Chinese Dance

Han Folk Dance

Cynthia Tsang

The second major Chinese dance cateogry is the Han folk dance, which has some unique characteristics that distinguish it from minority folk or nationality dances. Examples include:

• The use of dance props ranging from large to small such as Lion, Dragon, Fan, Scarf, Drum.
• Males playing female roles in dance. This is partly due to Confucian ideology and teaching which prevented male/female from coming into close contact in public. (The feudal aesthetic, beginning with the Sung dynasty (960-1279 A.D), encouraged women to bind their feet, and is partially responsible for males playing female roles in various forms of performing arts such as dance and theatre.)
• The importance of particular role-types in dance: for example in "Yangge" where various roles such as "young man", "young woman", "old man", "ugly woman", "stupid kid", etc. which are played by different dancers.
• The inclusion of theatrical elements such as mime and drama sometimes depict a short plot.

Click to learn about minority nationality dances.