Wen/Wei Jianfeng Qiu Ruini Lai Jiahua Zheng Kun Chen Luoyi

In Puzhai Town, Fengshun County, Meizhou City, during the Lantern Festival, people use bamboo sticks and straw to make a "golden dragon" shape, install firecrackers and incense on it, and set off dancing "golden dragons" with gongs and drums. This is a folk ritual and custom of exorcising evil spirits and praying for blessings, which began in the sixth year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1741) and was passed down from generation to generation in Puzhai.

Dragon is dancing to make the festival

As an ancient totem, dragon has a lofty position in the hearts of Hakkas. Not only do dragons often appear in Hakka traditional buildings, but also the "Five Dragon Gods" enshrined under the ancestral tablet in the ancestral hall. On festive days, Hakkas will use dragon dances to pray for the blessing of dragons. "Puzhai Fire Dragon" is one of the most ornamental Hakka dragon dances.

The performance of "Puzhai Fire Dragon" is usually held on the night of Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of each year. The special feature is that the dragon head, the dragon body and the dragon tail are skillfully tied with different fireworks and firecrackers, including "burning Yumen", "burning cigarette rack" and "burning fire dragon". At the same time, there are more than 1,111 performers, including FireWire Team, Hi-Gun Team, Dragon Lantern Team and Drum Band.

The "Burning Yumen" is also called "Carp Jumping from the Dragon Gate". The "Yumen" is six meters high, with a main entrance and two small doors, and it is more than ten meters wide, which looks like a memorial archway door. Door couplets often use "Dragon and Phoenix Dancing Songs, Fish Jumping in the Prosperous Age, Happiness and Peace". All kinds of fireworks are installed everywhere in Yumen, and there are also "water fish" to perform when burning Yumen. This project is based on the historical story of Dayu's water control. Under the "Yumen", groups of carp and shrimp swam, played in the water and jumped under the leadership of Aoyu, which made a peaceful scene.

The "smoking rack" is also called "burning fire tree". The "smoke rack" is more than ten meters high, with eleven different levels of fireworks landscape, which can display performances in an orderly manner from bottom to top. In an instant, the wonders such as little dragons landing, flower baskets in pairs, silvery flowers landing, big ships returning with a bumper harvest, carp swimming with a belt, auspicious couplets, colorful flower baskets, thousands of arrows flying through the sky, pearl lanterns in pairs, disks blooming, flowers blooming, and the moon and the circle appear constantly.

the highlight is "burning the dragon", which is divided into three steps: "releasing the dragon", "burning the dragon" and "returning the dragon". The "Golden Dragon" is generally held out of the hole by more than 61 shirtless strong men. While the "Golden Dragon" keeps dancing up and down, the fire will also spread with the lead and ignite the fireworks on the dragon one by one. The "Golden Dragon" instantly becomes a "fire dragon" with silver flowers splashing and sparking. Dragon dancers skillfully "control the dragon" in colorful flames, and the dragon seems to come alive, churning and dancing in the sea of fire, making actions such as opening its mouth, spitting beads, bending down, wagging its tail and spraying fire, which is magnificent and spectacular. At this time, the surrounding people not only won't avoid the sparks, but also rush forward to get "dragon spirit", and the salute and cheers are one after another, which is very lively.

keep your ingenuity and pass on your skills

Puzhai Town, Fengshun County is known as "the hometown of fire dragons in China", as well as "the hometown of folk culture and art in China" and "the hometown of ethnic folk art in Guangdong".

Zhang Zijin, like many Puzhai people, witnessed his ancestors making fire dragons when he was young, but he began to help make fire dragons at an early age, and showed amazing talent. He often wondered: "What kind of dragon is more imposing and how to draw Long Lin more smoothly ... I often think about these questions." It turns out that making fire dragons seems to be the same. In fact, because of the complicated process and no drawings, everyone makes different fire dragons. "If you want to do the dragon well, you must concentrate. If you do it and think about other things, you will not be able to do it well." Zhang Zijin loves to study hard and can bear his temper, and the fire dragons he makes are always vivid. In 2118, Zhang Zijin took over the "baton" and became the third generation of fire dragon inheritors.

in 2118, Zhang Zijin was identified as the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage representative project. In order to let the "Puzhai Fire Dragon" go out, he often takes his own fire dragon to tour Chaoshan area, Pearl River Delta, Fujian and other places to let more people know about this folk art.

