Buddhist Fist ‘intangible’

THE 140-year-old Fo Jia Quan -- Buddhist Fist -- will be nominated as intangible cultural heritage to be preserved, a Doumen District government official says.
Originating in Putian Shaolin Temple in Fujian Province, the Lishan Buddhist Fist is considered the most authentic among the fist denominations in Guangdong and Southeast Asia.
More than a century ago, the Qing government sent troops to burn the Shaolin Temple in Putian. Shaolin Monk Yi Jiahai fled to Guangdong with disciple Li Huabao and arrived at Lishan Village, Qianwu Town in Doumen District, in 1863. Warmly received by villagers who were mostly Kung Fu practitioners, the two monks settled down and made a living teaching the Buddhist Fist in the Eagle & Crane Kung Fu House, which is now Lishan Chinese Martial Club. Sixth-generation disciple Huang Laiwang, 63, now coaches villagers and students in the hall at weekends free of charge. Village and countryside girls began learning the Buddhist Fist as late as 2002 when many parents pleaded hard for their children, who had not traditionally been allowed to perform, an elderly villager explained. The disciples are aged between 8 and 18. Children older than 18 go out to study and seldom have time to practice Kung Fu, he noted.
Huang Huiting, a 13-year-old girl, is now the 7th -generation disciple of the Buddhist Fist. Starting to practice the art at age 9, she has learned five styles of Fo Jia Quan and has won the Silver Medal at a provincial traditional martial arts contests for her age group.
Lishan Village has won quite a few first, second and third prizes at provincial lion dance competitions. It stages lion dances on various occasions during Spring Festival. Nonetheless, a lion dancer must be at home with the Buddhist Fist; otherwise, he will never perform the challenging movements in the dance, martial arts coach Huang Buyun explained.
The Buddhist Fist stresses defense rather than attack, which exemplifies a virtue of courtesy and modesty, Huang said.
Other potential intangible cultural heritage nominees are:

Wanzai
In the 1990s, lion dance amateur Huang Wenting and his friends established the Wanzai Lion Dance Team, which has expanded to encompass nearly 40 members with most of them being 15- or 16-year-old students. Based in the Wanzai Culture Centre, the team won second prize at the Guangdong Traditional Lion Dance Tournament in August 2004.

Sanzao
The Lion Dance Contest, along with the Dragon Boat Race, has become a major cultural event in Sanzao Town, lion dancer Zhu Senrong explained. There are 11 lion dance teams with more than 200 members in Sanzao Town. The dancers, all amateurs who love the unique joy of lion dancing, are gathered for performance on festive or significant occasions or competitions, he said.
Sanzao Lion Dance can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty. It was once glorious when paying a New Year call or delivering congratulations to households or business operators. A Lion Dance Association was founded in the town and members visited Zhongshan, Foshan, Xinhui and other areas where lion dances flourish. The town won two Gold Medals in the 1st Zhuhai Farmers Sports Meet Lion Dance Competition in late 2006.

Northern and Southern lion dances
Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorised into two styles -- Northern and Southern. Northern dance entertained the imperial court and, as its name suggests, is popular in the northern parts of China. The northern lion is usually red, orange, and yellow (sometimes with green fur for the female), shaggy in appearance, with a golden head. The Northern dance is acrobatic and mainly performed as entertainment. Lion dance is often performed by two people, but it is not uncommon to find smaller lions performed by just one person.
The Southern dance is more popular because its movement is much more elegant, acrobatic and entertaining. It is usually performed as a ritual to exorcise evil spirits and to summon luck and fortune. The southern lion exhibits a wide variety of colour and has a distinctive head with large eyes, a mirror on the forehead, and a single horn in the centre of the head.
The Southern Lion Dance is always performed by two dancers and often in pairs of two lions. Due to the higher physical demands of the Southern Lion Dance, the performers must have some martial arts background.
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