10 Things About ChaoShan Yingge Dance: Chinese War Dance

Table of Contents

1.Where did the Yingge Dance Come From?

Yingge Dance is a folk square dance popular in the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province, China, which combines local arts,such as Southern style martial arts and theatrical performances. The globally popular Yingge Dance,is referred as "China War Dance", "Engor War Dance", "Hero's Song Dance" or "Chinese Street Dance".

ChaoShan Yingge Dance combines drama, dance, and martial arts, with unique footwork, body movements, hammer movements, and formations. It's both like the local customs and martial arts dance. It forms a majestic, majestic, strong, and heroic momentum with its vigorous, vigorous, rough, and unrestrained dance movements, giving people a shock of strength and beauty.

The characters portrayed by Chaoshan Yingge Dance are all heroes from "Water Margin", but their expressive techniques are very general and freehand. They neither narrate the story nor depict the characters, but rather depict the battle scenes and lively atmosphere, shaping the overall image of the heroes. Through artistic treatments such as character design, costumes and props, body dynamics, and sound rhythm, a masculine and robust beauty is reflected as a whole. 
ChaoShan Yingge Dance belongs to the square emotional dance, and its main performance form is a large-scale group dance. The dancers hold a short wooden stick in each hand, hitting each other up, down, left, and right, with strong and powerful movements and a strong rhythm.

On May 20, 2006, ChaoShan Yingge Dance was included in the first batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list.

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2. Facial makeup of Yingge Team

The Yingge team usually has two leading dancers, each with a red face and red beard, often dressed as Qin Ming or Guan Sheng; The "two hammers" with black faces and black beards, dressed as Li Kui. In addition, the "snake dancer" is a time shift, mainly assisting in directing and leading the dance. Some may also have "three hammers" Lu Zhishen and "four hammers" Wu Song. The actors who play the drums are usually Song Jiang or Lin Chong, which is the most common facial makeup.

Generally, facial makeup is done by oneself, except for some more complex ones where makeup artists help or actors help each other. When applying makeup, first clean the face and then use a two inch wide black cloth strap to tighten the hair backwards, which can flatten the muscles. The makeup of a military general is directly applied to his face (referred to as "contouring" in the industry), while a literary general needs to first dip his hands in color and rub it evenly on his face, then start drawing eyebrows, eye sockets, nose sockets, mouth corners, and face, and finally draw facial lines.

There is also a certain order for coloring, starting with black, then white, and finally other colors. Because Yingge actors play the role of heroes in Liangshan, in order to portray the image of heroes in the wilderness, those with beards often use full beards, and specific characters also have specific beards, such as Lu Zhishen using "Qiu beards". Some actors sometimes expose their upper bodies and directly paint patterns on their bodies. As for the female characters inside, they are all played by men.


3.props and Clothing of Yingge Dance


Purpose Category Introduce
Crown cap Helmet Also known as a "general's helmet", it is the crown worn by military commanders.
Crown cap Luo hat Weared by non generals.
Crown cap Straw hat Weared by the common people.
Crown cap Scarf Use in conjunction with the crown cap.
Wear Heroic clothing Weared by martial artists.
Wear Kua clothing "Shi Qian's Attire
Wear Armor Worn by military generals.
Wear Shoes Initially mostly straw sandals, Women in Yingge dance wear embroidered shoes.
Prop Yingge Hammer A short wooden stick held by performers, with a diameter of about 25 millimeters. The female Yingge holds it relatively thin. The length varies from 35 to 58 centimeters depending on the style, mostly in black and red, with Tai Chi patterns decorated on both ends
Prop Handdrum Held by performers, short cylindrical in shape with a grip, with a diameter of about 15 centimeters, painted in red, green, and black colors. Equipped with a drumstick about 30 centimeters long, with colorful ribbons at the bottom.
Prop Hand snake Hand snake, a prop of "Shi Qian", 150 centimeters long.
Prop Pufan Held by my uncle and aunt during the performance in the back shed.


4. Musical instruments of Yingge Dance

Yingge Dance is a folk square dance that integrates dance, martial arts, and traditional Chinese opera. The male Yingge Dance is based on "Water Margin", while the female Yingge Dance is based on the story of Mu Guiying leading the army or Mulan joining the army. In addition to being performed in squares, open areas, or fixed places, Yingge Dance performances can also be performed through streets and alleys.

