Something that we always associate with China is the lion dance. We usually see it in documentaries, films, photographs, illustrations. Have you ever seen a dragon dance in your city's Chinatown? The truth is that this dance is striking, full of color and seeing it live is most entertaining.
But besides being something typical of the Chinese culture It is a folk dance that is also known as the playful lion. Mix of folk dance and sport what it does, of course, is to recreate the movements of this legendary animal. It is also about getting, through dance, good luck. The Chinese are always looking for good luck so the Lion Dance is always accompanied by the sound of drums, fireworks and gongs.
There are two types of Lion Dance, the Lion of the North and the Lion of the South. But is the lion a natural animal of China? No, it seems that it was brought to China by the Silk Road and from the hand of Buddhism since in this religion the lion is the animal led by Bodhisattva Manjusri. It is not that there was a massive invasion of lions because the trip was long and hard for all the animals that did it, so very few arrived at their destination.
The Southern Lion is the most popular in the world and is known as the walking lion. In turn, the northern lion is a more popular dance in the Yangtze River area and both dances are very different from each other, in structure, movements and technology used.
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Source - Cultural China
Photo - Nations Online