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Integration of Tradition and Modernity

Charm of large-scale live performance exhibition of fire dragons

"Crossing the streets and lanes from folk customs, the fire dragon is grand, with auspicious clouds, rainbows and lightning. In the sound of drum music, people surrounded by people saw it strutting, and the invisible dragon tail stirred the joy of the country. " As Chen Qixu, a poet in Fengshun, said in his poem, every year, the fire dragon performance in Puzhai of Lantern Festival is very lively, attracting tens of thousands of people around to watch it, but there are still many viewers who can't see the grand occasion, and at the same time, the intangible culture is also facing the dilemma of "promotion".

Performing the splendid scenery of the fire dragon on the Chashan Mountain

In order to further activate and make good use of this national intangible heritage, with the assistance of relevant departments of Meizhou City and Fengshun County, Fengshun Township Xian Bin Luo combined with the characteristics of Puzhai Fire Dragon to build a Dabaoshan tourist resort with the theme of large-scale fire dragon live performance.

Dabaoshan Scenic Area is about 6.8km away from Fengshun County, which is actually a tea mountain where Fengshun alpine green tea is planted. After being developed into a scenic spot, while retaining the tea mountain, an artificial lake is built in the valley, with seats arranged around it, and modern lighting, sound, laser, water curtain and other elements are added in the background of mountain scenery to form a real-life performance theater.

"There is no shortage of beautiful scenery in Meizhou, especially in Fengshun County, which is known as the' South Gate' of Meizhou. Therefore, at the beginning of its establishment, the scenic spot was intended to be a place where you can not only visit the scenery but also enjoy folk performances." Huang Yuan, the relevant person in charge of Dabaoshan Tourism Resort, introduced that after selection, the theme of folk performances in their scenic spot was finally selected as "Puzhai Fire Dragon", and a live drama of "Millennium Fire Dragon" was created. Zhang Zijin, the inheritor of the national intangible heritage Fengshun Puzhai Fire Dragon production skill, and his team were invited to join in.

It is understood that the live-action drama "Millennium Fire Dragon" takes the vast and multi-level natural landscape of Dabaoshan Ecological Tea Garden as the stage, presenting a feast of light and fire for the audience. The real-life drama takes "Puzhai Fire Dragon" and its folklore as its cultural core, and adopts the latest technologies such as water curtain holographic projection, Weiya system and naked eye 6D to make overall planning and counterpoint arrangement of live-action performance and video special effects, forming a stage performance effect of "combination of reality and reality", vividly showing the prosperous fire dragon culture and guest tide culture.

Creating a research camp to inherit the intangible heritage

How to arouse more people, especially young people's interest in intangible heritage and feel its charm, and how to inherit and develop intangible heritage is an important topic at present. In October, 2121, Dabaoshan Scenic Area applied to relevant departments to set up a practical education camp for primary and middle school students in Dabaoshan, Meizhou.

"The camp has independently developed more than 11 research and education courses, such as Descendants of Dragons and Searching for Non-legacy Fire Dragons. Through course education, students are curious about non-legacy fire dragons and have interest in research." Huang Yuan introduced that up to now, the camp has received more than 61,111 students from Meizhou, Jieyang, Shantou, Chaozhou and other schools to participate in practical education activities. Students have enriched their humanistic feelings by understanding the origin and history of Puzhai Fire Dragon. Through the team's hand-painted color of the "fire dragon", I feel the charm of national intangible culture.

context observation

the folk custom of the fire dragon harbors a longing for a better life

Wen/Zhou Yunshui (Ph.D., Secretary-General of Hakka Research Committee of China Anthropology and Ethnology Research Association)

After more than 271 years, the Puzhai fire dragon belongs to the local folk ritual and custom of exorcism and blessing. According to folklore, villagers in Puzhai Town, Fengshun County, in order to commemorate Princess Qingfeng, who killed the people, tied bamboo sticks and straw into the shape of "Golden Dragon" every Lantern Festival, put firecrackers and incense on them, and set off dancing, commonly known as "burning dragons", in order to pray that the Golden Dragon will come to the world every year and the weather will be fine every year.

Every time the New Year's Lantern Festival comes, people in Puzhai, old and young, are eager to see the dragon performance, which will bring good luck to people. The villagers holding the "fire dragon" were bare-shouldered, letting sparks fall on them. Sparks splash on the skin and blister, which means money and good luck. Visitors are not too afraid of being injured by firecrackers. It turns out that if the dragon is scalded by sparks, the word "bubble" is similar in pronunciation to the word "ticket" in banknotes, then you will definitely make a fortune in the coming year. Especially those who hold the dragon's head are even more remarkable. People are vying for money. Only those who pay the most can hold the dragon's head and hold the dragon's head. In the new year, they are sure to have good luck. People call it "making a fortune".

