A Yingge team on a square: two drummers in the front rank with red drums slung on them, painted dancers with sticks formed up behind

A painted drummer with a red-lacquered drum at his side, standing in the line

National-level intangible cultural heritage · item no. Ⅲ-8

Yingge Dance

Yingge is a folk dance found in Chaoshan and parts of eastern Guangdong. The usual elements are painted faces, wooden sticks, gong-and-drum rhythm and marching formations. The groups that perform it, and the local records that describe it, differ from place to place.

Start with the basics See the three traditions

DrumSticksFace paintFormationFront sectionRear sectionSlow beatMiddle beatFast beatDrum-and-gong band

Ⅲ-8shared by three places 2006first list; Jiazi added in 2011 3 routesone route each 107／108two headcounts in the sources 29 troupesrecorded on this site · updated 26 October 2026

I · What it is

What Yingge dance is

One number, three entries: each place has an item name of its own.

Listed in the first national batch in 2006 as item Ⅲ-8. Puning and Chaoyang were in that first batch; Jiazi was added in 2011. Three items share the number and are listed separately.

“Yingge” is the common name. Each of the three places has its own route, and the national list files three items, one per nominating place. Dancers hold a wooden stick in each hand and strike them to the gong-and-drum beat; the face is painted, and the feet keep to the formation.

On numbers, the Puning and Chaoyang project pages record up to 108 dancers; some troupes and press accounts give 107 as the roster, explained by the casting of Lu Junyi. The two sets of material differ in origin and in what they count; 107 cannot be written up as a rule.

Volume 1 · Names and the list →

Ⅲ-8Yingge (Puning Yingge)First batch, 2006 · Puning, Jieyang, Guangdong

Ⅲ-8Yingge (Chaoyang Yingge)First batch, 2006 · Chaoyang, Shantou, Guangdong

Ⅲ-8Yingge (Jiazi Yingge)Third batch, expansion, 2011 · Lufeng, Shanwei, Guangdong

II · Three regional traditions

Three regional traditions

Puning, Chaoyang and Jiazi each have their own tradition and a page of their own.

A Puning Yingge team opening out into formation, firecracker paper on the ground

IJieyang · PuningPuningThe project page draws the formation, the stick work and the ranks; the ceiling of 108 is stated thereExplore Puning Yingge →

Chaoyang Yingge: painted dancers with sticks driving down the middle of the street, neighbours watching behind

IIShantou · ChaoyangChaoyangThe project material divides into slow, middle and fast beats; there is also a district-level standardExplore Chaoyang Yingge →

A Jiazi Yingge team formed up in the street

IIIShanwei · LufengJiaziThe project page arranges the dancers in four ranks, and several of its numbers do not agreeExplore Jiazi Yingge →

The three tradition names follow the places that nominated the items; they do not mean Yingge is danced only in these three places. Each account comes from its own project material, and the accounts do not merge into one system. The three cards above are entry points to the regional profiles.

III · Ten volumes

Ten volumes

From the name to the people who carry it: one subject per volume. Open the volume you want. All ten are in English; records outside this section are in Chinese.

01What it isThe name, the national list, three item names→02How it is dancedStick work, footwork, face paint, formation→03Schools comparedWhere the three records diverge→04Who dancesRoles, and the front and rear sections→05When it is dancedFestivals, dates, occasions→06TroupesTroupes recorded on this site→07Origins and disputesThe origin stories and where the evidence stops→08Questions and gapsFrequent questions, and what is still unresolved→09TermsThe working vocabulary, glossed→10Recognised inheritorsProtection units and inheritors→

A face painted green with black lines, a gold crown ringed with pompoms, the brows and eyes drawn very fine — Face-paint close-up; the gold crown is ringed with pompoms. Photo: Xiao Kaihong

Three dancers on a square: one with a large cymbal, two with small drums — Night procession in the square: one cymbal and two drums set out in a triangle.

The line opening out across the square, a ring of spectators on four sides — The formation opens across the square, with a ring of onlookers on four sides.

Sources

Sources	Type
Yingge (Puning Yingge)China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)Project page undated; announced in the first batch, 2006	Listed-project page
Yingge (Chaoyang Yingge)As aboveProject page undated; announced in the first batch, 2006	Listed-project page
Yingge (Jiazi Yingge)As aboveProject page undated; third batch (expansion), 2011	Listed-project page
Revised protection units for national-level ICH items, announcedDepartment of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism2019-12-05	Ministry release
Puning Yingge DanceForeign Affairs Office of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee (Guangdong Provincial People’s Government Foreign Affairs Office)2026-07-24 (https certificate error; the link runs over http)	Government website introduction
Reply to Proposal No. 20250334, 14th session of the Shantou CPPCCOffice of the Chaoyang District People’s Government, Shantou2025-05-14 (https certificate error; the link runs over http)	Government information disclosure
Ximen Women’s Yingge Troupe, Chaoyang“Yingge Dance” feature, Shantou Polytechnic2025-03-06	College feature
“You must see Yingge dance in Chaoshan once in your life” (headline)China News Service2024-02-28	Report
A troupe on the street, filmedPosted by the troupe’s own account · street procession, fourth day of the first lunar monthSome images in section four come from this clip (the hero image was replaced on 2026-10-25). Frame size 1024×576 — enough for small slots only	Footage

The hero image is openly licensed: both the desktop and the narrow-screen crops are by Auongkinghe (CC BY-SA 4.0), from Wikimedia Commons, cut from one photograph of the Guan Yisheng Yingge troupe.

Last revised: 26 October 2026