Unicorn Dance

[Nataraya]

Introduction: As a teenager I was introduced in the Qiling dance, I played the tail due to my size. Everybody in the team must also played an instrument, for me that was the cymbols. I never played the Lion and in a way I was not interested because the unicorn is in my Heart. Till today I still have strong affinity with the qilin, and thought to publish several parts of an anthropological description which is a very good one. In Hakka Boxing this belongs to one of the four arts.
The first one is; 1) Boxing 2) Qilin dance 3) Healing arts and 4) Shen Kung.



(my late Pak Mei Sifu Jie Kon Siew)

Part1:

At 9:00 a.m. the qilin music begins, with the cymbal, gong, and drum making deafening sounds in the narrow confines of the apartment. The moment the music begins, the disciples of the SPM school become more subdued, and they quickly put on their ritual dress: black leather kung fu boots, black silk fighting pants with red silk sashes, and white T-shirts with "New Market Mantis Gymnasium" printed across the front. The central ritual object of the occasion is the qilin (which is sometimes translated "unicorn" although the Chinese mythological beast is not the same as its European counter-part). The head of the qilin is thirty inches in diameter and is held to together with a bamboo strip frame and a gauze lining, which is covered with thin silk fabric and painted in yellow, green, blue, black, and red geometric designs. The qilin has a moveable lower jaw, two glass colored eyes on six inches of flexible coiled wire, a horn at the crest of the head, two five inch mirrors and four three inch colored balls on its forehead. Written on the inside of the qilin's mouth is a lucky expression, and Chinese characters on its neck pray that the weather will be favorable for agriculture. Nine feet of richly colored silk cloth represents the body of the qilin, and a six inch diameter silk ball symbolizes the tip of the tail.

The qilin dance is a variant of Chinese "Lion Dancing," which may have developed from "One Horn Play (Rudolph 1960)," a sport which was played in China during the Han dynasty (207 S.C.-A.D. 220). Descriptive records of Lion Dances exist in ancient texts like "Nine Lions Teased The White Horse (Huang and Chen 1980)." Generally speaking, the Lion Dance is divided into the northern and the southern branches. There are two kinds of Northern Lion: the big lion and the small lion. The former is made up of two persons, while the later is a one person lion. The Guangdong Lion is especially characteristic of Southern Lions (Huang and Chen 1980), with the "Big Headed Lion" of Guangzhou and Foshan being the most typical. According to one authority, the qilin dance originated in Dongwan county in Guangdong province (Huang and Chen 1980). Besides the types of Cantonese Lions already mentioned, in Guangdong Province there are also the "thingy Lions" of Qingyuan and Yin de counties; "Duck Lip Lions" of Zhongshan county; and the "Dragon Dance" and the "Fish Dance," which are also found in other parts of China.

In addition to the qilin in Guangdong Province there is the "Big Painted Face Lion," the "Second Painted Face Lion," the "Cai Lion," and the "Literate Lion (Huang and Chen 1980)." Lion heads come in large, medium and small sizes; the heaviest weighs fifteen pounds and the lightest six pounds. Lions are also divided into the red face, black beard, green nose, iron horns, and bush beard types. Some Cantonese consider the latter two types to be symbols of the two most famous Chinese knight errands, Guan Yu and Zhang Pei, who with Liu Bei took an oath of sworn brotherhood during the volatile Three Kingdoms period (A.D. 220-265) which followed the overthrow of the Ban dynasty. According to one Cantonese author, the Lion Dance originated in Foshan: Early in the King dynasty (1368-1644) there appeared a strange animal with a single horn, with big eyes and a big mouth. It continually cried out "nin...nin" (author's note: a Cantonese homophone for the word "year.") The creature came at the end of every year to the outskirts of Foshan destroying crops and killing livestock wherever it went. The peasants suffered a lot, but they dare not kill the strange animal for they believed it was a horrible creature and killing it would bring misfortune down upon themselves. Finally they conspired together and developed a plan. They used bamboo to make several lion heads and painted them with a mixture of colors. They hid near where the strange animal always appeared, and when they saw the beast they began beating drums and gongs. Disguised as lions they moved toward the creature. The beast was frightened and ran away in haste; and since that time it has not reappeared (Huang and Chen 1980).

