Jinzhou Dragon Dance has a history of more than 100 years and has won numerous honors for Jinzhou District and even Dalian City. As a traditional folk culture in Dalian, Jinzhou Dragon Dance has a certain symbolic significance. Legend has it that 130 years ago, Liu Maoxiu, the admiral of the Huai Army of the Qing Dynasty, was stationed in Jinzhou. On the evening of the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the officers and soldiers lined up to the Bohai Sea and waited facing the sea. After a long time, a sailboat was seen passing by the sea in the distance. The officers and soldiers hurriedly lit incense and candles and knelt there in unison. The boat arrived at the shore, and the 12 Qing soldiers on the boat held a huge paper dragon and landed carefully. After the dragon landed, the officers and soldiers bowed three times and kowtowed nine times to it. For a while, firecrackers rang and gongs and drums were loud. After the ceremony, the officers and soldiers followed the dragon back to the 12th Mabu Battalion. When the dragon arrived at the camp gate, all the Qing soldiers holding the dragon knelt on the ground and danced the dragon while entering the camp gate. When the dragon left the camp gate, the dragon dancing soldiers also had to kneel on the ground, and the dragon's tail came out first. People in Ximenwai (Yuzhicun) have been attracted by dragons since the first day they saw them. When will they have their own dragon? Because the military camp was heavily guarded, the people could not even enter the camp gate to see the dragon. Later, when the garrison was replaced, a huge paper dragon was transported from the sea every Lantern Festival. The difference was that the camp gate was wide open when the dragon was played, so the people could watch and have fun together. Young people followed the soldiers playing the dragon and took the initiative to talk to them so that they could touch the dragon skin and hold the dragon handle during a rest, but learning to play the dragon was still out of reach. At that time, after playing the dragon, it was generally stored in the City God Temple. This secret was discovered by Zhang Deyuan, a scaffold maker. He asked Li Tianying, a paper maker, to sneak into the City God Temple at night and draw the dragon head pattern and structure by moonlight. Since then, these two brave and careful craftsmen have gathered everyone's wisdom, repeatedly pondered, and carefully made their own dragons! Since the dragon was settled, people in Ximenwai have become more "dragon-excited". As soon as the twelfth lunar month came, the city's famous families, scholars, and merchants all volunteered to raise funds and donate money. Ordinary people also came to collect money for good luck, buying materials, making dragons, and making drums. All donors, regardless of the amount, were treated equally and had to make a list, which was posted on the city wall with double red paper. Those on the list were honored and those who viewed the list admired. The dragon dancers were picked out of a hundred, each of them was smart and strong, outstanding, and impressive. It was really a one-person dragon dance that the whole family "promoted". This custom has been passed down to this day. Yu Changfu, Wang Maoyou, and Shao Zhenqing in the early days of liberation were all dragon dancers, and they were influential men among the audience. One day, the Dahongyazi military camp in Dagu Mountain invited the dragon outside the west gate. As soon as Wang Maoyou left the city gate, he felt like smoking, so he took the opportunity to relieve himself and slipped into the opium den. At the critical moment, they found that Wang Maoyou was missing, and everyone was panicking. At this critical moment, a sturdy man named Lu Fengchun walked out from the audience. People outside the West Gate called him "King of Heaven". He was strong and powerful. Saving the stage is like putting out a fire. Without saying a word, the "King of Heaven" picked up the dragon head weighing more than 20 kilograms and made the ambitious dragon alive with a "hum". Because of excessive force, the dragon handle broke with a "click". He threw down the wooden handle, held the dragon head tightly, and continued to "operate" normally. Cheers and firecrackers were heard everywhere, and people only knew that the dragon handle was broken afterwards. After leaving the camp gate, the "King of Heaven" felt his knees cold, and when he looked down, he found that his cotton pants were worn out. The dragon "settled down" and "multiplied" outside the West Gate, and six or seven generations of dragon performers have been passed down to date. Han Qiancai, who is in his seventies, has been holding the dragon handle for more than 60 years and never gives up. His son, grandson, daughter, and son-in-law are all active in the dragon show. Rules It is said that the rules of dragon show were very strict in those days. There is a Jade Emperor Temple outside the West Gate. Because the Jade Emperor is "in charge of agriculture", dragon show started on his birthday on the ninth day of the first lunar month. People put tributes in front of the statue of the Jade Emperor, light red candles, burn incense, worship, firecrackers blast, gongs and drums roar, and dragon lanterns dance to the melodious sound of suona. Afterwards, the dragon is carried to the seaside under the Dragon King Temple. The dragon head symbolically plunges into the water to indicate drinking water. After a full drink, it enters the city with high spirits. Once the dragon enters the West Gate (Ninghai Gate), the battle is very grand, and the lantern official leads the way. The lamp official wore a fur coat with the fur facing outwards, a string of copper bells around his neck, and a large pipe in his hand. He sat on a chair tied to one end of a wooden pole. The wooden pole was fixed on a cart and moved up and down using a lever. The lamp official was in charge of the lamps. If he saw a shop whose door lamp was not bright, he would point with his pipe to indicate his criticism. If the lamp in front of a house was bright and beautiful, he would stop and let the dragon dance for a while, and the shopkeeper would be so happy that he would quickly reward him. In the first month of the year, the rich and powerful would invite the dragon team to their own gates to dance the dragon, one to celebrate the new happiness, and the other to pray for good luck for the year. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)