The most famous Hakka dragon dance in Luodai is the "Liu Family Dragon", which is named after the Liu family, a Hakka from Jiangxi. The Liu family has lived in Luodai Town for more than 300 years for 14 generations. The Liu family has been dancing dragons in the ancient town on auspicious festivals for more than 300 years. The Liu Family Dragon Dance is directly developed from the ancient Chinese dragon dance. It has a long history and has been passed down within the family without interruption. Therefore, it has preserved many of the most primitive procedures and simple rituals of ancient Chinese dragon dances. In the ninth festival of the Water Dragon, the summer drought, the water dragon will show its skills, which is to pray for rain. The dragon dancers are all bare-chested, wearing only a pair of shorts, and move up and down; the spectators use water guns and basins to splash the dragon, chasing and blocking it from front and back. Hakka people regard water as wealth. The wetter it is, the more prosperous it is. The dancers and spectators attack and defend, which is very exciting. The Liu Family Dragon has also become one of the most attractive activities in Hakka culture. The Water Dragon Festival has been successfully held in Luodai Ancient Town for seven times. The Hakka people first moved from the Central Plains of my country to the coastal areas due to wars and natural disasters. The coastal areas have abundant rainfall and rich products, and the Hakka people live a life of plenty. It is said that the Hakka people have close contacts with the Dragon King of the East China Sea. In order to thank the Dragon King of the East China Sea for timely rain, the Hakka people celebrate the harvest with water dragon dance every summer, which has become a custom. Later, due to the continuous wars, famines and plagues in Sichuan, it almost became a deserted place. The popularity of the coastal Hakka people was relatively high, and the government forced a large number of people to move to Sichuan. It is said that the Hakka immigrants who came to Luodai in the early stage suffered from drought. They experienced vicissitudes in their bitterness of looking forward to rain and water. Later, it was learned that there was such a legend in the history of Luodai: When Liu Adou, the prince of Shu in the Three Kingdoms, was playing in the octagonal well, he accidentally slipped the jade belt in his hand into the well. Adou hurriedly ordered the eunuch to dig the well to retrieve the belt. Unexpectedly, there was a storm when digging the well, and it was calm when he stopped. There was a storm again when digging again, and the jade belt could not be fished up, so it was named Luodai. It was also learned that the Octagonal Well was the eye of the East China Sea, and its water was sweet and inexhaustible. Inspired by this, the Hakka people spontaneously combined their ancestors' water dragon dance with well-washing to pray for rain, and they got rain, and the Dragon King did not get angry, which was very effective. After that, even if there was no drought, the Hakka people in Luodai would dance water dragons every Dragon Boat Festival to thank God for the good weather and good harvest (they would dance colorful dragons and fire dragons on the Lantern Festival) and celebrate the good harvest. Dancing fire dragons and water dragons became a unique cultural custom of the Hakka people in Luodai. Luodai Town has a profound historical and cultural heritage. Luodai Ancient Town has a long history. It is said that it was a street in the Han Dynasty, named "Wanjing Street". More than 86% of the town are descendants of Hakka immigrants, mainly from Hakka settlements in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces. The long history of thousands of years and the integration of multiple cultures have left many folk legends, historical relics, ancient buildings, and Hakka guild halls. Many historical sites are well preserved, including the thousand-year-old street, Ming and Qing dwellings, Hakka Guild Hall complex and Jinlong Temple. The annual "Water Dragon Festival" and "Fire Dragon Festival" are characteristic folk activities passed down by the Hakka people for hundreds of years. Luodai Town is one of the first batch of key small towns in the country, a provincial famous historical and cultural town, a key protected town in Chengdu, and the largest and only Hakka ancient town in western China. Therefore, it is also known as "Luodai of the world, the eternal Hakka". As one of the core venues of the 20th World Hakka Reunion Conference, it has determined the Hakka cultural status of Luodai in the world. After liberation, due to the influence of the "man conquers nature" thought and political factors, the custom of dancing water dragons was interrupted for a time, and only fire dragons and colorful dragons were retained. The last time the Hakka people in Luodai danced water dragons was in 1948. At that time, the water dragon was a nine-section grass dragon made of wheat straw. The dragon-dance man was bare-chested and wore a wicker ring on his head. People used water from the octagonal well to sprinkle the water dragon to pray for rain, so that they could survive the drought that year. Today, the Water Dragon Festival has been restored. Tourists who come to Luodai in the midsummer can catch the Water Dragon Festival in July and see the spectacular and lively scene of Hakka people dancing water dragons. At the same time, they can see how Hakka people in Dongshan Luodai pray for good weather and good harvests. Information source: Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Information source: Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center