The teacher and the members of his kung fu cult believe that the qilin used in their rituals is possessed by the spirit of the qilin When the materials which make up an old qilin begin to wear, the master and his disciples spend $1,800 H.K. (approx. U.S. $360 in 1979) to purchase a new qilin; and on an appropriate time of the month determined by the Chinese Farmer's almanac, they bring bring to life the new qilin (which becomes a male or a female qilin in a possession trance ritual which the members of the cult perform deep in the hills of New Territories in the late hours of might before dawn.

During the Lunar New Year rituals, after the qilin music begins everyone the Master puts on ritual garb, and the qilin (with two dancers inside) leaves the martial house first. The qilin is followed by the cymbals player, two boxers carrying the gong on a pole, two bearers of the kung fu ancestral drum, two "protectors" of the qilin carrying seven foot long fighting staffs, one choreographer of the gain's movements, one collector of "lucky money" (lishi), and the rest of the master's disciples, relatives and friends who have turned up for the day's events.


Kindest regards,

Evert.

[Nataraya]

During the first day of the Lunar New Year, most of the roles of the qilin dancing team are interchangeable, particularly the dancer at the head of the qilin, which is the most exhausting position and requires a fresh dancer every ten minutes. Only the collector of "lucky money" works at the same role throughout the entire day. He holds a reddish wooden box which is fourteen inches by ten inches and four inches deep. Written on the lid of the box is the expression "May you become wealthy," and on the inside of the box is the character cai, which in Cantonese is a homophone for the Chinese character for luck and prosperity Approximately thirty members of the SPM kung fu cult have taken part in the first day's Lunar New Year's activities over the last several years. The master accompanies the qilin dancing team, but he does not actively supervise his disciples; he spends most of his time talking to relatives and friends he meets along the route of the procession.

While the qilin performs at one location, two members of the kung fu cult go ahead to inform the next family or store owner that the qilin will soon be coming.

The Hong Kong police lave asserted that coercion is. Frequently involved in the collection of lucky money by lion and qilin dancing teams during the Lunar New Year, and they have stated that members of kung fu cults sometimes harm or harass storeowners or neighbors who do not contribute money. At every stop made by the qilin team, “lucky money” packets were given to the “lucky money” collector. It should be noted, however, that the members of the martial school were on their own “territory” in New Market Town, and they collected money only from nearby store owners and neighbors, many of whom are the master’s relatives or friends, who had been informed days in advance by formal visiting cards that the qilin dancing team would be coming. When the qilin team arrived, householders and store owners opened their doors and, for all appearances, warmly welcomed the good blessings of the qilin. The apartment buildings visited by the qilin team are five stories high, and the team works its way from the lower floors to the upper stories. Inside each apartment the qilin bows three times to the family’s ancestral shrine and then bows to their earth god shrine and door good shrine. In spite of the fact that it has been illegal to possess firecrackers in Hong Kong since the riots of 1966-67, many families welcome the qilin by lighting strings of firecrackers.

Visits by the qilin to private homes last approximately five minutes, but dances at shops and stores take longer, and more elaborate dances at these latter places are frequently rewarded with greater sums of money.
When the qilin arrives, merchants sometimes hang heads of lettuce stuffed with red “lucky money” packets from the beam of their shop doorways. Lettuce is used for this purpose because in Cantonese, lettuce is the homophone for the expression “getting wealth.” On these occasions, the qilin grasps the heads of lettuce, and spits out the “inedible” leaves, while retaining the money packets.

