Qingling Lion Lantern is performed by many Qiu clan members in Qingling Village (Qiujiaba) of Zitong County. The origin of the dance is unknown, but it was popular in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. It is a self-entertainment dance for the common people in Wenchang Town, Zitong. It is also the most popular folk art activity in the county. Especially after being improved by Master Zhiguang in 1923, it has always been an indispensable program content of large-scale cultural activities in the county. Qingling Lion Lantern Dance is active in towns and villages every Spring Festival. Restricted and influenced by factors such as age and funds, the performance opportunities and level of Qingling Lion Lantern are getting worse year by year. But now the Qingling Lion Lantern Association has been established. Qiu Longxiang, chairman of the Qingling Lion Lantern Association, also often teaches Qingling Lion Lantern performances in Hongren, Guanyi, Dingyuan, Liya and other places. Folk lion dance activities have the meaning of exorcising evil spirits and auspiciousness, which are popular among the masses. Residents and villagers like to take the lion to the door to play, and they all set off firecrackers piously to welcome the lion in, to ask for good luck, exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters, and to have good luck in the coming year! The Qingling lion dance in this county is divided into two categories: civil and martial. Civil performances show the lion's humorous movements, such as "The Laughing Monk Playing with the Lion", etc.; martial performances show the lion's brave character through the fight between people and lions. "Lion Lantern" is a mixture of performance, juggling and several movements. It is an activity full of performing arts fun and is not a pure lion dance. The Laughing Monk, Sha Seng, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and the lion perform separately and in cooperation. The performance procedures include "rolling on the ground", "platform" and "high platform". "Rolling on the ground" refers to performing on the flat ground. "Platform" refers to performing on a large square table. "High platform" refers to three to seven large square tables stacked together (two to six tables are stacked with their legs facing down, and the top square table has its legs facing up), with the Laughing Monk leading Sha Seng, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and the lion to perform up and down respectively. The Qingling Lion Lantern consists of the lion, the Laughing Monk, Sha Seng, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. During the formal performance, two more lanterns and a person responsible for dispersing the pieces will be added (contact the performance). In the past, the Qingling Lion Lantern only had a lion and a laughing monk. In 1923, the old monk Zhiguang (Master Haideng's teacher) returned from studying in India, Myanmar and other countries. Inspired by Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West", it is believed that the lion lantern originated from the legend of Tang Monk's journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures (in fact, there are many similarities with Master Zhiguang's experience). Tang Monk and his disciples were blocked by a lion demon on the way to obtain Buddhist scriptures, and later subdued the demon with the help of Manjusri Bodhisattva's mount, the roaring lion. Since Manjusri Bodhisattva's roaring lion can exorcise demons and avoid evil, the people made paper roaring lions and played them once every Spring Festival to show that everything will go well in the coming year. Some people also believe that the laughing monk is the image of Tang Monk, and the lion is the image of the little white dragon horse. Therefore, Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Seng are indispensable in the lion lantern. Master Zhiguang also personally instructed the artists to change the original lion head into an Indian colorful lion according to the appearance of the stone lions at the gates of foreign temples. The modified lions are lively and colorful, and the dances are also re-arranged. Qingling lion lanterns have made great progress and become the most distinctive performance school of Zitong lion lanterns. Master Zhiguang has a total of 4 apprentices in teaching lion lanterns. The only successor is Qiu Longxiang, who was born in 1958 and is now 47 years old. He is from Qingling Sanshe. The current Qingling lion lantern team is composed of all Qiu clan members. The first person to make lions was Qiu Licai, the father of Qiu Longxiang, who is also the brother of Master Zhiguang. Qingling lion lanterns are lit on the 30th of the twelfth lunar month every year and end on the 18th of the first lunar month. The lion lantern class has a leader, who is a local tribe member who is willing to help others, has a full set of lion lantern performance skills, and can win the support of the public (the current president of the Qingling Lion Lantern Association is Qiu Longxiang). On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, the lantern performers are invited to celebrate the New Year together, and on the 30th night, they go to the nearby temple to worship the gods. The Laughing Monk stands in front of the altar. At this time, Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng stand on both sides of the temple gate. The Laughing Monk leads the lion's beard from the right side of the altar to the left side, walks around the house and comes out, and the worship is completed. New Year's greetings are given to each household starting from the first day of the new year. After the New Year's greetings performance program is completed, there will be a performance in the main courtyard. The Laughing Monk teases the lion, and the lion sometimes leaps, sometimes runs around the field easily, and can also express various emotions such as joy, rage, intimacy, etc. The main movements include tailing, scratching, rolling, palms and shaking hair. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng hold the golden hoop and rake to perform demon subduing, lion playing and teasing each other. The lion dance is lively and majestic, and the three Laughing Monks perform humorous and sliding chopsticks, which makes people feel interesting. Some families also set up formations for lion lanterns to break (according to legend, the roaring lion broke 108 formations before subduing the demons). There are two types of formations: civil formation and military formation. There are 72 types of civil formation and 36 types of military formation. The military formation is divided into heavenly formation and earthly formation. The civil formation requires the intelligence of the lion dancer, while the martial formation tests the courage and skills of the lion dancer. The heavenly formation in the martial formation is basically an acrobatic performance. For example, "crossing the single-plank bridge", "walking on the seesaw", "stacking Arhats in the sky", etc. On the 18th day of the first lunar month, it is the day for the local gods to be sent off. On this day, the lanterns are collected and the wooden statues of gods are carried out from the temple and walked around the village. Wherever the statues go, the lion lanterns follow. This ceremony is also called sweeping. After this lantern collection ceremony, the lion head is hung on the central beam of the temple or the main hall of the association leader's home, and it will be performed again next year. The lion lantern is accompanied by percussion instruments. The main instruments are: drums, cymbals, gongs, horse gongs, and sometimes suona is added. The gong and drum tunes played are very rich, including "Gold and Silver Beans", "Phoenix Spreads Wings", "Scissors Frame", "Reverse Curtain", "Twenty-Four", "Positive Triple", "Reverse Triple", "Three Triple", "Raining", "Three Rings", "Tiger in the Mountain", "Eight Immortals Meeting", "Cotton Flicking", etc. The lion lantern team consists of more than ten people: 2 lion heads, 2 lion tails, 1 laughing monk, 1 Monkey King, 1 Pig Bajie, 1 Sha Monk, 1 drummer, 1 cymbal, 1 gong, 1 horse gong, 2 lanterns, and 1 scattered pieces. Sometimes there are many substitutes. The props of the lion lantern: a laughing monk mask, a lion head, two sets of lion skins, one Monkey King, Pig Bajie, and Sha Monk mask each, a golden hoop, a rake, a whisk, and a pair of happy strips. Information source: Mianyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Information source: Mianyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center