Chapter 4 Chapter Four: Dancing Shadows of the Han Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty with a short history left behind the terracotta warriors and horses in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, but there are only a few documents and cultural relics about the dances of the Qin Dynasty.The Han Dynasty was different. Regardless of the Western Han Dynasty or the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are rich dance literature and cultural relics handed down from generation to generation. "Historical Records", "Hanshu" and other glorious annals, there are many records about dance.There are many chapters on dance in the poems and fus of the Han Dynasty, and there are even works specifically describing dance, such as "Dancing Fu" by Fu Yi in the Eastern Han Dynasty.There are vivid and lifelike depictions of dance scenes on the portrait stones (bricks) of the Han Dynasty unearthed in various places in the north and south of China, providing us with a large amount of image data for studying the dances of the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty was a time when Chinese dance flourished. Zhou Dynasty elegant music such as "Six Generations Dance" and "Six Little Dances" have been passed down from generation to generation after Confucian music and dance education.In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism dominated, and these temple music and dances were handed down with a legal status.At the same time, secular music and dances in the Han Dynasty were also greatly popularized, so that there was an upsurge of singing and dancing all over the country, from the monarch to the subjects, "singing the Yu to tune the zither, Zheng dancing to Zhao Ou".

In the Qin and Han Dynasties, famous emperors, such as Qin Shihuang, Han Gaozu, Han Wudi, etc., were all fanatical appreciators of singing and dancing. After Qin Shihuang conquered the six kingdoms, he gathered the women's music plundered from the six kingdoms to Xianyang, with more than ten thousand people.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once organized a large-scale singing and dancing show to entertain envoys from various countries, which caused a sensation for 300 miles around, and the common people gathered to watch.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up a special music and dance management organization "Yuefu".The royal family is like this, and the rich and noble relatives are not inferior.They are often "Luo Zhongqing, dancing Zheng girls, advocating excellence, chasing dogs and horses", and even have crazy behaviors of "competing with others for female music".Even those serious Confucians are obsessed with singing and dancing.Ma Rong, a wealthy family, has been a master of Confucianism for a lifetime. What is interesting is that when Ma Rong gave lectures, he actually "taught students before, and played female music later", giving lectures and discussions amidst singing and dancing.

The magnificence and luxury of the singing and dancing activities of the palace and wealthy families had a great impact on the social atmosphere of the Han Dynasty.According to Wang Fu's "Theory of Qianfu·Foolish Extravagance", the women of the Han Dynasty "mostly did not practice middle-feeding, gave up their silkworm weaving, but started to learn from witchcraft and encourage them to serve God".They gave up housework and mulberry weaving, and went to learn to dance and become witches.The folk songs and dances of the Han Dynasty were very lively.Zhang Heng's "Nandu Fu" describes the scene of Shangsi's "祓禊 [fu xi Fuxi]" in the Han Dynasty.Every March on Shangsi Day, officials and people go to the river to wash in order to get rid of disasters and pray for blessings.In this sanitary festival, men and women put on beautiful clothes, ride horses and carts to the water's edge, and colorful tents are connected together.Young men and women are trying to show their youthful charm and find the person they want. "So Qi Tong sang and listed Zhao daughters, and sat in Nange and played Zheng dance", and the mass singing and dancing began.The long sleeves are fluttering, dancing all over the venue.The silk scarf is raised high, like a white crane soaring into the sky.The dance steps are light and graceful.Sing and dance to your heart's content, people are intoxicated in the charming spring scenery.

In the Han Dynasty, no matter the emperor or the common people, it seemed that everyone could sing and dance, and they could sing and dance at any time.This is the trend of a generation, and there are many records in the official history. Some famous emperors in the Qin and Han Dynasties seem to have a relationship with dancers.Qin Shihuang's biological mother was Zhao Guoshan's "Handan Ji" who was good at dancing; Mrs. Qi, who was loved by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, was good at "dancing with her sleeves and bowed waist"; Make "palm dance". The emperors of the Han Dynasty were not lacking in singing and dancing skills. "Historical Records: The Benji of Emperor Gaozu" records that Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty Liu Bang put down the rebellion in Yingbu. He passed through his hometown of Pei County on his triumphant return and held a grand banquet to entertain the elders of his hometown.During the banquet, when the wine was hot, Liu Bang hit the building and sang loudly: "When the wind blows, the clouds fly, and the Vega comes back to the hometown, and the warriors guard the four directions!" After singing, Liu Bang danced again, so that "generous sadness, Weep for a few lines", which shows that Liu Bang is a master of singing and dancing.

