Society

China's dragon and lion dance seizes attention

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-24 15:23

HEFEI - Not only the fashion sport parkour has amazing somersaults, leaps and bounds on Mci Hua stakes in the streets, Chinese traditional sport event dragon and lion dance, which has thousands years of history also have such cool actions.

At the All-China Games, Hu Jianguo, the director of National Social Sports Instruction Center, said that as a Chinese traditional cultural sport event, it is becoming a new international sport industry.

Hu introduced that dragon and lion dance is a folk sport event and it developed along with the history of China's history and culture.

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Known to the world through the growing number of Chinese migrants, the dragon and lion dance has been not only a simple show but also a form of celebration in festivals, and it is getting standardized and international.

"Wherever there are Chinese, dragon and lion dance will be the first program when there is important festival like spring festival," said the professor.

"More and more foreigners are getting interested in its multiple functions. As pottery figures of warriors and horses in Mausoleum of First Emperor of Qing were exhibited at British Museum, dragon dance became an important part of the celebration," Hu Jianguo said.

In fact, dragon and lion dance has developed to be an international sport event in the past 10 years with more and more foreign fans taking part in it.

"Dragon and lion dance is very popular in Asia, especially in India. Now, there are more than 40 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, America and Africa are members of the International Federation of Dragon and Lion Dance.

"In the world championship held last year in Shanghai, 22 teams from different countries and regions took part in and each team has foreigners except China," Hu introduced.

He also claimed that along with the world wide popularity of dragon and lion dance, the industry of this sport has advanced a lot.

"That brings about millions of output value every year," Hu said.

It is introduced that more than 220 universities in China has teams of dragon and lion dance, and in the countryside it is also very popular, especially in Southern China.

The team from Foshan, Guangdong has more than 80 players and they're invited to have shows in the United States in August this year.

"Dragon and lion dance is traditional, and it is a complex of sports, culture and art. The spreading of this sport event could expand the influences of Chinese culture and strengthen nation cohesion," Hu Jianguo said.