Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China. Whenever festivals or gatherings are held to celebrate, people always entertain themselves by dancing lions. Lion dance is divided into north and south, and the lion dance in Guangdong is the most famous in the south.
Lions are made of colored strips of cloth. Every lion has two people performing together, one dancing in the head and the other dancing in the tail. Under the sound of gongs and drums, the performers dressed up as lions and made various movements of lions. Lion dancers should show southern martial arts with various moves when performing, which is very masculine.
Lion dance has a long history and is the product of cultural exchanges between China and the West.
Extended data:
As early as 1900 years ago, Persia conducted commercial trade with China through the Silk Road, which also promoted cultural exchanges between the two countries. Persian messengers also brought lions and other animals to China. At that time, lions were not produced in the Central Plains of China, but with the friendly exchanges between ancient China and countries such as West Asia and India, more lions came to China.
Lions are powerful and known as the king of beasts, but China is generally not harmed by lions. Therefore, the people have friendly feelings for the lion, and regard it as a symbol of courage and good luck, hoping to use the powerful image of the lion to exorcise evil spirits, resulting in lion modeling to suppress or show martial arts.
China society has always been dominated by agriculture. With the changes of solar terms and agricultural life, various festivals or ceremonies to greet the gods have emerged. In these festivals, people use gods or auspicious animals to exorcise ghosts and entertain gods, which gradually has the significance of entertaining people.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia of lion dance