Zhangjiajie Folk Dance: Zhanggu Dance
Zhanggu Dance is a unique ethnic dance of the Bai people in Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie. Using the "zhanggu" as a prop, it is comparable to Korean drum dance. The drum is 1.2 meters long, with both ends as large as bowl mouths, covered with leather, and the middle thin enough to grip, shaped like a wooden pestle. Legend says that in the Tianbao era of the late Southern Song, three brothers of the Gu, Wang, and Zhong families, while fighting the Mongol general Wuzhu...
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Zhanggu Dance
Zhanggu Dance is a unique ethnic dance of the Bai people in Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie City. The Zhanggu Dance uses the "zhanggu" as a prop and has a similar charm to the Korean drum dance. The drum is 1.2 meters long, with both ends as large as a bowl's mouth, covered with leather, and the middle is thin enough to grip, shaped like a wooden pestle. Legend has it that during the Tianbao period at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, three brothers surnamed Gu, Wang, and Zhong served in the Mongol general Uriyangkhadai's "Cunbai Army." Later, when the "Cunbai Army" was disbanded, the three drifted from Dali, Yunnan, to Sangzhi and settled there. One year in the twelfth lunar month, when the Bai brothers were pounding glutinous rice cakes to prepare for the New Year, a group of government soldiers suddenly surrounded the village to seize people. The Bai people immediately fought back with rice-cake pestles and defeated the soldiers. To celebrate the victory of this battle, the Bai people used wooden pestles as props to dance and make merry. This is the origin of the Zhanggu Dance. Later, the Bai people changed the rice-cake pestles into drums, accompanied them with flutes, suona, horns, and gongs, cymbals, and qing, and at the same time created eighty-one sets of dance movements, making it a uniquely styled folk dance.
The Zhanggu Dance is a unique dance of the Bai people. Especially among the Bai people around Tianzi Mountain in Zhangjiajie, most love to dance the Zhanggu Dance. During festivals, deity processions, and temple fairs, every mountain village and stockade holds joyful "dance festivals." Depending on the number of people, the Zhanggu Dance is divided into forms such as the four-person dance, eight-person dance, and thirty-two-person dance. The main prop is the zhanggu. The drum is 1.2 meters long, thick at both ends and thin in the middle. Because both ends are tightly covered with cowhide, it makes a "peng peng" sound when struck. Before dancing, ancestors must be worshipped. Then three respected elders enter first to lead everyone in a circle and dance joyfully, swaying, stamping, and clapping, dancing around the arena circle after circle, with drums beating and accompaniment from instruments such as suona and flute. The dance postures are flexible and varied, simple and dignified, thrilling and agile, with a rich ethnic flavor.
The Zhanggu Dance of Tianzi Mountain has a long history and sprouted in the late Yuan Dynasty. Legend has it that the Bai ancestors moved to Sangzhi to escape the disasters of war and were often bullied by local powerful families. Once, the three Hu-cheng brothers of the Gu family were pounding rice cakes with pestles when several government soldiers broke in to extort them. Relying on their martial arts skills, the three brothers beat the soldiers so badly that they fled in panic. Neighbors came upon hearing the news to congratulate them, waving pestles and dancing to celebrate the victory, with movements very much like pounding rice cakes. Later, everyone made drums modeled on the pestles, and the Zhanggu Dance has been passed down to this day.
Another account: a folk dance popular in the areas of Wucheng and Yucun in Xiuning and Liyang in Tunxi, also called the "Victory Drum." Legend says it was to commemorate the Tang Dynasty generals Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan for their victory in resisting An Lushan's rebel army, and people beat drums in celebration. This dance is performed by dozens of people. The drummers are dressed as warriors, in short tight-fitting outfits with red crossed sashes, carrying zhanggu (flat round leather drums) at the neck, gripping short thick drumsticks in the right hand and holding jianling in the left, striking the drum surface or the drum rim as they march. Another dozen or so people hold sandalwood clappers, striking them as they march and producing crisp sounds. At the front of the procession are a pair of large red lanterns, one person holds a banner with the three characters "Victory Drum" written on it, followed by a team of centipede banners. The whole scene is mighty and magnificent, inspiring people.
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