At noon, the qilin returns to the martial house and after bowing at the shrine to the three founders of Mantis kung fu, the qilin rests. The female relatives of the master, by this time, have cooked the meatless mid-day meal. As the women prepare to serve lunch, the men and boys resume their gambling games. When the food is served, the men and boys eat while the women dish out additional bowls of food and rice. Eventually the woolen retreat to the kitchen where they eat their own meal. After lunch the members of the kung fu cult gamble and talk until the almost deafening qilin music begins again at two o’clock, and the cult members leave to collect more “lucky money.”<br>
Out on the street, the members of the kung fu cult are relaxed and festive. When the qilin appears, small children excitedly run up to it, and members of the cult who are not occupied with the dance play with them. They also throw lighted firecrackers and indulge in some of the paper gambling gases which are popular in Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year.

During the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 16, 1980, the qilin dancing team by chance encountered another kung fu’s lion dancing team members of both cults became tense and serious; according to custom, if either the lion or the qilin are not polite when they meet, members of the slighted kung fu cult will take offense and fight with the members of the cult who have insulted them. The qilin and the Lion took fifteen minutes to greet one another before they danced down the street to their next stops. When the SPM qilin dancing team returned to the martial house at dusk, everyone complained that the master of the lion dancing team had been stupid and impolite to collect “lucky money” on their territory without first consulting the Maste. One of the master’s senior disciples explained that the other cult’s lion dancing team had not intended to insult the teacher; they had simply been foolish in trying to collect “lucky money” in an area outside their home base without checking to see if another kung fu cult had prior claim over the territory.

During dinner, left-overs from lunch were served, but fewer of the master’s disciples remained for the evening meal, most elected to return home to their families instead. After dinner the lucky money which had been collected during the day was counted. The red packets with the most money contained one hundred Hong Kong dollars (approximately $20 U.S. in 1980); the smallest contained ten Hong Hong dollars. All totaled, $1,680.00 Hong Kong dollars had been collected during the day. By nightfall, only the master’s most senior disciples remained with him, and with several younger members of the master’s lineage they gambled until the early morning hours of the next day.

Evert.

[Leon]

Thanks for the story, it was nice.
I don't think I have ever seen a qilin dance before Any reason why qilin dance isn't as famous as lion dance? Also, do you have any videos of qilin dance?

[Nataraya]

Hello Leon,

Qilin dances are VERY popular in Vietnam. From my colleague Peter I heard that there are request to learn Qilin dance again.

The Pak Mei school in Holland was also changing to Lion dancing, according to a meeting I had with my late Sifu in 1999. Lion Dancing is more popular nowadays, and the competition is strongly alive. I am mroe thenpleased to hear that they are focussing a little bit more in Qilin dancing nowadays.

I have footages of the Qilin dance in my archive from the Dutch school, but this is for me personal. It is up to Peter van Aartsen to decided to present a clip of it to the audience. I know he is a frequent visitor of this forum, so he will certainly read this request/ letter. We will see........

I think there are another two parts to add, all in the same 'relaxed' observation context. If you are really searching about the Qilin dance, you will conclude that not much decent text is found. That's why I present this to followers of Traditional Martial Arts. We need to preserve this for later generations.......

Kindest regards,

Evert.

[Nataraya]

When the qilin arrived at the door of the ancestral hall, the geomancer was at the entrance of the building working with a ruler, a string and plumb bob, measuring the dimensions of the building and making sure that it was in harmony with the natural environment surrounding it, thus insuring the good fortune of the lineage. Above the beam of the door of the ancestral hall, the geomancer had placed a concave mirror which reflected off bad feng shui and helped to maintain the correct relationship of the building to its surroundings.

According to custom, the ancestral hall is a symbol of the complete integration of the lineage. The ancestral hall was constructed in 1968, and it differed from most of those constructed in the New Territories at an earlier date. The major difference was the small size of the ancestral hall; it was fourteen by eleven feet, with a slanted ceiling that was eight and a half feet at its highest. Because of its small size, the hall contained no large rooms for meetings, feasts, or for worshipping the gods and ancestors. In the main room there were rows of ancestral tablets, and in the front there was an altar for placing incense and offerings. A few cushions were scattered on the floor, and a string of "Christmas" lights was hung along the interior wall. Compared to other ancestral halls in Hong Kong, the ancestral hall was plainly decorated; it had no wooden statues of gods, no paintings, no scrolls of calligraphy, and no ancestral records.

