1088 · nominated by Nan County · Hunan
  3. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · Ⅲ-113 Zuoquan xiaohuaxi · no. 1266 · nominated by Zuoquan County · Shanxi
  4. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · Ⅲ-116 Longyan tea-picking lantern dance · no. 1269 · nominated by Xinluo District · Longyan · Fujian
  5. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · Ⅲ-122 Gulin huadeng · no. 1275 · nominated by Gulin County · Sichuan
  6. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · Ⅲ-134 Taixing huagu · no. 1406 · nominated by Taixing · Taizhou · Jiangsu