The Lion Dance

I was at lunch at Lau Pa Sat this afternoon. Just as I was finishing up, there was a loud clanging of cymbals and banging of drums - the unmistakable sounds of a Lion Dance. I've been wanting to photograph a Lion Dance for the longest time, but am inevitably camera-less when I do see one. I was with Va, who, not being very familiar with the Chinese culture, asked me a million questions about it. Most of which I didn't have the answer to, shame on me. So I decided to come back to office and do my research.



Lion dance (舞獅; wǔshī) is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic the lion's movements in a cloak of lion costume.

The lion is traditionally regarded as a guardian creature in Chinese culture. It is featured in Buddhist lore, being the mount of Manjusri (see next posting). The dance is symbolic of the people's prosperity and peace. Until the early twentieth century there existed professional lion dance troupes but the dance is now mostly performed by enthusiasts.

A long time ago in China, a fierce creature called the Nian appeared, which terrified the villagers. No one could fight the Nian, so in despair the villagers asked the lion to help. The lion attacked the Nian and injured it, so the Nian vowed to take revenge. When the Nian did return, the lion was unable to help, so the people constructed an imitation lion out of bamboo and cloth. Two men operated the lion while the rest of the people banged their pots and pans. When the Nian saw the lion and heard the commotion it ran away. The Villagers carried on with this tradition every year to scare away evil. Lion dance is thus seen as cleansing one's property or business of any evil or bad spirits for the forthcoming year.

The lion costume may be operated by a single dancer, who springs about while energetically moving and shaking the head and operating the jaws, or by a pair of dancers, forming the back and fore legs of the beast. The use of a pair of dancers is seen perfected in the exhibitions of Chinese acrobats, with the two dancers forming as a team the motions of a single animal as they move between platforms of varying elevations. The dance is traditionally accompanied by gongs, drums and firecrackers, representing the descent of good luck, and is usually performed in the Chinese New Year period.

The "Sleeping Lion" dance (Suai Si) consists of steps and movements that imitate a sleepy lion. The lion walks around and gets sleepy and stumbles waking himself up for a bit. Finally, the lion gives in to his sleepiness and falls asleep. Bothered by a flea, he then wakes up, scratches himself, falls back asleep, etc. These various movements continue until the lion finally wakes up for good and then grooms himself. Eventually, he realizes he is hungry and then the "lion eating" (choi chiang) dance begins.

Traditionally, the lion eats lettuce or bok choy but often times when the dance is performed in front of a crowd, the lion has been known to improvise and eat all sorts of things including baby strollers (!).