When the qilin from the SPM kung fu cult arrived at the entrance of the hall, adults members of the lineage were either worshipping their dead ancestors inside the ancestral hall or were greeting their living kinsmen outside it. Children and young people, especially boys, were lighting firecrackers; they did not enter into the ancestral hall although they occasionally looked into the hall from the front entrance.
In the kung fu cult the most ritually significant moment of the year is when the qilin enters the ancestral hall; thus symbolizing the respect of the kung fu cult to the master's ancestors. The master's closest disciple, the first assistant, plays the part of the qilin head on this occasion. Before entering the ancestral hall. the qilin nods its head from left to right. When it was dancing inside the hall during the Lunar NewYear's festivities in 1980, fifteen men and women were crowded inside lighting incense and burning paper money for their ancestors it the afterlife and placing offerings of tea, fruit, cakes and poultry before the ancestral tablets.

After worshipping inside the ancestral hall for ten minutes, the qilin left the hall, the Master his second assistant, took over the role of head qilin dancer. Outside the ancestral hall, the qilin went to the houses which were built before the native village was destroyed, and it danced before each family's ancestral shrine and collected "lucky money" from them.

When the qilin finished collecting "lucky money," the most senior fu lao (lineage elder), began to prepare two 15 foot strings of jumbo size firecrackers with the assistance of the Master and three of the master's senior disciples. They attached the two strings of firecrackers to two 10 feet long poles, and arranged them in the shape of a letter "W', facing the ancestral hall.

Before the fu lao lit the two strings of firecrackers, the master's second assistant and a member of the masters lineage, entered the ancestral hall, lit several sticks of incense and asked permission from the ancestors to light the firecrackers. When the master left the ancestral hall, the village fu lao lit both strings of firecrackers. The noise of the firecrackers was as loud as a multitude of small cannons firing. The villagers moved back from the explosions, and many put their hands over their ears.

According to one author:

“…Firecrackers play an essential part of every Chinese ceremony. It is believed that gods and men delight in noise while devils fear it and stay away. Booming and banging is the sign of the beginning of a real Chinese celebration. Chinese believe that the noise of the serves a triple purposes: it honors the immortals, it scares away evil spirits, and it brings delight to every Chinese (Kwok Yi Lai 1980)”.
While the firecrackers were exploding in front of the masters ancestral hall, the fu lao stood nearest to the firecrackers and was expected to resolve any problems which might arise from the ceremony. In the process, he was burned slightly by an exploding firecracker and moved back somewhat.

No women were involved in the preparation of the firecrackers, but after the last firecracker had exploded, six elderly women went into the fallow paddy fields under the spot where the firecrackers had been set off and burnt gold and silver paper "money" for the ancestors of the lineage.

Men from the lineage then set off several smaller strings of firecrackers. When they finished the qilin music began again, and the members of the Master his kung fu cult lined up together next to the stone ridge facing the ancestral hall. For the next forty-five minutes the disciples performed kung fu in front of the ancestral hall. Accompanied by qilin music, the least proficient of the master's students performed individual sets of kung fu while the more advanced disciples performed in pairs and with martial weapons acted out mock fights. Each individual performance was followed by applause from the whole lineage.

Next time: "Picking up the Green".

[essence]

Good day Evert.

I have heard of Qilin Wu before. Some elders from NCK have talked to me a little about it, but they said little and did not go into details. Unfortunately, I have not yet have the opportunity to see a Qilin Dance before.

From what I have read, the practices of the Qilin and the Lion and Dragon are essentially the same, paying respects when passing by another Lion/Dragon/Qilin. In Singapore, when we go out to perform, it is also customary to play the Kia Lei (paying respects) drum roll when passing by another school or temple.

