The traditional Chinese Puning Yingge folk dance takes center stage at London's Burlington Arcade on Feb 10. The arcade has been an iconic London landmark since 1819. [Photo by Yu Guo/For China Daily]

Performers take 300-year-old warriors' dance to Europe for the first time as part of UK's Chinese New Year festivities

For more than a month, Chen Jinxiang, a villager from Puning, a city in South China's Guangdong province, has been living a life like the fictional Clark Kent: working by day - in this case as the owner of an online clothes shop - and becoming a hero when needed.

But Chen is no superhero and adopts his hero persona for entertainment, along with other dancers in his troupe who practice traditional Chinese Puning Yingge folk dance for an upcoming trip to London, UK.

The dance, a national intangible cultural heritage in China, dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and is considered a dance of heroic warriors due to its close association with the classic novel about Chinese heroism called Water Margin.

Through its combination of opera, acrobatic dance, and martial arts, it retells the literature stories of good suppressing evil.

Performances of Puning Yingge dance feature not only electrifying actions but colorful and exciting costumes. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Performers wear opera-style facial makeup in diverse colors and patterns that reveal the personalities of the characters they are portraying. And with a pair of short batons in hand, they jump, swing, and hit the sticks together while walking and dancing, all to the resounding beat of drums, gongs, and shouts.

Since January, Chen and 15 other selected dancers have been working by day and training by night for a series of performances at landmarks in London.

It is the first time the dance has been seen in person anywhere in Europe.

All 16 of the performers taking part in the UK tour hail from Nanshan Yingge dance team, one of the most exceptional Yingge dance troupes in China. Nanshan is a village in Puning.

On Feb 10, the squad, under the direction of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism with support from the Cultural Section of China's Embassy in the UK, took center stage at London's Burlington Arcade, to mark the start of the Year of the Dragon. The performance was part of a series of activities hosted by the shopping gallery to herald Spring Festival.

On the day, as the spectacle unfolds in the long hallway, crowds flock to see what is happening, holding mobile phones aloft to film and take photos of the excitement and immersing themselves in the thundering sound and explosion of color.

"The performance is electrifying. I feel like it has woken up everybody in the arcade," says Trupti Shah, Burlington Arcade's commercial director.

A dancer from Nanshan Yingge dance team and employees at Burlington Arcade pose for a group photo on Feb 10 at the famous shopping center in London. [Zheng Wanyin/China Daily]

Worth the wait

Mark Lord, the arcade's head beadle, jokes that Europe has patiently waited to catch its first glimpse of the Puning Yingge dance.

"We've waited more than 300 years for the dance troupe to leave China and come and perform in Europe," he says. "I have to say, it was well worth the wait. It has been fantastic."

Because the gestures, moves and steps of the dance are designed to evoke the fighting spirit of heroes, it is seen as a symbol of good prevailing over evil and of bringing peace, making it a popular dance at traditional Chinese festivals, says Chen Laifa, a nationally recognized inheritor of Puning Yingge dance, who is also the leader and trainer of Nanshan Yingge dance team.

"We would like to convey this spirit to the British people, and at the same time, promote our own culture," he says.

The 68-year-old is a ninth-generation inheritor of the dance, who has been dedicated to performing and promoting it ever since he joined the team aged 18.

On Feb 11, the warrior dance amazed London again as it was performed at a Chinese New Year parade and a grand celebration in Trafalgar Square at the invitation of the London Chinatown Chinese Association. The New Year celebration in the prestigious square in the UK capital is said to be the largest such event outside Asia, with more than 700,000 people in attendance.

Spectators take photos with Puning Yingge dancers during the Chinese New Year parade in central London on Feb 11. [Photo by Yu Guo/For China Daily]

Maintaining such a powerful cultural heritage requires efforts from every generation, and during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Nanshan Yingge team formed an inheritance custom in which the craft would be passed on from fathers to sons, and from masters to apprentices, according to the local government of Puning.

Chen Laifa, however, says the traditional practice has, in recent years, restricted the preservation of the dance. "How can we carry forward the heritage, if there are not enough people proficient in the skills," he says.

The folk dance is demanding with fast-paced moves. "As the dance can be physically consuming, you can't keep dancing as you get older. There is an age limit," reveals Chen Jinxiang, who started learning the dance when he was 5 years old.

At 30, he is the oldest among the London squad and considered "old" for a Yingge dancer, with most of the visiting team aged between 25 and 28.

Participation from young dancers is welcomed. Since 2017, Chen Laifa has assisted Nanshan Primary School in setting up and running a voluntary Yingge dance-learning program, and gifted students are included in his team. While the delegation to London performed in the UK on Feb 11, the junior troupe, which has grown into qualified dancers, has also taken over in downtown Puning.

Chen Laifa says Nanshan Yingge troupe has also taken the bold move this year of including more female performers, finally abandoning the ancient, unbending male-only rule.

The most important thing dancers need is the commitment to put effort into learning and performing the dance, and to bring heartfelt passion to the dance, Chen says.

"If you love it, you can persist in doing it. If you don't, you can't hold on to it," he says.

Just like Chen Jinxiang, many members of the dance team are not full-time performers but ordinary villagers who make their living by doing a wide range of jobs, including car detailing and managing small businesses, Chen Laifa says.

With colorful costumes and makeup, ordinary villagers are transformed into outlaw heroes. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He notes that it is their genuine affection for the timeless tradition that makes them who they are today.

Hard work and dedication have been keeping Puning Yingge dance vibrant in China for centuries, and now the troupe's efforts have captivated overseas audiences. As the dancers take their final bow at Burlington Arcade and in Trafalgar Square, enthusiastic applause from the audiences echoes throughout the space.

"Having the opportunity to perform in London is a testament to not just the charm of Chinese traditional culture, but also the enduring power of cultural exchanges," says Wu Chen, chief of the intangible cultural heritage section of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

Source: China Daily
Editor: Lyu Yun