Zhaiying Dragon Rolling is a folk art form called Dragon Rolling that has been preserved in Zhaiying Village and its surrounding four natural villages in Zhaiying Town, Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Guizhou Province. Zhaiying is the seat of the People's Government of Zhaiying Town, Songtao Miao Autonomous County. In the early Ming Dynasty, the government army opened it as a military supply transfer station during the military campaign in the Fanjing Mountain area, and it soon became a military garrison named Didiantun. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, it became an important material distribution center in the Fanjing Mountain area. There are now 5 ancient streets and 6 lanes built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and nearly 100 cultural relics and historical sites such as city walls, city gates, docks, guild halls, shops, houses, and handicraft workshops. In June 2006, the State Council announced the Zhaiying Ancient Building Complex as a national key cultural relic protection unit. According to the ancient songs of the Miao people, the ancestors of the Miao and Gelao peoples who have lived and multiplied in the Fanjing Mountain area in the northeast of Guizhou Province since ancient times were deeply harmed by poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts. Therefore, they used bamboo, earthen paper, indigo and other materials that were abundant in the local area to make a "dragon" that was more powerful than any animal in nature. Its characteristics were its huge size and fierce appearance, which was used to scare and drive away the beasts. Later, "dragon dancing" developed into an activity for people to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate disasters. When they encountered unpleasant things such as lack of children and long-term illness, they would make a wish to the dragon god and pray for protection. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the worship of the dragon god and dragon dancing activities gradually integrated into the festivals of various ethnic groups in the Fanjing Mountain area, especially the Spring Festival culture. In the early Ming Dynasty, when the government army was using troops in the Fanjing Mountain area, Zhaiying was opened up as a military supply transfer station and then became a military garrison. The garrison brought the dragon culture of developed areas. The foreign culture was combined with the mountain dragon worship customs of the Miao and Gelao people in the Fanjing Mountain area, making the shape of the "dragon" in the Zhaiying area stable and exquisite, and magnificent as a whole, with a fixed beat of percussion accompaniment. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Wenlong (nicknamed "Gunlong", meaning "wanderer" and "oilman") from Zhaiying made his fortune by wandering around the world and served in the military in Hunan, Sichuan and other places. He thought that Chenhe Opera and Sichuan Opera were good-looking, and he was determined to transplant some of the folk art and skills of these operas into Zhaiying "dragons", and funded people to go to Hunan and Sichuan to learn, which greatly enriched the performance skills of Zhaiying "dragons", and Zhaiying "dragons" were thus called "Gunlong". The improved Zhaiying Dragon Rolling is more grand in scale. In the middle and late period of the Republic of China, there were many dragon rolling competitions in Fanjing Mountain area. Zhaiying Dragon Rolling became famous for its magnificence, and the dragon rolling activities required more manpower and financial resources. Therefore, except for Zhaiying, which was a commercial port with economic strength, other places in Fanjing Mountain area were unable to hold it and lost the tradition. Zhaiying Dragon Rolling also disappeared for a long time after liberation. During the Spring Festival, Miao New Year and other festivals, the people in Zhaiying spontaneously donated money and offered gifts to worship the dragon god and dance the dragon rolling. The whole activity includes: selecting and cutting nan bamboo to make the dragon rolling, first worshiping the mountain god, slaughtering pigs and sheep and inviting priests to hold a series of sacrificial activities, and 32 strong people danced the dragon rolling, walking through the streets and alleys with the accompaniment of percussion music, and entering the house to exorcise evil spirits for the residents. There are nearly a hundred sets of performances, and the "Dongdong Dragon", fairy lanterns and other lights dance with the dragon rolling. Dragon dancers, priests, audiences, and residents sing and dance together and congratulate each other. When the rolling dragon arrives at the door, people will make wishes to the dragon god for lack of offspring, chronic illness, poor livestock, and difficulty in litigation, etc., to eliminate disasters and pray for blessings. If you think the last wish has been fulfilled, you should prepare offerings such as wine, meat, paper, and candles. When the rolling dragon arrives, you will worship the dragon god devoutly and tie a red cloth on the belly of the rolling dragon. The priest, the host, and the dragon dancers will sing songs to thank the dragon god together. During this process, people in the venue can tell jokes, and those with better economic conditions will perform wish plays to entertain and thank the dragon god. The rolling dragon dance usually lasts for five or six nights. At the end of the activity, a "sending off the dragon god" ceremony will be held. People will send the rolling dragon to the river, and the priest will hold a sacrifice to ask the dragon god to bless the world with good weather and good harvests, and then burn it. Related products include dragon lanterns (mainly including rolling dragons, dragons in a row, rows of lanterns, scattered lanterns, etc.), operas (including dragon songs, flower tunes, wish plays, etc.), instruments (instruments used in sacrificial activities), musical instruments (wind instruments and percussion instruments), dances, and music. Zhaiying rolling dragon is a unique folk culture of dragon worship. It is a cultural symbol dragon totem that is more powerful than any beast in nature, which was created by the Miao and Gelao people in Fanjing Mountain area after being deeply harmed by poisonous snakes and fierce beasts. After integrating the dragon culture of the Han nationality, it has formed a unique mountain culture form. The production process is diverse. The production of rolling dragons and scattered lanterns involves more than ten traditional crafts such as bamboo weaving, textiles, embroidery, painting, carving, blue indigo and mineral pigments. The worship of rolling dragons and dancing rolling dragons include forms such as national epics, myths and legends, ballads, stories, operas, and folk tunes. Songs (including narrative songs and storytelling songs), dances (sacrificial dances; mass self-entertainment dances; single, double or group performance dances), and music (instrumental solos, duets, ensembles and instrumental combinations) are complex and colorful. The dragon dance embodies the harmonious coexistence of the ancient totem worship and farming culture of the Miao, Gelao and other ethnic groups in the Fanjing Mountain area, and carries many important historical and cultural information and primitive memories of the Miao and Gelao people. With the continuous development of society, most of the skilled craftsmen of Zhaiying Dragon Rolling are now elderly, and most of the local young people, especially those with certain cultural knowledge, go out to work. They have no time to learn dragon making and dance knowledge, as well as dance routines, minor tunes, operas and other skills related to Zhaiying Dragon Rolling, which makes Zhaiying Dragon face the risk of natural extinction. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center