Episode 166 - Lion Dance

This photo was taken by me earlier today at a shopping arcade.

Lion dance is a popular folk performance during the Chinese New Year Festival.

There are two types of Lions: the North Lion and the South Lions. The one in the photo is a South Lion which is popular in the southern part of China. Traditionally, the South Lion is further subdivided into 3 types of Lions: The red, the black and the colourful. The red Lions and the black Lions look fierce. The colourful Lions look more gentle.

In the old days, Lion Dances were mostly performed by people from martial art schools. The Lions danced freely along the street and paid tributes to the merchants during Chinese New Year festival. Some merchants would greet a Lion with a special gift called "Green" - comprised of a bundle of seasonal vegetables and a red packet (with money). The merchants would hang the Greens up at the ceilings of their shop fronts. A good Lion Dance performer would use spectacular martial art skills to take down those Greens one by one. Such performance would attract a large number of spectators and give publicity to the merchants' businesses.

With the development of the city, the traditional Lions become less popular. With a view to having good street order, it is not permitted to perform Lion Dance in the street without a licence.

Notwithstanding the restrictions, Lion Dance has re-birthed in the form of a sport in the modern city. We have Lion Dance competition every year. It is not necessary to go to a martial art school to learn the skill and a player need not be a martial art practitioner. The competition lay importance on the techniques of taking down a Green. The Lion teams are required to dance on high poles before reaching the Greens.

Apart from competition, some Lion teams participate in commercial activities for rewards. The sport lions (like the one in the photo) are usually gold in colour and look more gentle than the traditional Lions. Merchants like to use the beautiful sport Lions to attract customers. Lion teams are invited to perform Green taking shows on festival days. Hence, you can often see Lion Dance performances in shopping arcades during Chinese New Year and other festival holidays.