Lion Dance
舞狮子
Lion Dance means a performance by persons disguised themselves as lions. There will be three persons in the dance, two of them act as the lion ( one is the lion head and the other the body and tail.), then cover them with the lion skin-like fabric. The vivid lion-head made of wood or bamboo strips is held in the player who acts as the lion head, and the third person holds the colored ball or horsetail whisker to guide the lion to do various movements. In every annual Spring Festival, there will be lion dances to show celebration on the both sides of the Great River from the first day to the fifth day of the first moon.
舞狮子是由人扮演成狮子进行表演的一种活动。舞狮子通常有三个人参与表演，其中两个人演狮子（一人演狮头，一人演狮身及尾），在两个人的身上罩上与狮皮颜色相同的织物，再以木雕刻或以竹篾编成形成形象逼真的狮头，由演狮头者手持；另有一人手持彩球或拂尘，引逼狮子做各种动作。每到春节，自初一至十五，中国的大江南北，都会举行内容丰富的舞狮子活动。
Lion Dance in Chinese History
舞狮表演
There is no lion at all in China. The lions in China and also the image of lions were imported from India in the Han dynasty. There was the game to play with lions in the Period of the Three Kingdoms, but according to the notes, the lions they played with were not real ones.
中国本无狮子，中国的狮子及关于狮子的形象主要是在汉代开始从印度传入的。在三国时期，已经有戏狮的活动。而且，从其注释的内容来看，舞狮时舞动的并非真狮，而是狮子的形象。
Lions are brave mighty. In addition, they are from India, the Buddhist country, so they are quite legendary in the eyes of Chinese. Chinese think that lions are brave and fierce, which could not only symbolize power and courage but also suppress the demns and drive the evils off. Therefore, they worship the lions as the embodiment of good lucks and safety. In front of the gate of the Chinese buildings, there are two stone or bronze lions, which shows the idea.
狮子很威猛，加上狮子又来自佛国印度，因此，在中国人的心目中，狮子是颇具神奇色彩的。他们认为狮子威武勇猛，不仅象征着力量和勇敢，还能镇妖驱邪，所以他们把狮子奉为吉祥和平安的化身。中国的许多建筑物门前通常都要摆上一对石狮或铜狮也反映了这种思想。
In the Tang dynasty, the lion dance was quite popular. There was a performanc - "the five direction Lion dance" in the palace. There were more than 100 actors, ten of whom acted as five lions in different colors, and ten held the red horsetail whiskers to tease the lions, and there was also a team of vocal accompaniment of 140 people.
唐代的舞狮子活动十分流行，当时，在宫廷中有一种名为“五方狮子舞”的演出，参演人数达100多人，其中有10人扮演成5头颜色各不相同的狮子，由10人手持红拂逗引狮子，另外还有140人的伴唱队伍。
The Southern Lion and the Northern Lion-the Regional Features of the Lion Dance
舞狮表演的地域特色
There are different lion dances --- the Southern Lion and the Northern Lion because of the different action regions. They have differences in the materials, methods and the skills of performance. The Southern Lion is the lion dance performed in the South of China. The lion heasd is usually made of bamboo strips, decorated with some glass, and looks very gorgeous. The movements are gentle and exquisite and mainly show the lovely and funny characters of lions, so the Southern Lion is also called " the Civil Lion". The Northern Lion is performed in the North. The lion head is made of carved wood and weighs dozens of jin. The heaviest one amounts to more than 90 jin, so it has a high request to the physical strength of performers. The Northern Lion dance stresses on the difficult movements, such as the jumps and rolls etc., in order to express the power and agility of lions. Therefore, the Northern Lion is also called " the Military Lion".
舞狮子活动因特点和地域的不同而有南狮与北狮之分，它们在制作狮子的材料、方式以及表演手法上均不相同。南狮即在南方表演的狮子舞，也被称为“文狮”。它通常用竹篾制成狮头，再在狮头上装上玻璃灯饰物，较为华丽；表演动作柔和、细腻，主要表现狮子的活泼可爱和风趣诙谐。北狮是指在北方表演的狮子舞，也被称为“武狮”。狮头用木头雕成，重达数十斤，最重的甚至可达90多斤，因此，它对舞狮者的体力有较高的要求。北狮在表演时讲究活跃、翻滚等有难度的动作，主要表现狮子的威猛、迅捷。
Even at present the lion dance is a necessary performance in every traditional festival becasue of its moral to drive off the evils and pray for good luck in addition to the dangerous, incentive and exciting scene. From 1990s, there have appeared different lion dance competitions, such as the National Lion Dance Contest, the World Lion King Contest, the World Dragon-Lion Contest and the World Lion Dance Contest etc., which have promoted the lion dance greatly.
因为舞狮子活动有驱邪求吉的寓意，加上舞狮子表演惊险、刺激，场面热烈，因此，即使在今天，每逢传统佳节，舞狮子仍是不可或缺的表演项目。从20世纪90年代开始，还出现了各种形式的舞狮大赛，诸如全国醒狮大赛、国际狮王赛、国际龙狮赛、国际醒狮赛等等，极大地推动了舞狮活动的发展。
。