Since the end of last year, the drum beat of waking lions has sounded in the cinema, and it has never stopped, and a "Male Lion Boy" based on the culture of Lingnan Waking Lions has triggered the enthusiasm of the north and south of the river for the "Awakening Lion" IP.
How popular is this movie? The pre-screening pre-sale box office exceeded 20 million, and more than 340,000 people gave an average Douban rating of 8.3 in the two months of release, ranking first in the double list of Maoyan annual animation film and Weibo annual domestic film recommendation.
Without the blessing of star traffic, the inspirational plot of blood, elaborate scene production, authentic Cantonese elements, and the awakening lion culture that fits the theme of the film's teenagers chasing dreams and has a broad mass base have jointly achieved the popularity of the movie.
"Where there are Chinese, there must be lion dances, which is our DNA." Zhang Miao, executive producer of "Lion Boy", said.
As Zhang Miao said, the awakening lion culture has been rooted in Guangdong for thousands of years, its meaning is not only ruyi auspicious, but also a symbol of strength, bravery and strength, so it is popular in the folk, and famous overseas, every festive festival, Spring Festival, opening celebration will be banging gongs and drums, lion dance to help. Guangdong Awakening Lion (Southern Lion) is also one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
But it is also facing the dilemma of inheritance and the crisis of disappearance like other traditional intangible cultural heritage. It is not a coincidence that the Lingnan lion culture has caught fire with the discussion of "Male Lion Boy", but has been ignited by many people who have collected firewood for non-genetic inheritance over the years.
Tradition permeates everyday life
In fact, the drumbeat of waking lions doesn't just ring in movie theaters.
On the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics this year, a lion awakening team from Huadu District of Guangzhou went to the first Bay Area Ice and Snow Culture Festival to welcome the Winter Olympics, and performed a snow lion awakening performance at Guangzhou Sunac Snow World to cheer for the athletes of the Winter Olympics.
In the sound of the drums, several waking lions of different colors and different looks appeared on the stage, paraded in the snow, or mighty on all sides, flying up and down, or lively, rolling on the snow, the classic "Gaotai Caiqing" finale performance, making high-level drinking water, flying over the snow, 360-degree rotation and other difficult actions.
In addition to the traditional folk meaning of waking the lion, it also represents the "lion awakening the national soul". On the occasion of the Winter Olympic athletes, the lion awakening performance also symbolizes the Chinese majestic style.
A day later, the lion woke up team rushed to Haizhu Lake Park, 40 kilometers southeast of Sunac Snow World, to perform for the New Year's Market.
"Touch the lion's head, the new year's good fortune is the head; touch the lion's tail, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." With the rapid drum beat, the lion woke up and looked up at the "Cai Qing", and looked at the neighbors with a cute look to "tease Li Li Yes" to pray to the New Year.
Lu Haosheng, the representative inheritor of the "Guangdong Awakening Lion" who led the team, is a native of Xian Village, Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, who likes to walk the streets and alleys after the dragon and lion dance team in the village since he was a child, and whenever he has time, he will follow his uncle and uncle in the village to learn about the lion dance.
Later, at the age of 18, he studied art with a teacher and began his career as a profession of interest. "Many events such as commercial performances, openings, foundation laying and evening parties will invite the Dragon and Lion team to participate in the performance, bringing a lively atmosphere to the scene and the auspicious meaning of the lion."
When intangible cultural heritage falls to the ground in more everyday scenes, the city becomes the soil for culture to take root and absorb nutrients.
In this regard, Liang Fenglian, director of the Lingnan Cultural Research Center of the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, has a metaphor, "The city is the 'container' of culture." "Lingnan culture and Guangfu culture are brewing fragrance in such a vibrant and interesting 'container'."
Emphasizing the creative transformation and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage and transforming it into high-quality resources that serve the contemporary era and benefit the people is becoming the consensus of more and more people.
From 2021 onwards, "systematic protection" has become the main concept of intangible cultural heritage protection, and revitalization and utilization is a footnote to "systematic protection" - through the activation and utilization of intangible cultural heritage resources, intangible cultural heritage has become a role that can fully serve the contemporary era, rather than the role that was rescued and supported in the past.
A young lion
The transformation of lion culture into a resource to serve the contemporary era is not only a way of performance. At the Lantern Festival in Yongqingfang, more than 10,000 of them were sold online and offline during the Spring Festival.
Extracting the elements of culture, coupled with creativity and craftsmanship, cultural and creative products are another channel for intangible cultural heritage to enter people's lives.
In the Yongqingfang Intangible Cultural Heritage Neighborhood, Zhao Weibin, the fifth generation of the Non-Heritage Awakening Lion, owns a Lion Awakening Workshop. At the entrance of the block, the red façade of the workshop is particularly eye-catching in the surrounding plain building façade, and a variety of lion-themed cultural creations are displayed indoors.
"I really like the awakening lion in my bones." Since childhood, zhao Weibin's love for the waking lion made Zhao Weibin hide his family from quitting his job in the system after graduation, choosing his son to inherit his father's business and devote himself to the waking lion association. "This is a responsibility, the culture of waking lions is broken in our hands, and it is a pity that no one has passed it on."