  • The props used in Yingge dance mainly include team flags, cloth snakes, hammers, drums, etc. The accompaniment band is a gong and drum team composed of instruments such as big drums, moon gongs, Su gongs, big cymbals, small cymbals, and qin zi.

  • The costumes of the Gong and drum players, except for the drummer dressed in Song Jiang's style, are all samurai attire. Most of the performers of the Yingge team draw facial masks, which not only draw inspiration from traditional Chinese opera facial masks, but also have their own characteristics. After a long period of transmission and evolution, they have become folk art facial masks with Chaoshan style. Facial makeup is mostly in black, white, and red as the main colors, paired with green, blue, yellow and other colors, with bright colors and sharp contrasts.



  • Music: The music of Yingge Dance only has rhythm and no melody. And different types of Yingge Dance correspond to different rhythms of gongs and drums.

  • Instrument: Big drum, with a diameter of about 60 centimeters, wooden frame cowhide drum.
The performers of Si Dagu are generally Song Jiang or Lin Chong. The middle drum has a diameter of about 50 centimeters, similar to the large drum. Drummers usually tie it to their own bodies. Qinzi, a copper gong, is a unique musical instrument of the Chao family. Da Luo, also known as Su Luo, is also known as "belly button gong" by Chaozhou people. Cymbals, also known as small cymbals. Cloud gong, also known as moon gong. Cymbals, also known as water cymbals. The conch, the conch. Bullhorn, with a loud voice.


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5.In terms of movement

The movements of Yingge dance include formations, footwork, body movements, techniques, finger movements, eye movements, and most importantly, footwork to drive other movements.

6. Three Rhythms of Yingge Dance

Due to the long history and widespread dissemination of Yingge Dance, folk artists from different regions have created different styles and characteristics. According to the rhythm and tempo, Yingge Dance can be divided into Slow speed Yingge Dance, Medium speed Yingge Dance, and fast Yingge Dance.

  • Slow speed Yingge Dance are also divided into duet style, literary style, and martial style. Their main characteristics are vigorous and vigorous movements, rough and unrestrained movements, majestic and heroic, and grand and spectacular scenes.
  • The percussion of Medium speed Yingge Dance is relatively simple, with little variation in rhythm.
  • Compared to the first two types, fast Yingge Dance have a faster rhythm, tighter drumbeats, diverse formation changes, and increased amplitude of movements.

Slow speed Yingge Dance:The Yingge Dance hammer held by the performer is slightly longer than other types, about 60 centimeters. The beating rhythm of Yingge Hammer is usually accompanied by a group of movements of three to four beats of gongs and drums. And every time I hit the Yingge Hammer, there will be a performance of the action. This type of Yingge Dance is mainly concentrated near Miancheng in Chaoyang District, and performers do not have the faces of Liangshan heroes such as Song Jiang and Shi Qian. Its playing style is simple and rustic, and is considered the earliest Yingge Dance to appear.

Medium speed Yingge Dance: The length of the Yingge hammer in Medium speed Yingge Dance is 57 centimeters, and its rhythm is faster than that of the slow board Yingge. The hitting rhythm of the Yingge hammer is composed of five, seven, eight, ten, eleven, thirteen and other movements. The performer does not have the "snake dancer" face mask of Shi Qian, and their movements are based on the "big standing horse" in Nanquan.

Fast Yingge Dance: The shortest length of the Yingge hammer in Fast Yingge Dance is only 40 centimeters, and the rhythm is the fastest, emphasizing fast hitting and fast closing. There is no fixed rhythm for the Yingge hammer to strike, but there is a unique way. Fast Yingge Dance can be further subdivided into Jianshan Yingge, Nanshan Wenpai, Nanshan Wupai, and Duet Style.


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7. Expression of Yinge Dance

Yingge Dance is divided into front and rear sheds, with 36 people in the front shed. Each person holds a colorful wooden stick that is about 1 foot 4 inches long and 4 centimeters in diameter, paired with gongs and drums, conch calls, and shouts. The two sticks hit each other and flip over, dancing while walking. There are 72 people in the back shed, dressed up as various acrobats, playing gongs and drums as accompaniment, and some even adding costumes or martial arts performances.

The queue changes include a total of 18 sets, including the Long Snake advancing, the Twin Dragons going out to sea, the Four Tigers driving together, the Pink Butterfly picking flowers, and the Peacock opening its screen; The stick technique includes left tapping, right tapping, up tapping, down tapping, crotch tapping, back tapping, etc; There are two types of facial makeup: Wen Mian and Wu Mian; Rhythm can be divided into fast tempo, medium tempo, and slow tempo.


