Dancing centipede in Chenghai, Shantou, Guangdong Province

Centipede dance was founded in the West Gate of Chenghai in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. Chenghai Competition was very popular at that time, and there were various parades in the competition. Chen and Shi Wenyong, folk artists who love folk dance, were inspired to create centipede dance when they saw centipede crawling around and wriggling around. After some painstaking research, the centipede body and a whole set of dance movements were finally designed and produced, which were improved and processed by later generations.

Chenghai centipede is more than 20 meters long, with 8 ~ 13 knots, and there are 18 ~ 23 performers. Generally, three sets of people should be prepared instead, accompanied by Chaozhou gongs and drums. There are hundreds of people in the whole dance team. It is understood that due to the huge lineup, Chenghai "centipede dance" rarely goes out to perform in recent years.

Xiqiao centipede is rosy with a knot of * * * 15. The centipede has two long spines on its head and tail, and each knot has two claws. The centipede weighs about 50 kilograms in total and is about 8 meters long. It takes eight people to dance

During the Spring Festival, the entertainment activities in Chaoshan are very active, such as dragon dancing, centipede dancing and guessing games. Among them, lion dancing and beating gongs and drums are more popular and eye-catching.