A vivid pulse of Zhuang's multiculturalism: What is Zhuang's "teacher drama"

"Master Dance" of Zhuang nationality is a worship dance of Meishan School, which spreads in Wuming, Yongning, Du 'an and Qinzhou counties of Guangxi. It has a long history, rich dance vocabulary and strong national characteristics, and is an important part of Zhuang folk dance. The Zhuang people's learning public opera, commonly known as "singing teacher" and "jumping teacher", is a traditional folk art that the Zhuang people love to see and hear, and it is also one of the most popular operas in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Gong show, the "master" of Zhuang nationality, is mainly spread in Hechi, Yishan, Laibin, Wuwu, Yongning and Guixian, and developed on the basis of "jumping into the gods". "Teacher Gong" is a superstitious professional. People who pretend to be teachers wear masks and dance at the same time to show the religious content of' asking God to exorcise ghosts and eliminate disasters' or rewarding God for a bumper harvest. Because Shigong often sings and dances in silence when worshiping gods and exorcising ghosts, he sings all the time, then sings some spells or religious stories with Shigong's tunes, and dances more with Zhuang folk gods such as "King Mo Yi", "King Gan" and "Three Realms Gong". Shigong combined the beach sacrifice with the local customs of singing and reciting poems, and formed his own unique style. In solo dance, several basic movements run through, the dance segment is complete and the rhythm is distinct, so it is also called Zhuang Shi Drama. According to textual research, it had the embryonic form of drama in Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty. In the early Shigong opera, the actors wore red robes and were mainly accompanied by bees and drums. Later, it gradually became popular, accompanied by orchestral music and other gongs and drums, with healthy, simple and lively artistic characteristics. Folk artists have different opinions about when the "master dance" originated. One said that it originated from the Zhou Dynasty, and there are some lyrics in its songbook, such as "the singer handed down from generation to generation in the Zhou Dynasty", "the real Wang Sangui's name, Zhou Xingjing's remonstrance, resignation as the orthodox religion, and five lines of secret texts". One said that it originated from the era of the Yellow Emperor, saying that the Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyou with Meishan ciphertext; It is also said that Tang, Ge and Zhou played drums and danced for the emperor's mother to exorcise evil spirits, and the emperor named it Sanyuan, so the "Sanyuan Religion" was widely circulated. Another theory originated in the Han Dynasty. When Genan marched to barbarian king in ten caves, followers of Meishan followed the expedition, and later lived in Baishan to preach, resulting in the appearance of mentoring. All the above are oral legends, and there is no reliable written basis, but to some extent, it also shows that the origin of "Gonggong Dance" is very old. It has a certain relationship with the ancient witch dance and Nuo dance in Lingnan (Guangdong and Guangxi were called Lingnan in ancient times).