On the evening of February 9th, at 8 p.m., the original dance show Hand Dragon Man by the Dance Department of Chongqing University's School of Arts opened the 2024 Spring Festival Gala on China Central Radio and Television Station (hereinafter referred to as "CCTV Spring Festival Gala"). This dance show, created with the national intangible cultural heritage project "Tongliang Dragon Dance" as its source material, presented a vibrant cultural feast for the "descendants of the dragon" worldwide.
"More and more young people are becoming excellent inheritors of Chinese culture." "As thousands of households light their lamps at this moment, the people of Chongqing celebrate the Year of the Dragon with dragon dances." "Chinese Dragon, Tongliang Dragon, Guardian Dragon - this encompasses so much cultural connotation and symbolism!" "Celebrating the Year of the Dragon by watching dragon dances, all that's missing this year is a visit to the land of dragons." "Dancing dragons in the Year of the Dragon, vigorous and powerful..." As of today, Chongqing University's Hand Dragon Man continues to gain popularity, maintaining high levels of interest.
"The show represents the results of continuous research and refinement. It highly aligns with the spirit of striving and vitality symbolized by the dragon, possessing rich expressive content and profound influence. It is not only a breakthrough in high-quality cultural education at Chongqing University but also an excellent practice in promoting cultural development through art," said Dong Jinbo, Chairman of Chongqing Dancers Association. He also noted that the youth's enthusiastic interpretation of traditional culture continues to release the charm of Chinese civilization.
In terms of artistic presentation, the opening show of the 2024 Spring Festival Gala featured Hand Dragon Man, which drew widespread attention.
The dance showcased the creativity and innovation of contemporary stage aesthetics while preserving the traditional attributes of dragon dance culture. It demonstrated the creative development of traditional Chinese culture with modern stage creativity and unique Sichuan-Chongqing mountain civilization characteristics. Zhang Xiao, the creator and director of Hand Dragon Man, stated that the connection and expression between the dance and its rhythms, actions, symbols, and spirit lie in inheritance, continuation, and the steadfastness and rebirth of culture.
Three Years Soaked in Ink Led to Nomination for Lotus Award
In 2020, under the strong support of the school and based on nearly a decade of in-depth study of "traditional dragon dance," the project won multiple provincial and ministerial awards and several key literary work funding projects. In 2021, Zhang Xiao created another dance Dragon Shines on China, which formed the prototype of Hand Dragon Man. Upon its debut, it received positive responses and numerous honors. These dragon-related show is closely linked with Chongqing University's ongoing contemplation of folk art, spiritual inheritance, and the conceptual coexistence of Chinese culture and urban context. Based on research on the inheritance and protection of folk dragon dance, drawing from rich nutrients and selecting the hand dragon prop as the main carrier, the method combines contemporary stage creation techniques with traditional dragon dance routines. Through the cooperative relationship between humans and the dragon, it completes various movements such as swimming, rolling, leaping, and entangling, integrating strength, speed, endurance, and folk dragon dancing skills. It constructs the image of a dragon group and the significance of a dragon head, depicting an indomitable and unstoppable Chinese totem.
In 2023, the original dance renamed Hand Dragon Man experienced a highlight moment. With the support of the Innovation and Development Center of Ideological and Political Work in Colleges and Universities of Ministry of Education (Chongqing University), the show went to Jinan to participate in the final evaluation of the 14th China Dance Lotus Award sponsored by the Chinese Dancers Association. A total of 401 entries were submitted by 33 member organizations of China Dance Association, 10 vocational colleges, 23 new literary and art groups and Hong Kong and Macao. After strict selection by the jury, 45 entries were selected for the final evaluation. After three years of hard creation and experience, Chongqing University's Hand Dragon Man stood out from it and was successfully selected for the final evaluation. After the competition, famous dancer Shan Chong commented on Hand Dragon Man, saying, "The work is full of a high degree of integration of artistic imagination and spiritual inheritation."
Being shortlisted for the final evaluation of the China Dance Lotus Award has also become an opportunity to log on to CCTV Spring Festival Evening. Hand Dragon Man was selected from over 300 programs by China Media Group as the only independent dance segment performed by a university in the opening show of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. On January 17, 2024, the performance team of Chongqing University officially went to Beijing to prepare for the show.
"Facing the global Chinese audience watching the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, we are facing a whole new challenge," said Zhang Xiao. “The requirements on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage are higher than those in the professional field, but the emotional requirements for actors on the stage, including facial expressions, details of and the power of action in movements, may have gone further. Therefore, we spent a lot of time in rehearsals guiding and inspiring the team's spirit and expression, striving to appear on the stage in the best possible condition.”
