Pan Ji Cai Lian Deng

Lotus-picking lanterns, which originated in the Ming Dynasty, are a popular folk dance art form along the Huaihe River, especially in villages and towns such as Jiahe, Wangxiang and Liao Jia Bay. During the reign of Qianlong and Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, lotus-picking lanterns were introduced into our city from northern Jiangsu. Their music accompaniment was mainly the Xiahuai tune popular in Zhenjiang, Huaicheng and Hanjiang areas of Jiangsu Province. After entering Huai, Huainan Huagu lanterns and gongs and drums were the main accompaniment instruments, and they absorbed the creation, performance techniques, improvisation and improvisation of Huagu lanterns and songs, and gradually merged with folk dances in our city. According to legend, the earliest lotus-picking lanterns just ran in formation, made a few simple movements and twisted their bodies twice. Later, after the unremitting efforts of six generations of old artists, the lotus picking lamp developed from self-entertainment to performance, constantly enriching dance movements and expressive force. After liberation, the beautiful and colorful lotus-picking lanterns have been paid attention to by dancers again. Through continuous communication and improvement, the lotus-picking lanterns have developed from the original folk square performance form to the stage performance art, and have been improved. Lotus-picking lanterns mainly show the scene of village girls picking lotus flowers in the river. Generally, they are composed of a group of village girls holding lotus lanterns, a boy with a peach tree on his shoulder, an ugly woman and several accompaniment gongs and drums teams. During the performance, dozens of village girls held baskets of lotus lanterns in their hands, dressed in bright red and green costumes and wearing colorful bouquets. Under the guidance of the leading dance of "Peach Tree", they danced like the wind and swayed willows, and sometimes interspersed with butterflies, which was humorous, serious and humorous. Lotus-picking lanterns not only enrich the categories and artistic schools of flower-drum lanterns in our city, but also embody the cultural compatibility of Huaihe River. At the same time, they are living fossils of the trade, economic and cultural exchanges between Huaihe River and the Yangtze River Basin, which provide important evidence for studying the history of economic and trade exchanges of Huaihe River and the integration of various categories and genres of flower-drum lanterns in our city. They have an important position in Anhui folk dances and have extremely high historical, academic, inheritance and performance values. In May 2010, Lotus-picking lanterns were announced by the Anhui provincial government as the third batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage list.
Reprinted with attribution： https://cnlocality.com/(Chinese Specialty Products)