Editor’s Note: This article is produced in collaboration with the Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies, as part of a series of ongoing reports exploring the city’s abundant resources in intangible cultural heritages.
“Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, mountains, rivers, as well as people, are laughing happily”. Along with the resounding drumbeats, nine huge glittering dragons rushed out from the two sides of the national flagpole in the symphony performed by thousands of people.
These nine dragons, which came from Tongliang District, Chongqing, drew nine beautiful rainbows in Tian’anmen Square, shining brightly at the 70th-anniversary celebration of China and showing off the pride of Chongqing people.
In ancient times, people treat “nine” with the greatest respect. As a result, in awe of nature, they combined nine kinds of animals’ features in one, i.e., the dragon. As the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, Tongliang Dragon Lantern, which emerged in the Ming Dynasty (AD1368-1644) and flourished in the Qing Dynasty (AD1636-1912), is booming in the present.
It is not only a colorful lantern in the form of a dragon but also dances with dragon lanterns as props, hence a kind of comprehensive folk art, integrating dance, music, art, and handicrafts.
There are various kinds of dragon lanterns, mainly including the “Fire Dragon” – people dancing in the fire while dragons flying in the fire, the classic and bold “Straw Dragon”, the dignified and majestic “Hard-necked Dragon”, as well as the elegant and graceful “Lotus Dragon”.
And the most representative one is the “Grand Tongliang Dragon”, with a golden body, a lifelike face, and standing horns. The production process of dragon lanterns involves a variety of techniques, such as Chinese painting, sketching, paper-cutting, embroidery, and so on.
The depiction of facial make-up in Peking opera is also referred to, to make the image of a dragon more radiant. The standard Tongliang Dragon Lantern is 50 meters long and its body consists of 24 sections, which represent 24 solar terms in a year, implying the weather will be favorable throughout the year.
Tongliang Dragon Lantern, now active on the stage of great ceremonies at home and abroad, however, once disappeared for some time. At the age of 79, Huang Yanyan, the only representative inheritor of national tangible cultural heritage, is still hale and hearty.
He has dedicated his entire life to Tongliang culture. It is because of the love and perseverance of these older generations, as well as the inheritance of “the spirit of the spine” – reliability, affordability, qualification, and tolerance, that Tongliang Dragon Lantern is still shining today. As the pride of Chongqing, it represents China to show the unique cultural charm to the world.
(The original article comes with a Chinese version authored by Cao Yinyin (advisor/Zhou Yuan) as well as an English version translated by Wan Kang (advisor/Hu Wei), and was later narrated by Chen Qinwen (advisor/Ren Yi), all of whom are students (and teachers) from Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies.)