As soon as the gong and drum sounded, the lion's head was frozen, and on a high platform of more than 7 meters overlapped by five eight immortal tables, folk artists wearing "monk" and "monkey" masks performed various provocative, playful and difficult aerial movements in the high air, flashing and moving, climbing high and walking low, you come and go, do not give in to each other. The audience held their breath and looked stunned.
A recent blockbuster movie, "The Lion Boy", has attracted a lot of attention. The film combines the traditional Chinese culture of lion dance with the dream of modern teenagers, telling the story of the left-behind teenager Ah Juan and his friends Ah Cat and Ah Dog participating in the lion dance competition under the training of retired lion king Salty Fish Qiang, and several people finally created a miracle to realize their dreams after a lot of tempering.
Hot-blooded youth, high-burning lion dance. Art comes from life, and in Tuqiao Town, Jintang County, Chengdu, there are two energetic teenagers, Zhou Caiyuan and Zhou Wenxi, and in them, there is also a story about inheritance and love. In order to pass on the intangible cultural heritage of Sichuan Province, the Tuqiao Gaotai Lion, under the guidance of their grandfather Zhou Hou'an, they overcame difficulties, trained hard, and undertook the heavy responsibility of inheritance. The thrilling scene at the beginning of the article is the wonderful scene when they perform the lion on the high platform.
Thrilling
It has a history of more than two hundred years
The Gaotai lion is a folk acrobatic that has been passed down from generation to generation by the Zhou family of Tuqiao, which has a history of more than 200 years, and this thrilling ancient art brings endless joy and joy to people.
Through the unremitting efforts of generations of inheritors, in 2007, the Gaotai lion of Tuqiao Town was selected into the list of intangible cultural heritage protection projects in Sichuan Province.
The theme of the story of the Gaotai lion comes from the court story of the Southern Song Dynasty, when the princes had infighting in order to compete for the throne, and a prince pretended to be insane in order to avoid the disaster, and fled the court in a cloak and hid in a temple in the mountains to become a monk. The gaotai lion shows the scene of the prince playing with the monkeys on the top of the mountain after he shaved his head, showing his hardships and love for life.
The Tuqiao Gaotai lion is different from the simple lion dance, which is generally carried out on the ground, emphasizing only the movement and showing strength and beauty. But the Tuqiao Gaotai lion is a unique folk lion dance art performed on the high platform. The whole performance is both witty and full of difficult acrobatic moves, and behind the performance is not only a superb skill, but also a tortuous story.
When performing, the high-stage lions first overlap the five eight immortal tables, and then the folk artists ascend to compete and perform. The performing artists, one wearing a mask and a fat monk, and the other wearing a mask and a dexterous monkey, through the flexible use of hands and feet, perform while climbing to the top of the high platform. Finally, an artist dressed in lion's skin climbs up to the high platform to "cap the top", forming a thrilling shape of a fat monk, a skinny monkey and a lion hovering on the top of the platform.
In Tuqiao Town, Gaotai lion was once an important local folk activity, and at the Spring Festival flower fair and temple fair, the performance of "Gaotai lion" was very lively.
Inheritance of intangible cultural heritage
The lion boy practiced hard for five years to master the stunt
However, the Gaotai lion, which has been passed down for more than two hundred years, is now also facing the dilemma of development. Today, the lively scene is not as good as before, and one of the big reasons is that there is a lack of successors, and the inheritance problem of the gaotai lion makes Zhou Hou'an, who is already seventy-four years old, feel anxious.
Zhou Hou'an is one of the fifth generation inheritors and performers of the Tuqiao "Gaotai Lion". In a moment of thought, Zhou Hou'an thought of running around looking for students outside, and it was better to pass on this skill to his grandson and nephew, Zhou Caiyuan and Zhou Wenxi.
Because they were influenced by their grandfather since childhood, Zhou Caiyuan and Zhou Wenxi had a special love for the performance of gaotai lions. In addition to busy studies, the two brothers took over this heavy burden under the careful guidance of their grandfather.
One minute on stage, ten years offstage. Before you can stand on a high stage to perform, all kinds of physical fitness and skill training must be commonplace. Zhou Hou'an is very strict with his grandchildren, and the skills of carp stiffening, walking upside down, and one-handed somersaults are all basic skills. Although the training was very hard, the brothers both gritted their teeth and insisted on training. The courtyard of dawn and the square in the evening have left traces of their tumbling and jumping.
"High-altitude performances, no seat belt protection, no jokes at all. In addition to skill, it also requires excellent kung fu, especially strength. Zhou Hou'an said in an interview with reporters that he had worked hard when he was young, he could carry 240 kilograms of heavy objects, and now he can still perform on a high stage, and all kinds of roles are not a word, "You have to be full of energy, in the performance, the hand needs strength, the strength is to the hand, the foot needs strength, the strength is to the foot." ”
Zhou Caiyuan and Zhou Wenxi, the two brothers, began to practice the basic skills of Gaotai lions five years ago, and the winter and summer vacations and weekends were all one day to learn cultural courses, one day to practice the basic skills of Gaotai lions, and only two years later to perform on stage for the first time. At that time, there were only two eight immortal tables, and with the growth of kung fu, the overlapping height of the eight immortal tables gradually increased, and now it has reached the height of five, "The next step will reach the height of seven eight immortal tables." ”
"We hope to be able to use the Tuqiao Gaotai Lion as a small window to export the Tuqiao culture, so that more people can see different Tuqiao, we not only have filial piety culture, but also wonderful non-genetic inheritance." Talking about their future plans, Zhou Caiyuan and Zhou Wenxi showed a look of expectation in their eyes.
According to | Chengdu Daily Jinguan News
Edit | Zhou Ping
Review | Bi Yongqiang, Jiang Linxiu, Mao Rui
Producer | Zhang et al