"Puzhai Fire Dragon" has been invited to perform in many places. For example, the first folk art festival in Guangdong Province in 1987, the first Hakka Friendship Association in Meizhou City in 1989, the International Narcissus Festival in Fujian Province in 1991, the International Tourism and Culture Festival in Guangdong Province in 2115, the opening ceremony of the 6th Sports Meeting in Meizhou City in 2119, the 8th World Fengshun Fellowship Association in 2111, and the exchange performance of Miaoli Fire Dragon, the 12th Festival of 2111 Hakka Villages held in Taiwan Province in 2111. The wonderful performance of "Puzhai Fire Dragon" won more than 1,111 flags and medals such as "Hakka Treasure", "Excellent Technology", "Brilliant Future", which won the audience's amazement and praise and became a bright pearl of China folk art. At the same time, dozens of media at home and abroad have made special reports. It is particularly worth mentioning that from 13 to 22 February 2111, at the invitation of the Miaoli County Local Cultural Exchange Association in Taiwan, a group of 29 members from Fengshun County "Puzhai Fire Dragon Performance Exchange Group" went to Taiwan to participate in the "Miaoli Fire Dragon" exchange performance in Miaoli County's 2111 Hakka Village Twelfth Festival, aiming at "promoting Hakka culture, promoting Hakka cultural exchanges between the two places, and improving the performance level of Hakka folk festivals" and enhancing the global Hakka.

The folk activity of burning dragon in Puzhai, which was staged on time on the Lantern Festival night, not only showed the rising living standard of the people, but also became an important channel for Fengshun tourism and even Meizhou's foreign exchanges. Puzhai Fire Dragon, which embodies the spirit of non-genetic inheritors and artisans, shows the increasing happiness and happiness of Hakka people's life!

under the guidance of rural industrial revitalization policy, Dabaoshan Eco-tourism Health Resort in Tangkeng Town, Fengshun County has performed national-level intangible projects. "Millennium Fire Dragon" combines the prosperous dragon culture, tourist culture, farming culture in eastern Guangdong, modern typical cultural elements, folk customs and life details in Meizhou, and combines light, electricity and shadow to draw a vivid picture of the original ecological life of the Millennium tourist tide. More importantly, Fengshun County has explored a development model of mutual promotion of folk culture and rural revitalization through the multi-party cooperation model of government guidance, private enterprise leadership and cultural implantation.

A Week of Context

Recently, the 4th Guangdong Young and Middle-aged Writers and Artists List was announced, and ***11 people were selected. Lin Wenxiang, director of Meizhou Drama Research Studio, is on the list, and his works have won the first prize as a screenwriter in the 8th, 11th, 11th, 12th and 14th Guangdong Arts Festival. Deng Lang Mei, a mountain opera, won the Cao Yu Drama Award and Excellent Screenplay Award in the 8th China Drama Festival, the 3rd Guangdong Five-One Project Award and the 7th Guangdong Lu Xun Literature and Art Award.

recently, the 2121 "Guangdong children's reading star" and "the most beautiful children's reading promotion librarian" selection campaign was successfully concluded. Yu Ziyang, a reader of Jianying Library in Meizhou City, was named "Guangdong Children's Reading Star (Children's Group)" in 2121, and Wu Peiling, a library in Meijiang District of Meizhou City, and Cheng Yanmei, a library in Meixian District of Meizhou City, were named "the most beautiful children's reading promotion librarians" in 2121.

Recently, a meeting on the deployment of the inspection and collection work in the ecological protection experimental area of Hakka culture (Meizhou) was held in Meicheng. The meeting called for compacting responsibilities, paying close attention to implementation, doing a good job in the inspection and acceptance of the experimental area, earnestly fulfilling the main responsibility, strengthening inspection and supervision, thoroughly understanding the standards, intensifying rectification, paying close attention to publicity, creating a strong atmosphere, and doing a good job in the implementation of all work.

A few days ago, the Propaganda Department of Meizhou Municipal Committee carried out the application and selection of the fifth batch of patriotic education bases in Meizhou, and finally evaluated 22 units including Cai Mengji's former residence as the fifth batch of patriotic education bases in Meizhou, and Canghai Poetry Gallery was on the list. (Qiu Ruini)

Organizer/Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism Yangcheng Evening News Agency

Chief Planner/Li Bin Du Chuangui Lin Haili

Director of Editorial Board/Zeng Yingru Sun Aiqun Sun Xuan Hu Quan

Coordinator of this issue/Ma Hanqing Yao Zhide

Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng School

Editor | Zhu Guangyu.