Into the Lions Mouth :: China Chinese Culture Papers

Into the Lions Mouth It is the last Saturday in September and the Brown University king of beasts dance team is about to per sort. Eleven students sit on the floor of Leung Gallery. The nine team members walk to the front of the room, seven Chinese, two Caucasian. Each wears a shirt bearing a dispirited and white lion design on the front and the words Brown Lion Dance emblazed across the back. The boys who result make up the two lions - Grant, John, Chris and Michael - wear bright yellow pants with orange and gold tassels encircling each leg, meant to mimic fur. The instrumentalists, Cisco and Larissa, wear black pants and black shoes, and Peter Quon, the teaser, sports a navy blue silk ensemble reminiscent of a rich mans pajamas. He dons a mask made of bright lacquered peach paper mache, with pink dots for cheeks, ruby red lips and thick, black eyebrows. He will signal the lions into place for each stunt. The four boys disappear underneath the heads and tails. The teams mas ter Brian Fong welcomes the freshmen, but keeps his remarks brief. He cant convey this magic - this magic that keeps him and his team here, week after week, year after year - with words. Brian and the team members move into place. Cisco raises his drumsticks and brings them tidy sum hard on the drums. The cymbals crash. The performance begins. Historians trace Chinese lion dancing back to a band of roving Persians who traveled to China via the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty (618- 906 A.D.). They performed their Nevruz ( impudent Day) festival for the emperor who, like his people, had never seen a lion before. The Persians dance pleased the emperor so much that he ordered the lion to be incorporated into the most important of Chinese festivals, the Harvest Moon and New Years celebrations. The Chinese, however love to tell another story of how this art form came to be the Legend of the Nien. In ancient times, a creature called the Nien roamed throughout China, devouring man and be ast. News of these atrocities reached a remote mountain village and prompted its inhabitants to try on protection from the mighty lion. When the Nien finally stormed into the village, the lion intercepted him and the two beasts fought a terrible battle. The lion emerged victorious and the wounded Nien slunk away into the shadows of the forest, vowing to return in exactly star year to exact vengeance.