A 400-year-old folk tradition known as the "Blanket Lion Dance," performed by women, was staged during the Lantern Festival in Weizhen Village, Tangtang Town, Fogang County, Qingyuan, Guangdong Province. With International Women's Day approaching, the custom carried added significance.
The dance is unique to the village and was listed as a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage item in Guangdong in 2007. Unlike the traditional Lingnan Lion Dance, it uses quilts to represent the "lion" and is usually performed by women in pairs—often with a mother-in-law holding the head and a daughter-in-law the tail. The troupe has more than 30 regular members, with an average age of about 60, and their performance blends the vigor of the southern lion dance with feminine grace.
On the 15th day of the first lunar month, the troupe sets out from the ancestral hall and proceeds through the village. At each home, the performers first pay respect to the door gods and the Kitchen God, while households with newlyweds or newborns welcome them with refreshments. The celebration continues the next day, when the troupe revisits the homes in reverse order before concluding with a dance around a fire dragon at the ancestral hall to pray for good fortune and prosperity.
With no strict rules or formal costumes, the dance remains simple, sincere, and full of local charm.
Author | Zheng Shenghao (intern), Liu Lingzhi
Photo | Nanfang Plus