In rural areas, Yingge Dance is seen by the masses as the embodiment of heroes, a symbol of auspiciousness, and a magical power to ward off evil. Generally, participants in the Yingge team should be young, strong, and handsome young men. The girls have a stronger admiration for him and often choose their crush from the Yingge team.

Yingge Dance has always been regarded as an auspicious embodiment, and people believe that dancing Yingge Dance is a "good start". Whoever can join the Yingge team this year will have a smooth and successful year.


8. Inheritance and Protection

Inheritance value
Pray for peace and auspiciousness through Yingge Dance, express love and hate, and express fighting spirit. From the initial God of Amusement Games, to today's festive events, business openings, building completion, bridge opening, overseas Chinese sightseeing and other activities, Yingge team is invited to perform in person to express joy and celebration.

Yingge Dance is also an important link to enhance hometown, neighborhood, and overseas Chinese harmony and unity. It is closely related to people's social life and plays a positive role in building a harmonious society.


Current Status of Inheritance
The performance of Yingge Dance mainly relies on folk activities and relies on the cohesion of local culture passed down from generation to generation. Nowadays, this century long intangible cultural heritage is also being inherited and developed, improving performance content, entering school communities, developing cultural and creative products, and bursting with new vitality in today's life.

In order to promote the inheritance and development of traditional culture, in recent years, the Chaoshan region has organized Yingge Dance to enter campuses and communities, promoting the inheritance and development of Yingge Dance's performance skills. The number of young people joining Yingge's team is increasing year by year, and their performance level is gradually improving.


9. Social Impact of Yingge Dance

Yingge Dance in Beijing

In August 1988, at the invitation of the Competition Committee of the Second Chinese Dance "Taoli Cup" Competition of National Art Colleges, the Yongfeng Yingge Team from Chaoyang County came to Beijing and on August 3, they conducted an audition at the square of Beijing Dance Academy, which immediately attracted a lot of attention and could be considered a hit.

The Yongfeng Yingge team from Chaoyang County, as their specially invited representative team, enjoyed special honors at this competition. The leader of the Yingge team was invited to the podium. This invitation not only shows respect for all members of the Yingge team, but also shows appreciation and admiration for the folk dance art from southern Xinjiang, China.


Yingge Dance in Shanxi

On February 11, 2024, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the national intangible cultural heritage of Guangdong Chaoshan Yingge Dance was grandly performed at the Imperial Palace.

Yingge Dance in Hong Kong

On April 27, 2019, it was the 23rd day of the third lunar month, known as the "Tin Hau Festival". The Tin Hau temples in various districts of Hong Kong were bustling with incense and held various celebration activities.

It is reported that the scale of the parade is the largest in the past 60 years, and the conference stated that about 10000 people watched the parade. In 2019, a total of 600 people were sent to participate in the performance, of which 100 were the top Yingge Dance performers from mainland China, which can be called "national level performances".


Yingge Dance in Thailand

On December 6, 2019, the Thai Overseas Chinese Association held a grand event on Yaohuali Road (Chinatown) in Bangkok, where King Rama X of Thailand, Mahawah Jilalongkorn, and Queen Sutida visited Chinatown for the first time. This event combines traditional Chinese elements such as Yingge Dance, dragon and lion dance with modern elements such as large LED channels, videos, images, lighting, music, etc., showcasing the friendly exchanges between the Thai royal family and China throughout history.


10. Where can I buy Yingge Dance's clothing?

You can buy Yingge Dance clothing from a few different sources:
  • Specialty Dance Shops: Some stores specialize in traditional dance costumes and might carry Yingge Dance attire. Look for shops that cater to traditional Chinese performances.

  • Online Marketplaces: My Websites FengShui Diy.store have sell Yingge Dance clothing.

  • Cultural Heritage Stores: Shops that focus on cultural heritage and traditional arts often carry a variety of traditional costumes, including those used for Yingge Dance.

  • Diy Tailors: If you want Diy Yingge dance clothing, you can also contact me, and I can contact the best tailors of Yingge dance clothing.
 
If you're buying online, it's important to provide accurate measurements to ensure a good fit, and consider reaching out to the seller to confirm details about the materials and construction of the clothing.

References:
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