Liu Bang's descendants are also good at singing and dancing. "Han Shu Biography of the Five Sons of Wu" says that Liu Dan, the king of Yan, wanted to usurp the throne and was reported by others. He had a premonition that the end was coming, so he held a banquet in the Wanzai Palace and summoned guests, ministers, concubines and concubines.During the banquet, Liu Dan sang a song: "Go back to the empty city, dogs don't bark and chickens don't crow, how broad is the horizontal skill, I know that there is no one in the country." Mrs. Huarong got up and danced, and sang: "Fill the canal with hair, and borrow the bone." Borrowing to live in death. Mother begging for dead son, wife begging for dead husband, wandering between two canals, gentleman living alone?" Everyone in the seat shed tears.In the midst of fear, pain and despair, they even want to express their feelings through singing and dancing.

Coincidentally, "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Empress Ji" also describes a tragic royal song and dance.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo brought chaos to the country, abolished Emperor Shao as King Hongnong, and forced the King Hongnong to drink poisoned wine.King Hongnong had no choice but to have a farewell banquet with his wife Tang Ji and the courtiers. In the wine shop, the king's tragic song said: "How difficult is it for me to change the way of heaven! Abandon ten thousand rides and retreat to the vassal. Rebellious ministers see oppression and their lives will not be delayed, and they will pass away." Go to Ruxi, you are suitable for Youxuan!" Because Tang Ji was asked to dance, Ji Kangxiu sang: "The emperor's sky collapsed, and the earth collapsed. As an emperor, the fate of the sky is destroyed. The road of death and life is different, so be good from now on, but I am lonely and sad in my heart !' Because of weeping and sobbing, all those who sat were crying."

From these historical records, we can know that impromptu singing and dancing to express emotions was the specialty of the descendants of the royal family of the Han Dynasty.It is precisely because dancing was a common cultivation of the royal family in the Han Dynasty that some emperors developed a habit of dancing.Wang Jia's "Supplementary Notes" said that Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty liked the dark night.In the darkness, "quiet drums, dancing without raising dust".A person dances quietly in the dark, and the footwork is so brisk. There were also many scholar-officials in the Han Dynasty who were good at impromptu lyrical singing and dancing. "Han Shu·Li Guang Su Jian Biography" records that Su Wu was sent as an envoy to the Xiongnu. A few years later, the Xiongnu made peace with the Han Dynasty, and Li Ling bought wine to bid farewell to Su Wu. "The mausoleum danced and sang: 'Through thousands of miles, cross the sand screen, fight for the king and the Huns. The road is exhausted, the arrows are destroyed, the soldiers are destroyed, and the name is already ruined. My mother is dead. Return safely!' Ling wept for a few lines, because of the martial art."

Of course, singing and dancing mainly appear on happy occasions.The dances at the bureaucratic banquets of the Han Dynasty were very enjoyable, and sometimes even very unrestrained. "Hanshu Gai Kuanrao Biography" describes a banquet, drinking and playing, Changxin Shaofu Tan Changqing came out to dance, and imitated monkeys and dogs fighting. In the banquets of the Han Dynasty, in addition to impromptu dance performances by the guests and hosts, or watching the performances of entertainers, the custom of inviting each other to dance was also popular.This ancient "ballroom dance" with Chinese characteristics is called "belonging to each other through dance".This kind of "belonging to each other with dance" is both entertaining and polite.One person dances off the stage, and then invites another person to dance.If the invitee refuses to dance, it is very rude, and the inviter will think it is a big loss of face.During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, there were conflicts between relatives Dou Ying, Guan Fu and Prime Minister Tian Fu (fen grave).Once, Tian Fu invited Guan Fu to Dou Ying's house together. During the banquet, Guan Fu danced to belong to Tian Fu. Tian Fu deliberately refused to invite the dance.

In a word, the ruler's advocacy popularized singing and dancing among the masses and created a new situation of colorful dance art in the Han Dynasty. The most popular dance in the Han Dynasty was "Sleeve Dance".In the music and dance pictures of the stone portraits of the Han Dynasty, many dancers dance with long sleeves, and the shapes of the dancing sleeves are various.In the folk proverbs of the Warring States Period, there was a saying that "long-sleeved and good at dancing".There is also a "thin waist" associated with long sleeves.The waists of the dancers depicted on the stone portraits of the Han Dynasty are very slender, and the movements of the waist are graceful and varied.Sleeve dancing and waist dancing are very prominent techniques in dance techniques, so the two are often compared.For example, Cui Yi (yin Yin) of the Han Dynasty said in "Qi Yi Fu": "The long sleeves of the table fly [huhu], and the dancing waist to circumvent it." The images of dancing sleeves and dancing waists are vividly depicted on the stone portraits of the Han Dynasty.

