The Hakka Fire Dragon, also known as the Incense Dragon, combines various artistic elements such as music, dance, sacrifice, and religious beliefs. It is the general name for various "fire dragons" that are popular in Taokeng Township, Chaling and its surrounding areas. The Hakka Fire Dragon is popular in Taokeng, Batuan, Jiangkou, Gaolong, Zhitang, Hukou and other towns where Hakka people live in Chaling County, Hunan Province, especially in Taokeng Township. Fire dragon dances are mostly performed at night. The performance is generally performed on a spacious field with a bonfire, or on a square high table. In 2006, the Hakka Fire Dragon was identified as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list items in Hunan Province. The Hakka Fire Dragon Dance began in the Chunxi period of the Southern Song Dynasty, and has a history of six or seven hundred years. According to the Hakka people who have the custom of dancing the fire dragon, the custom of dancing the fire dragon originated from a legend: a fire dragon flew over here, and the crops grew particularly lush and the grains were abundant in the places where it sprayed fire; the villages where it flew all the way, every family lived a prosperous life. Since then, there has been the custom of Hakka people dancing the fire dragon. As time goes by and the cultural background evolves, the Hakka fire dragon dance custom has gradually evolved into a form of folk sports competition for the people to pray for good fortune and a beautiful and happy life. It embodies the people's many good wishes for praying for a good harvest, exorcising evil spirits, eliminating diseases and disasters, and praying for prosperity in all industries and a prosperous life. Dancing the fire dragon during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival is a prayer for good weather and good harvests in the new year; dancing the fire dragon during drought is a prayer for the Dragon King to send timely rain; dancing the fire dragon during weddings, birthdays, moving into a new house, and worshiping ancestors is a prayer for wealth, good fortune, and prosperity, and a prosperous life. Taokeng Township, Chaling, is a place where Hakka people live, and is known as the "hometown of literature and ink." Dancing the fire dragon is a unique folk art of the Hakka people in Taokeng Township. It is a comprehensive cultural activity that integrates entertainment, appreciation, and sports. Fire dragon dance is usually performed during festive occasions, when a new house is moved, or when a drought lasts a long time, especially during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. It is a unique way to drive away evil spirits and plagues, pray for a good year, place hope, and improve relationships. Hakka Fire Dragon Performance Procedure Hakka Fire Dragon has four procedures: dragon parade, dragon dance, dragon sending, and dragon transformation. At nightfall, the "Hakka Fire Dragon" sets out. When it sets out, drums and music are played and suona is blown. The "Hakka Fire Dragon" is led by a respected old man holding an incense basket, followed by more than a dozen young men and women holding up colored paper lanterns with words such as "Dragon Travels Around the Four Borders", "Abundant Harvest", "Good Weather and Good Harvest", and "Peace Every Year". Then there are several dragon lanterns, followed by seven musicians beating gongs and drums and blowing suona. Under the illumination of hundreds of torches and surrounded by a group of men, women, old and young who are watching the fun, the "Hakka Fire Dragon" shakes its head and tail, wanders in the mountain trails, across the ridges of the fields, and into the village. At each household, an old man presents a stick of incense, and the host greets it with firecrackers. Then the "Hakka Fire Dragon" jumps up and quickly swims to the hall. The host turns off the lights, and the "Hakka Fire Dragon" shuttles and dances in the sound of drums and music. The host keeps setting off firecrackers, and the onlookers clap their hands to cheer. After walking around the village, we came to the place of sacrifice. The old man carrying the incense basket placed the incense, paper, candles and three animals for worship. After lighting the first stick of incense, the dragon dancers put the incense in the dragon head, body and tail. The "Hakka Fire Dragon" leaped up and danced to the sound of drums and suona. There are five main routines of dragon dance, and you can change them freely. The first is "Dragon worships the four directions", wishing blessings to all directions and peace in all seasons, followed by "Snowflakes cover the top", followed by "Round dragon presents flowers", "Yellow dragon wraps around the pillar", and "Dragon jumps through five gates". The performance is chosen to be held in a spacious venue. People holding torches and lanterns form a big circle, and three bonfires are lit in the middle. The drummers beat the big drums. The "Hakka Fire Dragon" runs out one after another to the rhythm of the dense drum beats, changes formation after circling the field three times, and then divides into three teams, each circling three bonfires again, and then faces the position of the god. At this time, the old man with the basket came on stage to the beat of the music, while the people carrying lanterns followed and stood on both sides. After the old man came on stage, he lit incense, paper and candles, completed some worship procedures before the worship, and then led the dragon dancers to worship the four directions. After the worship, the old man shouted auspicious words such as "good harvest", "good weather", and "peace every year" and announced the lighting of the dragon dance. The flying "Hakka Fire Dragon" sometimes looks like a latent dragon soaring into the sky, chasing the stars and the moon, and sometimes like a flying dragon in the sky, spraying pearls and jade, firecrackers roaring, gongs and drums roaring, and applause thundering. In the fiery atmosphere, the dragon dance craze continued, and sometimes a dragon jumped onto a square high table and danced, and people immediately cheered. The formation combination, step gait, and stunt performances of the collective dragon dance are different and varied. After the dragon dance, the dragon is sent and transformed. The fire dragon is sent to the beach by the river, and an incense table is set up. Three animals are placed for worship, and the dragon god is thanked. Then the fire dragon is burned and sent back to the Dragon Palace. The production of Hakka fire dragons "Hakka fire dragons" are made with local materials and are very simple. Bamboo pieces are used as bones, and they are wrapped with clean and tidy straw. The three sections of the dragon head, dragon body, and dragon tail are tied separately. A 50-centimeter-long bamboo stick is installed vertically at the bottom of each section for easy grasping. Then, the dragon head, dragon ears, and dragon tail are respectively glued with dragon horns, dragon whiskers, dragon ears, dragon tongues, etc. that are cut with small bamboo sticks and colored paper. The eyes are made of wood and painted into the shape of eyes with ink pens. After mounting, incense heads are densely inserted on the dragon head, body, and tail. A "fire dragon" with a head held high and mouth open, horns forked and tail tilted, a thick sea bowl mouth, and a length of about 2 meters is made. There are also several red lanterns with words such as "good harvest", "good weather", "peaceful year after year", "dragon travels in four regions", "dragon jumps in five gates", hundreds of pine torches, gong and drum team (small gong, big gong, cymbals, small drum, two suona players) and a big drum used in the dragon parade. The Hakka fire dragon is a typical representative of Yanling County culture and an important part of Yanling County culture. Its emergence, formation and development have very important historical significance for the study of Yanling County's ethnic background and folk culture.