People perform the fire-sparkle dragon dance in Tongliang, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Photo: VCG

Young dragon dancers 'play with fire'

By Li Yuche

The Chinese dragon is without a doubt the central cultural totem of 2024 in China. While the country boasts different types of dragon dances, the Tongliang district of Chongqing Municipality has a special version called the "fire-sparkle dragon dance," which is an ICH performance of "risk" since its splendid visual aesthetics are created by splashing around molten iron. 

'Burn marks all over me' 

A typical Tongliang dragon dance involves a wave of cheers greeting two dragons who splash around blazing iron sparks as they dance against the black velvety night sky, which accentuates its fiery beauty. 

The art demands courage from dancers as they can easily get burned as they splash molten iron from large crucibles around during a performance. Yet, behind the show's glam is a world of perseverance by local fire dragon dancers. 

Zhu Huawei, an inheritor of the folk art who undertakes the critical role of producing the fire sparks, told the Global Times that his journey started more than 30 years ago when he was a little kid. Although it was "intimidating" and had "little payoff" at first, Zhu never hesitated for a second about his career choice. 

"Melting iron into liquid and creating these sparks is something that took the young apprentice that I was a lot of patience, but I was determined because I'm proud of my culture," Zhu said. 

For performances, Zhu keeps a close eye on the molten iron, keeping it at around 1,500 C. During training, he tirelessly conducts tests by throwing spoonfuls of iron into the sky to calculate the exact amount of strength he should use. When done well, the iron should soar about 20 meters into the air, scattering like blossoming flowers. 

"Big scars and little burn marks can be found all over my body. It is not an easy dance and also a little bit dicey," Zhu remarked. 

Young dancers, new style 

With Zhu's efforts, the fire-sparkle dragon dance has drawn more young inheritors' interest over the years. Zhu now has more than 30 apprentices, the youngest only around 17 years old. Zhu said that these young generation performers have brought "new visual aesthetics" to the art. 

"Young people are more sensitive about what kind of visual effects appeal to viewers online. So, we invented updated sparks that look even brighter and blazing," said Zhu. 

Li Jing, a local dancer who was born in 1999, said that her team has also blended Chinese modern dance elements into the folk art and also redesigned the traditional costumes, decreasing the amount of tawdry decorations while increasing comfort in order to make the whole dance look "classic yet fashionable." 

"The 'Tongliang dragon' is not just a performance, but a creative totality of music, handcrafts and athletics. Creativity is the art form's spirit, so our young dancers should carry it on to even younger generations," Fang Hao, a 23-year-old dancer in Tongliang, told the Global Times.  

Enlarged show biz 

Originating in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Tongliang dragon dance was just like many Chinese folk heritages that emerged in small-scale village communities dotted around the district. However, its value today extends to local efforts to incorporate it into the district's cultural tourism plans. 

According to Zhu, the number of dancers has surged past "a few thousand," and unlike typical 9 am to 5 pm jobs, working as a local dragon dancer has a fluidity that allows many amateurs to join. 

"Older dancers were villagers and traders, while younger dancers are students and migrant workers. We only gather together at important performances like the Spring Festival show," Zhu noted. 

Other than dance, the dragon performance has nurtured several other sub-markets like the costume designing industry and ICH skill training classes. So far, the dragon culture of Tongliang has brought the district more than 1 billion yuan ($139 million) in growth, said local marketer Xu Longjiang. Xu also noted that the local authority's vision to promote the dance as a cultural brand has made the folk heritage stand out ever further. 

"Now the Tongliang dragon performance industry has created employment opportunities for nearly 10,000 local villagers, I'm just only one of them," Zhu told the Global Times.

These efforts haven't just been limited to local authorities, the Development Committee of Culture and Tourism of Chongqing, an even more powerful governmental body, has also supported the vil-lage folk heritage. 

In 2021, a cultural tourism campaign called "Nihao! Chongqing," (lit: Hello! Chongqing) was launched by the Committee. The campaign invited international students from more than 20 coun-tries around the world to experience the local Tongliang art. It was a nuanced yet important occasion for letting young foreigners see the cultural diversity of China. 

Through such promotional efforts, the local tradition has also managed to debut on more than 30 international stages in Western countries like the US, France and Bulgaria and also Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore. 

In 2023, Wang Hao, a performer who was born in the 2000s, brought this indigenous art to Bul-garia. He recalled that the "applause seemed like it was never going to end" and that despite language barriers he managed to communicate with Bulgarian audiences by teaching them how to move and allowed them to pat the dragon's head. 

"I am just a village boy who wants show my culture to the world," Wang remarked.