I have learnt of the Kay Lem Poh in Hung Kuen, and recently, the importance of this method of stepping has been stressed to me. Looking towards an application perspective, I think it could be very useful to avoid and/or confuse an opponent. Is this related to the Qilin's dance?

Warmest regards,
Tze Hou

[Nataraya]

Tze Hou,

Today I got permission to present a part of the Qilin dancing. But it is huge, so I need to bring the size back, then will send it to Russ with a request that practitioners are able to see. It should be a nice finishing step to stop this thread. More at a later stage...



PICKING OF THE GREEN:

After the kung fu demonstration that day, the best qilin dancer, the thirdteaching assistant, took the head of the qilin, while the master's youngest disciple, an eleven year old primary school student, took the tail of the qilin. Together they performed the final major qilin dance of the day, the "picking of the green (shi ging)."The "picking of the green" dance recounts the myth of an infant qilin fear when it first encounters "greenery." Greenery, according to a younger kung fu uncle, symbolizes life and vitality. The dance also has the obvious suggestion of a fertility rite, for written on the qilin head is the expression "qilin give sons (qilin song zi)." A head of lettuce serves as the central symbol of the "picking of the green" dance, with the performance being divided into eight parts: drowsiness, delight, anger, sadness, happiness, anxiety, suspicion, and the picking of the green.

At the beginning of the dance, the qilin limps along, moving slowly to symbolize that it has just awakened from a deep sleep. The qilin begins to move forward with a faster motion and kicks its legs out; it twists its head from side to side and jumps up and down to demonstrate its strength. Strings of exploding firecrackers are thrown at the qilin by the spectators to increase the excitement. The head dancer jumps onto a wobbly four feet by three feet folding table, leaving the tail dancer behind. The lead dancer dances for several minutes on the unstable table and in a spectacular move, he does a full flip while still in costume, and lands back on the table top. After more dancing the qilin does another flip, but this time he intentionally lands on the ground, and the head of the qilin is quickly replaced by the master's long time disciple and kinsman, who is joined by a second "brother" who plays the role of the qilin tail.

The qilin acts like a cat that is chasing its tail. The head runs after the tail, but the tail always escapes just before it is bitten. The head of the qilin moves rapidly from side to side with both dancers following the rhythm of the qilin music. The head of the qilin jumps over its body, and the tail twists to untangle itself as both dancers move in figure eights. The qilin creeps and then halts three times; then it trots straight toward the ancestral hall. Suddenly it falls asleep, with the head dancer standing on one foot and the tail dancer bending low to the ground. Soon the qilin wakes up, moves a bit but then falls asleep again. This is repeated three times. While the qilin is sleeping a third time, the master's first assistant places the "green" in front of qilin so that the green is located between the qilin and the ancestral hall. When the qilin awakens from sleep, it sees the green and anxiously touches the green with its foot. The qilin bends down to get a closer look at the green, backs away, and suddenly springs forward. It stop and hesitates and acts suspicious of the green, cautiously moving around it. The master's first assistant comes up to the green and kicks it around, and the qilin follows the green wherever it lands. The tail of the qilin picks up the green and waves it back and forth in front of the head. The head of the qilin turns in time with the movement of the green. The qilin tail tosses down the green, and the head comes up and begins to "chew" the green in its mouth, spitting out leaves as its goes. After over a minute of chewing, the qilin spits out the rest of the green minus the red packet of lucky money which was hidden inside. After over twenty minutes of dancing, the "picking of the green" dance comes to an end.

Kind regards,

Evert.

[Nataraya]

Dear readers,

I am very pleased that it is now possible to download a nice part of the Qilin dance as done by the Pak Mei Pai group in the Netherlands. The file is around 50MB, but worth the download time. Also it will give you a nice glimpse of (most) facets of the dance, so that you have an idea about, one of the four disciplines of Hakka Boxing.


You can download the file from Russ Smith his homepage:

www.goju-ryu.info/


Warm regards,

Evert.

[Leon]

Thank you so much for sharing the video with us. That the first Qilin dance I have ever seen, so beautiful.

