| Qixiang is a kind of folk ritual activities held by Manchu Hundure and their descendants who stationed and lived in the Northeast area.It has several elements such as Shaman culture,minority culture,the Central Plains culture and so on.Many kinds of arts such as poetry,music,dance,clothing,paper cutting,painting mask,etc.,existed in this kind of cultural forms,can be referred to as Qixiang Art.The Qing Dynasty until the Republic of China,Qixiang sacrifice has been widely exist in the Liaoning,Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.From the legacy of sacrificial activities,it’s program is complex,and there are a variety of matters and many of the gods.Between different regions and different family’s sacrifice,there are some differences in the details,but in terms of ancestor god,single drum dance,sacrificial rites and spiritual belief,etc.are basically the same.The period of the Republic of China,Qixiang sacrifice and its art form were recorded in around the "County Annals" or "Old News".After the founding of the PRC,the sacrifice culture got the attention of the scholars.Today,Qixiang sacrifice and its art have been listed as cultural heritage,studied by more and more scholars.Overall,the research of Qixiang sacrifice process through three stages: the first was the 50 s and 60 s when the scholar mainly discusses the problem of single drum dance;the second was from the late 70 s to 90 s when the Shaman culture of Manchu Hundure has been discussed;since 2000 is the third stage when scholars discussed Sacrifice culture and artistic issues from multiple perspectives.There is Gods song in Qixiang sacrifice which is sung by Gods craftsman.Its contents includes greeting or farewell ancestors and gods,auspicious blessing of peace,urging children to do good harmony,telling historical stories and so on;Singing language is Chinese that is different of Manchu’s shaman song of gods;The songs can be divided into three types of "ritual words","serve word" and "holy word",which is a kind of folk literature and has characteristics of oral and collective.Qixiang Sacrifice contains music played by single drum,waist bell and other instruments in order to cooperate with the singing and dancing.The musical art includes three parts: musical instruments,drum set and tune;Musical instrument is the main single drum supplemented by the waist bell;Drum set is combination of drums which include a variety of rhythm and beat method;Tune refers to the rhythm and melody of Gods song which is about more than ten kinds.Qixiang Sacrifice contains a number of dance performances of which the purpose is to entertain people and spirits and to pray Gods bless.Dance performance is similar in many respects of Shaman dances due to the absorption of Manchu shaman culture elements.Qixiang dance has some basic movements such as ocho,twist-waist,drum-skills,drum-etiquette and drum-location etc.which makes dance very aesthetic features.The dance can be divided into four categories: animal dance,ghost-god dance,intermediary dance,and life through dance.Animal dance is a complete experience of the "art" which contains not only contradictions,pain and wild,but also integration,happiness and civilization;Ghost-Gods dance is a "Self Performance" of Manchu Hundure,which include the display of their own emotions,lives and history;Gods craftsman who perform stunts and martial arts called intermediary dance which include two kinds of elements of mystery and entertainment;Life through dance is a kinds of dance that is converted by ordinary people to holy people,and it can make people get "rebirth" and enter a new stage of "life".Qixiang dress includes cap,clothing,skirts and shoes.The cap has two kinds.One is a woolen hats,the other is a gods helmet that can be divided into feather type and lotus crown.Clothing includes two kinds: uniforms and vestments.The former is daily clothing of god craftsman and master,and the latter is divine clothing that god craftsman wears in Qixiang ceremony.Skirts are similar to the Manchu shaman dances god skirt which comprises a barrel type skirt and open skirt.Shoes are made of black cloth known as the " black shoes" that god artisan must wear in ritual activities.The main color of the sacrifice dress is white,blue and black,all of which have rich symbolic meanings.White symbol of purity,sincerity,selflessness not only,also symbolizes the birth and death;Black is associated with death,including the Han Chinese traditional view of color;The colors of blue related to the Manchu " Worship cyan" concept.There are art of paper-cut,mask and painting in the Qixiang Sacrifice.The art of paper-cut has two main types: one is the flag-like,the other is the five-fidibus.The flag-like is made by paper,straw,spear or gourd,and is important sacrificial symbol whose shape and ideas mainly originated from the ancient military standard "big flag ".The five-fidibus is made by white grass with wine cup shape and three feet,and is sacrificial utensil of "hit five party" ceremony.There are five masks that god craftsman wears to represent five specters whose function is to integrate the sacred and the secular,showing a blend of the world.Painting is called " gods" or " god portrait",and its content is the character of God and animal God with the characteristics of practicality.There are three factors that is the basis for the production of Qixiang culture.The first is the inflow of Han Chinese in the northeast;second is the establishment of the eight banners system;third is the Manchu Hundure’s spiritual needs.Qixiang culture went through three historical stages: the afferent stage before Kangxi and Yongzheng Dynasty,the stage of development from Qianlong dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty,and the extinction phase of the republic of China so far.Today,the Qixiang sacrifice and its art have been saved slightly in Jilin Jiutai City,Wula street and Yongji County;The originally sacrificial activities as a family life has turned to business performance which lead to the spiritual beliefs greatly weakened;It is necessary to take measures to protect the precious cultural heritage to make it passed down. |
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