In his view, the awakening lion has been passed down in Guangzhou for nearly two thousand years and is a well-known folk art and folk tradition. "Its kind of festive, lively, sunny, dexterous, energetic, not angry and threatening are all living portrayals of our Guangzhou spirit." For thousands of years, Waking Lion has been able to pass down to the present day by constantly innovating and adapting to the development of the times. Today, it can be made younger, more up-to-date, and more attractive. ”
In the exploration of art + and technology + mode to present the intangible lion, Zhao Weibin has made a lot of attempts, he has developed more than 100 models of lion awakening cultural and creative products, and also served as the director of the dance drama "Awakening Lion", pushing the lion as a folk art to a higher art hall.
In 2020, he boldly combined the intangible lion with technology, used 3D printing the lion head, designed the VR awakening lion and the AR awakening lion, and launched the world's first awakening lion somatosensory robot. The robot has a cool appearance image of the lion awakening, and can also achieve the millisecond response of the operator and the lion awakening robot, so that the robot can make different lion awakening actions, and can also play drums to achieve the real "lion king competition".
As a non-hereditary inheritor, Zhao Weibin once thought about what is "old city, new vitality". "My understanding is that the 'old' of the old city is not 'old', let alone 'broken', but should be a long history of precipitation and profound cultural heritage; and the 'new' of new vitality should be timeless, a vigorous tenacity, a trend leading fashion, and a sustainable force for continuous development."
Changing, creating and adapting to the times is an inseparable path for the revitalization of intangible cultural heritage, and unremitting efforts convey the enthusiasm of the non-genetic heritage population in Guangzhou to consciously activate and utilize the intangible cultural heritage resources. And the awakening lion is also becoming more young and energetic, so that more people, especially young people like it, fall in love with it, and inherit it.
Drum beats on campus
Not only young people, but also in Guangzhou, more and more teenagers have become fans of waking lion culture. Dancing lion heads were handed from the lion dance team to the children.
On the first day of school in the spring, the gongs and drums in front of the Guangzhou Shuqian Road Primary School were noisy, and the dragon and lion team composed of students from the school nodded with the drums, and under the guidance of the master, they went to each classroom to pay respects to the New Year and collect young people.
In the recently concluded 5th Guangzhou Youth Lion Awakening Exhibition Competition, the primary school dragon lion team with an average age of only 9 years old won the gold medal of the lion group with the performance of "Super Cute Lion Group", creatively integrated street dance into the lion awakening performance.
Three minutes on stage, ten years offstage. Every Tuesday afternoon, in the playground of Shuqian Road Primary School, the drums of the lion dance "bang bang" sounded, and under the guidance of Zhao Weibin, the representative inheritor of the Guangdong Awakening Lion Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage, a group of teenagers beat drums, squatted on horse steps, and raised lion heads... This is the school's "second class" time, and it is also the training routine of the Dragon and Lions.
Guangdong Lion Awakening Into School activities have been carried out here for five consecutive years, and with the influence of several years of campus lion culture, lion culture has been used as a characteristic cultural logo of Shuqian Road Primary School and penetrated into the daily curriculum of students.
"For example, the dragon and lion exercise popularized among students is to combine physical exercise with the traditional culture of lion dance, give meaning to boring movements, and enhance children's interest." In addition, on the basis of the awakening lion culture entering the campus, we add some relevant elements through art classes or art classes, such as the creation of lion heads, such as music to integrate the awakening lion culture into the Cantonese nursery rhyme competition. Xie Shaomei, principal of Shuqian Road Primary School, can see with the naked eye that the awakening lion culture, which contains the spirit of hard work and bravery, has had an impact on the children.
"The training of the Dragon and Lion Team is a kind of perseverance for the children, which enhances the spirit of the children, and through the Dragon and Lion Team, it has also led this wave of children to slowly change from loving the dragon and lion to loving sports, to subtly imperceptibly translating this quality into his learning and being a person, which also has a positive impact on them."
Xie Peiyan, a key member of the Dragon and Lion Team of Shuqian Road Primary School, joined the Dragon and Lion Team from the fourth grade of primary school, and in the winter in Guangzhou, he also wore only a short sleeve. Strong physique and the will to overcome difficulties are the "gifts" given to him by three years of lion dance training.
"I was uplifted by the sound of the drums. After graduating from elementary school, I will also participate in lion dance training and represent the school in competitions. Xie Peiyan was ready.
There are 176 kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, colleges and universities, vocational schools and universities in the city that carry out activities such as Shuqian Road Primary School. Passing on the torch, the campus has become a new "training ground" for the non-genetic inheritance of the awakening lion.
The "lion fever" ignited by "Lion Boy" continues in the hands of Guangzhou teenagers. "As long as the drum beats in our hearts, we are lions." In "The Lion Boy", this sentence has summoned up courage for the young Ah Juan countless times. In Guangzhou, as long as the drum is still ringing in the city, the awakening lion is active here.
[Southern Daily, Southern + reporter] Zheng Huizi
【Author】 Zheng Huizi
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client