The Doumen District Folk Art Parade is to step off in Jing’an Town at 9 am on Saturday, Feb 11, concurrent with the 2,000-year-old Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year. 

The Folk Art Parade has been an annual grand event in Doumen over the past 12 years. In the lineup are square matrices of local intangible cultural legacies supplemented by teams of out-of-town areas to promote folk art and traditional culture. 

This year’s parade will set a record with more than 1,800 performers in 18 matrices with 24 themes. The Yunnan Nujiang River ethnic minority will debut in the march.

Square matrices

Dragon Dance

Dragon dance  

Some 210 performers from Lianzhou and Qianwu towns will lead the parade with two dancing fire dragons in gold and silver along with four small dancing dragons.

Imperial Kinsmen Sacrificial Rites

Since Chao K’uang-yin (Zhao Kuangyin) established the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the Imperial Kinsmen Sacrificial Rites have spread from the Central Plains to Dachikan and Nanmen of Doumen District and neighboring areas over the past thousand years. Zhao Clan people use the rites to pay respect to ancestors at Chinese New Year and on other major occasions at family shrines. The ancestor-worshipping celebration, known as Sacrificial Rites of Imperial Family, was designated a Guangdong Provincial intangible cultural heritage item in 2016.

Cantonese Operatic Songs

Cantonese opera figures

Some 223 performers from Jing’an and Doumen towns will display the cultural glamour of Doumen as the Hometown of Cantonese Folk Opera. The matrix will be composed of Senior General, Young General, Pawn, Dise Procession of Eight Immortals, Wing Chun Boxing, Gong & Drum Cupboard and more.

Piaose Street Procession

Piaose Street Procession

As a traditional folk art of Qianwu Town, Piaose Street Procession will include 11 boards featuring Crab Crossing the River, Legend of the White Snake, Pied Magpie Tweets Plum Blossom, Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King, Mu Guiying’s Marriage, Avalokitesvara Sitting on a Lotus Flower, Marriage of the Fairy Princess, Journey to the West, and Justice Bao.

Water Town Impression

Some 170 performers from Baijiao Town and Baiteng Sub-district Office will showcase Doumen’s water town culture and folk customs by acting as fisher girls, sails, shrimp lanterns, fish lanterns, and lotus girls.

On-Water Wedding 

On-Water Wedding

On-Water Wedding is a state-level intangible cultural heritage. About 160 performers from Baijiao Town will act as bridegrooms, brides, bridesmaids, groomsmen, and boatmen in 20 land boats showcasing the folk custom.

Catching Mudfish 

Mudfish catching

Catching Mudfish is another state-level intangible cultural heritage in Doumen that originated in Hushan Village of Qianwu Town. It is composed of mudfish loading skateboards, flat-bed trailers, mudfish catching inheritors, and students skilled at weaving fishing baskets.

Residential Community

The matrix includes two teams from Jing’an Chaoyang Residential Community and Doumen District Danfeng Art Troupe demonstrating dances of the Tankas or boat people.

Zhanjiang Human-Dragon Dance 

Zhanjiang Human-Dragon Dance

Zhanjiang Human-Dragon Dance is the first performance invited from out of town. With a history of more than 400 years, the dance involves men standing in a row acting as the dragon's feet and children aged 12 or 13 sitting on their shoulders. It is often performed on a beach and accompanied by drums, gongs, and trumpets as if there were a real dragon coming out from the sea.

Children’s dances

Zhuhai Xiangzhou District No 15 Primary School is a specialist school relative to inheriting and developing dragon and lion dances. All 2,000 students basically master the dancing skills. Some will come to Doumen to perform.

Buddhist Boxing

Some 27 performers from Qianwu Town will display the power and charm of Buddhist Boxing, a city-level intangible cultural heritage of Zhuhai originated from Lishan and Hushan villages in Qianwu Town.

Lianjiang Eagle Dance 

Lianjiang Eagle Dance

The Lianjiang Eagle Dance team will first appear in the parade. Performed by staff of Lianjiang Cultural Center, it will integrate dance, martial arts, and acrobatics together with people acting as eagles performing on the top of 6-m sticks.

Nujiang River Ethnic Minority Song & Dance 

Nujiang River Ethnic Minority Song & Dance [Photo courtesy yn.xinhuanet.com]

Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture receives counterpart assistance from Zhuhai. A habitat for 22 minorities such as Lisu, Pumi, Dulong, and Nu, it cultivates the largest number of ethnic groups in any prefecture. The performance will showcase songs and dances of the four ethnic groups to promote harmony and coordination.

Qianshan Phoenix-Rooster Dance

Qianshan Phoenix-Rooster Dance will be performed by inheritors and children from Xiangzhou Rongtai Primary School. A folk custom in the Qianshan area, Phoenix-Rooster Dance took root in 1621 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was introduced in Xiangshan County (today’s Zhongshan and Zhuhai) in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It prevailed in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period.

The art encompasses making a prop out of bamboo and the actual performance. The 1.7-m Phoenix-Rooster can flap wings and move its neck, bearing a strong resemblance to the legendary phoenix and rooster. Pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, and surprise are presented in solos and group dances. Visiting, playing with water, dressing and making up, seeking treasures, walking, dancing, and acknowledging applause are demonstrated.

Sanzao Crane Dance

Sanzao Crane Dance

Situated on the coast of the South China Sea, Sanzao Town of Jinwan District boasts a fertile environment and therefore is hailed as a Land of Plenty, including a multitude of cranes. And so the natives would sing and dance as though they themselves were cranes, the stalk-legged and long-necked bird held dear as a symbol of sanctity and longevity.

Villagers voice crane songs and promenade in public from the first to the seventh day of each Lunar New Year. They anticipate the moment, on New Year’s Eve, when a venerable elder dots the eyes of the crane with a new writing brush, thereby inaugurating the dance. On the seventh day of celebrations, which is considered the birthday of human beings, villagers hold a ritual ceremony: one sings a crane song while others beat on drums, gongs and cymbals. The performing team blesses those who have reached the age of 30 and furthermore delivers to their doors hearty congratulations to those aged 60 and above.

Qi’ao Dragon Boat Festival Blessings Parade 

Designated a city-level intangible cultural heritage in 2013, Qi’ao Blessings Parade has a history of 150 years. It is an opportunity to pray for good weather for crops and the safety of villagers. Dozens of revered elders clean Tin Hau Goddess, Tide Grandfather, Cai Second General, and other sculptures before putting them in two palanquins. Led by dragon and lion dances, the performances offered in the Zhuhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (mostly in Tangjiawan) will also include a series of rituals such as offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, presenting articles of tribute, and setting off firecrackers.

Lion Dance 

Lion Dance [Photos courtesy Doumen Tourism WeChat]

A hundred performers from Qianwu Town will act as 40 lions forming a stereoscopic lion group with both high and low piles. Lion Dance was designated one of the third-batch intangible cultural heritage items under city-level protection in June 2010.

Tips

Lasting from 9 am to 11 am, the free show will start at Doumen Gymnasium Square and end at Jing’an Leisure Square.