In 2024, the Spring Festival Gala took "happiness, auspiciousness and jubilation" as the overall goal, and deepened the integration and communication of "thought+art+technology". After arriving in Beijing late at night on January 17, 25 teachers and students from Chongqing University arrived in Beijing early the next morning and immediately immersed themselves in intense rehearsals of the dance. After nearly 100 rehearsals over 24 days over a period of days, the costumes, props, and dance content of the performance underwent deep adjustments according to the atmosphere of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The dance also went through three rounds of grinding, sculpting, and refining before and after the performance.
"From the Chongqing Dance Competition to the Lotus Award, from the Lotus Award to the Spring Festival Gala, from the initial prototype to this dragon flying into Beijing, the experience along the way is too profound. " Lin Xiao, a participating teacher, said that there are also countless sweats behind Hand Dragon Man. "Being able to stand on the stage of the Spring Festival Evening is inseparable from the school's great attention, guarantee and support." Liu Yi, a 2022 student of the Dance Department of the School of Arts, said that the school has given all-round support from food, clothing, housing and transportation to arranging drills.
On one hand, the successful appearance in CCTV Spring Festival Gala is the enthusiasm of the performance team, on the other, Chongqing University attaches great importance to it. During the rehearsal, Feng Yedong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Chongqing University, Yang Xinya, Executive Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee, and Jiang Hualin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Arts, made a special trip to Beijing to express their condolences to the performance team. "This is the first time that the school has appeared as a team in CCTV Spring Festival Gala, which is a great breakthrough in the university's cultural education. The university attaches great importance to this participation and gives our whole power to ensure the team's smooth performance on stage." Feng Yedong said.
26 Years of Cultivating Character and Soul with Cultural Heritage to Enrich Development
In December 2023, Wang Shuxin, President of Chongqing University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out during his research at the School of Arts that "A university with a high level of artistic taste and cultural heritage is a soulful university."
Chongqing University has long attached great importance to campus cultural work and actively practiced the socialist core value system with a broad vision. It extensively carried out socialist core values education, widely promoted advanced socialist culture, developed revolutionary culture, carried forward excellent traditional culture, and focused on nurturing capable individuals to provide strong support for training new generations capable of bearing the nation's future and reviving the ethnic group.
Since its establishment in 1998, Humanities and Arts School created one of the earliest dance majors among comprehensive universities nationwide in 2000, and advocated the concept of "inheriting Chinese culture, serving national strategies, adapting to industry demands and having a global vision and innovative thinking."
Under the concept of higher dance education of "combining literature and dance, keeping integrity and innovation", it persisted in exploring regional resources and adhering to the inheritance of excellent culture.
In 2019, Chongqing University was approved to build the Innovation and Development Center for Ideological and Political Work in Colleges and Universities of the Ministry of Education, with culture as the direction. Through continuous exploration and excavation of folk art, spiritual inheritance, and the harmonious coexistence of Chinese culture and urban contexts, Chongqing University pondered on the integration of folk art, spiritual inheritance, and the interweaving compatibility of Chinese culture and urban contexts. From the initial Dance of the Great Dragon to Hand Dragon Man, and from entering the final selection for the Lotus Award to being broadcast on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, it is not only a breakthrough in high-quality cultural education at Chongqing University but also a living practice of practicing the inheritance of regional cultural resources. It has yielded fruitful results: continuously producing dramas such as Letters from Chongqing, Heroes of Chongqing, Red Creative Programs, Female Students of Chongqing, Shadow Plays of Ba People, and Standing Firm to Fly; original songs such as Stationed Can Stand Still, Only When You Can Fly High; original dance dramas such as Batu Girl's Shadow; and many works have been selected for the Lotus Award. Several troupes have been entrusted with important tasks such as going to Australia, Thailand, France, Italy, Spain, and other countries for exchange performances; and in 2023, Chongqing University's Dance Department was approved as a national first-class undergraduate major.
Chongqing University will continue to solidly promote the Project for Cultivating New Generations with Character and Soul, continuously improve the coordination mechanism for cultural construction, comprehensively advance the strategy of strengthening the university through culture, deeply promote the initiative to enhance campus culture and energy efficiency actions, creating a new landscape for cultural work in colleges and universities in the new era.
It is understood that since November 2023, Chongqing University's original dance show Hand Dragon Man has been invited by several TV stations, among which CCTV-1’s show will also be broadcast in prime time during the Spring Festival.