It was cute the way that the 'head' and the 'tail' played with each other ;D There was one part where the dancer spread his arms out, how does he control the Qilin head without his arms?
Thanks again!

[Nataraya]

Dear Leon,

In Southern Martial arts, especially Hakka styles (but I think Fukien styles too (?)), play jaw power (Ngaak Geng), an important role. As you can imagine, the mask is held between your teeth, during this action. There are many other (hidden) skills that you will learn. Most important thing you notice, was that you did enjoy watching it. As long as we enjoy the art, and trying to understand the ‘message’ behind it, then we are working in the correct direction.

Thank you for your nice words, they are appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Evert.

[Nataraya]

The Chilin or Unicorn, whose prototype may have been some rare quadruped now extinct, or possibly the giraffe, is a fabulous creature of good omen, and the symbol of longevity, grandeur, felicity, illustrious offspring, and wise administration.

It is reputed to be able to walk on water as well as on land, and is said to have last appeared just before the death of Confucius. It is sometimes called the Dragon Horse, and is one of the four great mythical animals of China, the others being the DRAGON, PHOENIX, and TORTOISE. It is represented by Buddhists as carrying on its back the civilizing Book of the Law. A Dragon Horse is recorded to have come up out of the Yellow River and appeared to Fu Hsi, the first legendary Emperor, bearing on its back a mystic map from which the written language of China is said to have been evolved.

The predominant characteristic of the Lin is its perfect goodwill, gentleness, and benevolence to all living creatures. "The unicorn is supposed to combine and possess all the good qualities which are to be found among all hairy animals: it is invested with a skin of the gayest colours, endowed with a disposition of the kindest feelings; and a discriminating mind, that enables it to know when benevolent kings or wise sages are to appear in the world, is attributed to it. The male is called ch'i, and the female lin; it resembles a large stag in its general form; but combines the body of the musk deer with the tail of an ox, the forehead of a wolf, and the hoofs of a horse. Its skin is of five colours, red, yellow, blue, white, and black; and it is yellow under the belly; it is twelve cubits high. Its voice is like the sound of bells and other musical instruments. It has a horn proceeding out of the forehead, the tip of which is fleshy, and this peculiarity pointed it out as an animal unfit for war. The male has a horn, but the female is without this defence. It carefully avoids treading upon any living insect, or destroying the grass under its feet, and its gait is regulated according to propriety. It never eats contrary to right (meaning that it does not eat carrion or what other animals have left), nor will it drink muddy water; and so well known is its disposition that other animals are not afraid to see its footsteps. It is always seen solitary, and appears to mankind only when a king of the highest benevolence sits upon the throne, or when a sage is about to be born. The unicorn envelopes itself with benevolence, and crowns itself with rectitude. Chinese writers say that it appeared in the halcyon days of the Emperors Yao and Shun, and was also seen at the time when Confucius was born; but so degenerate have mankind since become, that it has never since shown itself. Some of them go so far as to affirm that the mother of Confucius became pregnant of him by stepping into the footsteps of a unicorn when she went to the hills to worship. This representation of the ch'i lin combines most of the external characteristics, as described by the Chinese; it is sometimes drawn surrounded with fire, and other times with clouds." Some writers state that it has the body of a horse, is covered with scales like a fish, and has two horns bent backwards. The celebrated scholar Ts'ai Yung, A.D. 133-192, asserts that it is the incarnate essence of the FIVE ELEMENTS. "It is said to attain the age of one thousand years, and to be the noblest form of animal creation, the emblem of perfect good." It is regarded as a happy portent, on its alleged appearance, of the advent of good government or the birth of virtuous rulers.

Pictures of the Goddess of Fecundity riding on a unicorn, and holding a child in her arms, may often be seen in the nuptial chamber. The unicorn was formerly embroidered on the court robes of the military officials of the first grade.

Source: C.A.S. Williams. Outlines of Symbolism & Art motives. New York, 1976.

Warm regards,

Evert.