SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ever since he was a little boy, Joe Huang has attended Chinese New Year celebrations with his family, taking in the sights and sounds of firecrackers, drums, lions and dragons. He was most enamored with the lions — more specifically, the traditional art form of lion dancing.
Now at 18, Huang describes those moments as "core memories." Five years ago, he picked up lion dancing himself and is now a leader for the Teng Fei Lion Dance team in Sacramento.
"Lion dance to me, I guess, it's a generational thing. Like it has to be passed on to keep the culture alive," Huang said. "People in the past, they keep this going. And then me as a kid, I saw this... Just maybe today here we inspire some kids and then in the future they want to do it as well."
Huy Minh is one of the co-founders of Teng Fei Lion Dance in Sacramento. The original group started in Oakland in 2005.
"We have a couple guys up there that have a team and then we wanted to learn what is the actual lion dance, so me and my brother drive all the way to Oakland to talk with those guys that let us join lion dance and teach us the culture and what is lion dance," he said.
Years later, Minh and his brother Jay brought what they learned from that group to Sacramento to carry on the legacy. Specifically, they wanted lion dancing to be an activity for youth to participate in after school.
Today, the team performs at a variety of events and celebrations like weddings, birthdays and business openings but they're perhaps best known for their performances during Lunar New Year celebrations.
Lunar New Year marks the beginning of a new year based on the lunisolar calendar. The 15-day celebration is regarded as the most important holiday in China, although it is widely celebrated across other East and some Southeast Asian cultures.
In China, it's commonly known as the Spring Festival and families partake in a variety of traditions including adorning their homes with red decorations, preparing feasts with symbolic dishes and exchanging red envelopes with money to signify good luck.
The lion dance, another popular tradition, has the function of symbolizing power that chases away evil influences so people can start out the new year with good fortune and hopes for prosperity, according to Amelia Ying Qin, an assistant professor at Sacramento State in the Department of Humanities and Religious Studies, as well as the Department of History.
Origins of the lion dance
The history and origins of the lion dance itself runs deep and is often disputed.
"Some scholars hold the view that it originated outside of China and came via the Silk Road to China along with the spread of the Buddhist tradition. Other scholars believe it actually developed in China," Qin said.
She believes the lion was brought to China as a tributary animal. The lion symbolized Buddhist teachings and teachings are referred to as the Lion's Roar. The idea of the Lion's Roar is twofold: representing the Buddha's presentation of basic teachings of dharma, as well as students' own practice and proclamation of the dharma.
The earliest record of the well-established dance form was from the 6th century.
"The lion dance was used to lead the parade for the display of Buddhist statues and images. And then after the lion dance, you would have a variety of plays of performers and then processions and monks that would bring the images and statues and perform Buddhist rituals," Qin said.
Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorized into two styles — Northern and Southern.
"The Northern dance had a more martial style... They would jump and mimic the movements of seeking prey or fighting," Qin said. "The Southern tradition had a more civil style, and the lion sometimes, just one single lion, would express more of an emotional change of the lion (such as) showing feelings of curiosity or surprise or love."
The lion dance would involve the simple plot of waking up the lion and leading it out of its cave to feed it green vegetables. Historically, this was an expression of political dissent during the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty was founded by the Manchus, a group of northeast Asian people with different histories, culture and identities, who conquered China in 1644. The lion dance became a way for people to subtly express their dissent against Manchu rule because the word for the Chinese celery fed to the lion is 'qín cài' in Mandarin, which sounded similar to 'Qing' dynasty.
Breaking down the performance
For Vivian Chen, the excitement of lion dancing comes from the thrill of taking on a challenge. She learned about lion dancing in San Francisco before performing with the Teng Fei Lion Dance team. Before that, she recalled watching lion dancing from afar, taking in the physicality of the art form.
"It takes a lot of physical energies and endurance, to be in shape and to be ready and to be able to take up all these challenges," Chen said. "I know it's been more like, projected towards outside saying a lot of guys were doing it, but I think girls can do it, too. I don't think there's (a) difference between girls and guys."
Minh describes lion dancing as similar to acrobatics and stunt moves. Each lion consists of two people — a head player who controls the eyes, ears and mouth of the lion and a tail player that matches the head player's steps and is responsible for lifting the head player in flashy stacking moves.
Lion dance consists of a lot more, though.
"Really look beyond the lion. You have the instruments, you have the drum, the cymbals, the gong, the people guiding. There's a lot of details in between. It's not just the flashy stuff that you see," Huang said.
The drum represents the heartbeat of the lion, setting the pacing for the dance and helping drive out expressions from the lions. The cymbals and gong accompany the drum to create the full sound.
"It's a cooperation between everyone, with the speed and everything. (We) bring the hype up and then slow it down (throughout the performance)," Chen said.
Huang said the best part of performing is bringing happiness to others.
"You get a sense of pride when you're putting on the uniform and then representing your team," he said. "You get to bring happiness and all those joys to people around you, so it's like a community service and that's the part I really like."
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