In order to meet the requirements of the bobsleigh project for racing, the Beijing Winter Olympics built a national bobsleigh bobsleigh center at the southern foot of Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing District, which adopted the "Chinese Dragon" idea when building a 1900-meter track, overlooking from a high altitude, 16 angles and slopes of different curves, like a winding dragon, coiled on the ridge, the center is also figuratively called "Snow Dragon".
Dragons are mythical creatures in ancient Chinese mythology, the length of scaly insects. In many texts, the Chinese dragon is a kind of horn-like deer, head-like camel, eye-like rabbit, necklace-like snake-like deity, and from ancient times to the present, Chinese have claimed to be "dragon descendants", dragon culture has multiplied everywhere, endlessly. During the New Year's Festival, there are traditions of dragon boating, dragon lantern dance, and dragon dance to pray for blessings throughout the country. In tongliang district, located in the western part of Chongqing, there is a tradition of making dragon lanterns and dancing dragon dances for the New Year, which has been passed down for more than 600 years since the Ming Dynasty.
The Bronze Beam Dragon Lantern began in the Ming Dynasty, which is both a dragon and lamp with a color and a dance with the dragon and lamp as props. Legend has it that dragons can carry clouds and rain, eliminate disasters and send blessings, and since ancient times, the residents of the Tongliang area will make a variety of dragon lanterns, symbolizing auspiciousness, and welcome the arrival of the New Year festival by watching the dragon lanterns and dancing dragon dances at the annual dragon lantern meeting. At the Dragon Culture Exhibition Hall of YuhuangCun in Chongqing's Tongliang District, a large group of dragon lanterns is displayed at the entrance. According to Zong Heyun, director of the Tongliang District Cultural Center, a standard "big worm dragon" has 24 dragon bodies, representing 24 solar terms, with a total length of 50 meters, which is very suitable for dancing in the square.
As the image of the Chinese dragon, since 1984, the nine dragons of the copper beam have gone to Beijing to participate in the 35th, 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In addition to the magnificent dragon, in recent years, under the protection of non-genetic inheritance, the copper beam dragon lantern has perfected dozens of dragon dance varieties such as the dragon, the fire dragon, the straw dragon, the lotus dragon, the bamboo dragon, and the competitive dragon. Through a variety of techniques such as swimming, rolling, tumbling, soaring, and jumping, there are more than 50 choreographed routines. In the changeable composition and action transformation, the charm of the copper beam dragon is displayed.
The "Competitive Dragon" performance team of Tongliang District, Chongqing, the gold medal master of the national dragon dance performance, has won a number of gold medals in dragon dance competitions in the past 2021. Look at the news reporter also followed this dragon dance team, practiced the dragon head dragon tail around the circle of the "8" character, the dragon dance props handle the pole is heavy and heavy, it takes a long time of practice, as well as team cooperation, in order to show a light and stretched posture.
In 2006, the Bronze Liang Dragon Dance was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects. The dragon lantern coloring process used in the dragon dance is also constantly innovating in the inheritance. It is not easy to make dragon lantern color tie works, first of all, the dragon head dragon body dragon tail is tied with bamboo strips and wire, and then installed with LED lights, covered with more than a dozen processes such as silk and painting, in order to make a wonderful dragon lamp, which brings together traditional skills such as Chinese painting, painting, paper cutting and so on. The shape of the copper beam dragon is summarized as "big, long and alive" three characteristics, from the dragon head dragon body to the dragon tail, through the color pen ridge, depiction, focusing on highlighting the temperament of the Chinese dragon, making it rich and magnificent. When admiring the dragon lantern works, the audience can also appreciate the charm of traditional culture.
In a dragon lantern making workshop in Tongliang, the reporter met Zhou Jian, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Chongqing Dragon Lantern Caiza, and through hundreds of experiments and improvements, Zhou Jian integrated the Sichuan drama face changing technique and colorful fireworks into the dragon lantern used in the dragon dance, making the modern copper liang dragon dance more colorful and has the spirit of the times.
To welcome the arrival of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, the 2022 China Dragon Lantern Exhibition is being held on the shore of Xuantian Lake in Tongliang District, and various dragon lanterns are arranged in various locations in the scenic spot, which looks beautiful and brilliant.
As night falls, in the center of the stage, the dragon dance is staged, and the 1400-degree molten iron is sprinkled into the sky, turning into splashing steel flowers everywhere, like a starry sky, lighting up the night sky. At the scene of the performance, there was a spectacular scene of "people dancing in the fire, dragons flying in the fire", and people greeted the red-hot New Year amid the cheers one after another.
The dragon wishes the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics a smooth hold, and the Chinese Olympic athletes will be alive and well in the home of the Chinese dragon, creating a good record in history.
(Look at the news Knows reporter: Peng Ye You Mingling Editor: Lao Xu)