Origin of the Lion Dance

The Waking Lion originated in Foshan, Guangdong.

The Waking Lion, belongs to the Southern Lion of Chinese Lion Dance. Historically, it was derived from the Tang Dynasty court lion dance. After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the lion dance culture was introduced to the Lingnan region with the migration of immigrants from the Central Plains to the south.

The Guangdong Lion Dance has become a nationally recognized, Guangdong-specific folk dance brand in China. The lion dance activity has also been widely spread in overseas Chinese communities, becoming a cultural bridge for overseas compatriots to recognize their ancestors, with far-reaching cultural value and significance.

In November 2019, the List of Representative Project Protection Units of National Intangible Cultural Heritage was announced, and the Nanhai District Museum of Foshan City, the Suixi County Cultural Center, and the Shawan Cultural Center of Panyu District, Guangzhou City, were awarded the protection status of the Lion Dance (Guangdong Awakening Lion Dance).

The lion dance is a Han Chinese folk culture that integrates martial arts, dance and music, etc. The Guangdong lion dance was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, and the lion dance around the Pearl River Delta is the mainstream representative of Guangdong lion dance, which belongs to the Guangfu culture.

Lions around

The Foshan Southern Lion is known as the "King of Lions". Foshan's traditional "three-star" and "seven-star" lions, skillful, God, shape and form are beautiful, is a rare folk culture and art.

Heshan lion image fierce, lion head and body mostly in black. Shenzhen "Songgang seven-star lion" became famous in the early years of the Republic of China, divided into black, yellow, white, red lion, each color of the lion has a unique way into the Songgang and other places have been circulating for at least a hundred years.

The lion dance has a long history in Hong Kong and is commonly performed at festivals, festivals, celebrations and openings. In the early days, the main colors were yellow, red and black, representing the three figures of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms era, but to this day there are many different colors of 'lions. Red and gold "lions", mostly used for store openings, implying gold and silver full of houses, good luck.