Lion Dance

Look! Lions in the downtown area! Don’t fuss, why not come to China at the Spring Festival. Lion dance is a traditional Chinese folk performing art, combining martial arts, folk music and dance. Lion dance consists of two people. One plays the head and another the tail. They dance like a little lion which can blink, lick its body, shake hair and spit ball, cute and lifelike.

The lion is an auspicious beast in China, able to exorcise evil and seek blessing.

In ancient times, when wild boars came to the village, destroyed crops and bit children, people would pretend to be lions to scare them away. This is the origin of lion dance.

There are two types of lion dances (Southern Style Northern Style). The southern-style lions are highly skilled, athletic and fierce. An "eye painting" ceremony is held before the performance. Applying cinnabar on its eyes means giving life to the lion. During festivals, the lion dance is performed to celebrate, which means to drive away evil and to bring good fortune .The northern-style lions are agile, lively and cute. They often appear in pairs, sometimes also bring a little lion, symbolizing a happy family.

The dancing lions are so light-footed, but it takes years and months of practice. "One minute on stage, ten years’ work off stage". This is also "Chinese Kung Fu".