Sleeve dance has different forms such as solo dance, duet dance and trio dance.The Han Dynasty lacquer bottle music and dance picture unearthed from Mozizui, Wuwei, Gansu Province, depicts three people dancing with their sleeves waving. Related to "Sleeve Dance" is "Towel Dance".In the sleeve dance, there is a kind of special long sleeves, and there is another kind of long ribbons attached to the cuffs, which is developed into a scarf dance.When dancing with waving towels, some dancers hold a short stick in each hand, which makes dancing more convenient.This is what is portrayed on the bricks of the Han Dynasty music and dance drama unearthed in Yangzishan, Chengdu.There is such a dancer on the stone portrait of the Han Dynasty in Nanyang, Henan.Lean your body to the left, leaving the arms down to the right.The arms that are stretched out and danced are high on the right and low on the left to maintain the balance of the body, and the dancing posture is extremely graceful. "Encouragement" is a very skilled dance in the Han Dynasty.The main forms are "disk encouragement" and "build encouragement". Zhang Heng's "Seven Pan Dance Fu" describes a dance that "repeats through seven pans", that is, "pan drum dance".During the performance, discs and drums are placed on the ground, and dancers step on the drums or discs to dance calmly.Fluttering long sleeves, light footwork, in response to the sound of drums, constitute a special dance rhythm.The number of discs and drums is not fixed, some are mainly drums, and some are mainly discs.There is a picture of music and dance on the stone portrait of the Han Dynasty in Nanyang, Henan Province, which depicts the performance of "pan drum".The picture shows two drums and four pans on the ground.The slender dancer with a double bun raises his long sleeves and lunges forward.The left foot is jumping off the drum, and the right toe has just stepped onto the plate. Jiangu uses a wooden pillar to wear the waist of the big drum, and a bracket is set under it to stand up the drum. The two sides of the drum face outward.The dancers beat the drums on both sides, dancing while beating the drums.Jiangu often plays a central role in the performances of a hundred operas depicted on stone portraits in the Han Dynasty.On the relief stone in Dong'an Hanli, Qufu, Shandong Province, there is a vivid picture of "Jiangu" performance.This kind of building encouragement can still be seen in the drum dancing of the Miao people in western Hunan. Among the dances of the Han Dynasty, there is a kind of dance with props.On the stones (bricks) of Han portraits found in various places, we can see the "Duo Dance" with a double-sided flat snare drum with a handle; the "Duo Dance" with a big bell; the "Duo Dance" with a shield. "Dry Dance"; "Qi Dance" with an axe; "Drum Dance" with a rattle drum; "Sword Dance" with a sword; "Fan Dance" and so on. There is also a kind of "elephant man" dance in prop dance.Performers dress up as animals, birds, fish, etc., or hold fish, animal, bird and other props to dance. The mask dance of the Han Dynasty is the "Nuo dance" mentioned above. The ethnic minorities living in remote areas in the Han Dynasty also had various unique dances.Among the cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed from the ancient tombs of King Dian in Shizhai Mountain, Jinning, Yunnan, there are "Lusheng Dance" with bronze drums and drums, "Husheng Dance" with Husheng blowing, and "Pan Dance" with pans. "Wait. A wide variety of folk dances in the Han Dynasty were often performed together with acrobatics and martial arts, which became an important part of "Jiao Dai". The so-called "Jiao Da" is interpreted in a narrow sense as two people wrestling with each other, just like the "Chiyou play" introduced earlier.In a broad sense, Jiaodai is a concentrated performance of various skills with a competitive nature, that is, "baixi". There was "Jiao Da" in the time of Qin II.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the play of Jiaodi prevailed in the north.According to historical records, in the third year of Yuanfeng (108 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once set up a play in Weiyang Palace, and people from within 300 miles came to watch it.In Jiaozhi Baixi, there are wonderful acrobatics and magic tricks, as well as colorful singing and dancing.Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" described the scenes in Chang'an City of "Looking far away from the square, and Chengjiao's wonderful play", including large-scale songs and dances such as "The Fairy of the General Assembly", "Manyan's Play", and "Donghai Huanggong" programme. "General Assembly Immortal Advocacy" is a song and dance performance of "immortals, immortals and beasts".The "fairyland" of undulating mountains, sacred trees and fairy grass is arranged as the background.The "immortals" with makeup and "immortal beasts" disguised as masks performed singing and dancing performances together.The performances include playing leopards, dancing bears, white tigers playing the harp, and black dragons playing the flute. Immortal Hong Ya is conducting on the spot. "Manyan Play" includes a series of performances of birds, beasts, insects and fish.There are monkey shows, elephants, big fish, thousand-year-old toads, ten-thousand-year-old turtles, birds and beasts fighting each other, and water men playing with snakes. "The Yellow Duke of the East China Sea" is a performance with a story.It is about a man named Huang Gong in the East China Sea. When he was young, he had magic powers to subdue snakes and tigers.They often wear red gold knives and tie their hair with red silk.By chanting a mantra, the earth can be painted into rivers, and the clouds can be turned into fog.As he gets old, his strength declines and he drinks too much, his spells gradually fail.At the end of the Qin Dynasty, white tigers reappeared in the East China Sea.Huang Gong fought with the white tiger, but was eaten by the tiger. The prevalence of "Hundred Operas" in the Han Dynasty had a profound impact on the development of Chinese dance art.Because dance and acrobatics, illusion, and martial arts are often performed together, they absorb and integrate each other, so that skills and shapes such as jumping, turning, turning, and rolling in martial arts and acrobatics are absorbed into dance, which enriches the expressiveness of dance. , forming the characteristics of equal emphasis on Chinese dance skills. After the founding of the Han Dynasty, as the country became stronger and stronger, its political power gradually extended to the border minority areas.The exchanges between the Han Dynasty and various ethnic groups at home and abroad, and the development of the frontier brought about the exchange of arts such as dance, music and acrobatics among various ethnic groups.During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian made two missions to the Western Regions to communicate the relationship between the Western Regions and the Central Plains, and the music and dance skills of the Western Regions were introduced to the Central Plains.After Emperor Wu, Princess Xijun and Princess Jieyou of the Han Dynasty married far away in the Western Regions, and the music and dance of the Central Plains were also spread to the Western Regions.In the era of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of music and dances from the Western Regions were introduced to the Central Plains.The aristocratic relatives in Kyoto competed for "Hu Yue" and "Hu Wu".The Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in the north, Puyu, Goguli, and Korea in the northeast, the Wa Kingdom (today's Japan) overseas, the Nanyue Kingdom in the south of the Lingnan Mountains, and the Shan Kingdom in the southwest (today's northern Myanmar) all had music and dance activities. comminicate.It should be said that the prosperity of music and dance in the Han Dynasty was jointly contributed by all ethnic groups. In the rich and colorful music and dance activities in the Han Dynasty, the performance dance was further developed, and famous dancers like Mrs. Qi and Zhao Feiyan appeared.Mrs. Qi, the beloved concubine of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, could play drums, qin, sing and dance.She is good at the "Dancing with the God and Bow", which is a dance in the same strain as the "Chu Dance" in the Warring States Period.Madam Qi's performance was very charming. Later, someone praised her for "the song and dance in the boudoir is not over, and the world is like a mess of dead people".It means that Mrs. Qi's singing and dancing are captivating.Zhao Feiyan, the queen of Han Cheng Emperor Liu Ao (ao Ao), can be regarded as the most outstanding dancer of the Han Dynasty.Her father was a musician, and she and her younger sister were exiled in Chang'an and became servants of officials.When she grew up, she went to Princess Yang'a's house to learn singing and dancing, and mastered superb dancing skills.Also, "Shanxing Qishu" is probably what qigong experts call "lightness work", so her dance has a superhuman elegance.Legend has it that once Zhao Feiyan danced against the wind on a high pavilion in the palace. If she hadn't been caught in time, she would have been almost blown away by the strong wind.Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty feared that she would be blown away by the wind one day, so he specially built a "Seven Treasures Shelter" for her.He also said that Zhao Feiyan "is as light as a swallow, and can do palm dance".Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty made a crystal plate for her, and asked the palace servants to set it up, and Zhao Feiyan danced on it.Zhao Feiyan also has a special skill, that is, she can walk "juju". It looks like a human hand is holding a flower branch, trembling. No one else can learn it.Zhao Feiyan rose from a humble girl to a queen, mainly thanks to her exquisite dancing skills.From the records and legends of Zhao Feiyan's dance art, we can also imagine how high the dance art level of the Han Dynasty has reached.