Artistic features Tongliang lantern

    The Daoguang edition of Tongliang County Chronicle of the Qing Dynasty recorded the grand event of dragon dancing as follows: "Zhang Lighting of Shangyuan Dynasty, from 89th to 15th day of the first year, was brilliant, and played dragon lanterns, lion lanterns and other zaju, noisy street markets, month by month, with the view of dust following horses." According to historical records, the Tongliang Dragon Lantern at that time attracted tourists from Bishan, Yongchuan, Rongchang, Dazu, Tongnan, Hechuan and the eastern and northern areas of Shangchuan to visit Tongliang. Every month in the first month of the dragon dance, the county's tourist stacks are full and the streets are blocked. The slang of "Dazu Buddha and Tongliang lantern" spread throughout Bayu.

    Li Mingzhong, a staff member of the county's Wen GUANG new Bureau, said that Tongliang has the traditional customs of dragon dance in the first month. Dragon dancing is often under the control of the Chamber of Commerce. The Dragon Lantern Festival also has the nature of competition. The tie-up level, the number of dragon dancers and the level of dragon dancing are all comparative subjects. In the props, the gang took part in their respective industry characteristics, such as "three dragons" for fishing, "Dragon Fire" at the iron industry club, "mussel theatre sand sand" in Buddhism, educational circles playing "Eighteen bachelors", "Fish Diving dragon doors", department stores dancing dragon dance and "Dragon Dragon Ball", butcher industry playing * "pig gnaw pumpkin", "rhinoceros moon". Even the beggars did not show their weakness. Year after year, with the cycle going back and forth, famous Caizha artists represented by Liu Lianshan and Li Jiezhi emerged in Tongliang, and more than 20 classical categories of Tongliang dragon lanterns were accumulated.

    But in the more than 20 years since the founding of New China, dragon lanterns have been pulled out as poisonous weeds of feudal superstition, and dragon-dancing and dragon-pulling skills have been lost for a time.

    Molten iron and golden flower

    Chongqing Tongliang "Fire Dragon" is crowned as the first "Dragon Dance". This kind of dance uses hot metal to strike golden flowers, supplemented by different raw materials to ignite fire, mouth fire, ridge fire, abdominal fire, field fire, sky fire, etc. to form a crazy three-dimensional fire array, which is extremely hot and colorful. Every Lantern Festival, people will have money, strong efforts, buy gunpowder, make fire dragons, with smoke racks, Yumen and other flame play. The longer dragon is more than 40 meters long. It plays in a magnificent and surprising situation and is very popular with the public. First of all, its flavor is common and its routine is changeable. Interlaced sparks, explosive firecrackers, violent percussion music, strong local flavor, fully mobilize people's enthusiasm for appreciation. Secondly, close to the folk life. The dragon dance hand in hand, struggling forward, masculine and full of spirit, reflects people's ardent love for hot days. Another is the folklore that the fire of dragon sparks attacked people, can get rid of bad luck on the body, for the next year to dispel disease and avoid disaster, everything happens from side to side. The bigger the spark and the louder the firecrackers, the more interesting the Dragon Dance people and the Dragon watching people are.

    Rich routines

    Tongliang Dragon Dance has the characteristics of close connection with local customs and activities, rich routines and interesting rhythm. Accompaniment music is common, props are ingeniously conceived, shapes are exaggerated, costumes are simple and generous, dancers are free to participate in dancing, easy to withdraw from dancing, and public participation is very strong.