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A dancer in a red robe with a black face and long beard stands mid-street, a stick in each hand, a painted gallery and red lanterns behind

National ICH Ⅲ-8 · first batch, 2006

Chaoyang Yingge

Chaoyang and Chaonan districts: one route, two places. The tempo divides into slow, medium and fast; one team to a village, each playing its own.

130-plusteams in the district (2025 district government reply)

3 schoolsslow · medium · fast

11 formsnine strikes in two classes, plus two spins

1952Ximen women’s team founded

drumstickface paintingformationfront sectionrear sectionslow tempomedium tempofast tempogong-and-drum band

A night street parade, dancers in colour in file

Sparring before the pagoda, one man in the air. Photo: Xiao Kaihong

A parade at Dabu, Dahao, painted faces in rows. Photo: Ixioini

Chaoyang divides Yingge by tempo, not by team. The slow is steady, the medium continuous, the fast cutting.

Chaonan was split from Chaoyang in 2003. Jin’ou township is in Liangying, Chaonan; when the drum sounds it is still this route.

Within this one route there is also a district-level local standard that sets stick work and formations down as rules. Of the three routes, only this one has it.

1 · Three tempos

Slow, medium, fast

How many strokes the drummer plays to a cycle decides a team’s temper.

At night on the square two ranks walk through the steps, in ordinary clothes, unpainted

slow tempo

three to a cycle

The sticks are longer than in the other branches and rise and fall further; the slowness holds force. There is also a “drunken stick”, danced as if drunk, found around Wenguang, Mianbei and Chengnan.

A night performance in full costume, pheasant tails and back flags under the lights

medium tempo

five to a cycle

The drum runs on without a gap. The strike counts come in sets: five, seven, also eight, ten, eleven, thirteen.

A dancer in a flower crown and red-green costume, both hands lifted

fast tempo

seven to a cycle

The sticks are short and move freely, and the drum opens and closes with the formation. Under it three branches: the duelling set, the Nanshan civil school and the Nanshan martial school.

2 · Stick work

Nine forms in two classes

Names and methods follow the district standard DB 4405/T 315—2025.

inward spintail forward, a vertical circle against the inside of the forearm

outward spinhead forward, a vertical circle against the outside of the forearm

vertical strikemeeting up and down in front of the chest, head to head

diagonal strikeswung from the right hip to the left and back, once each way

double throwswung out, struck at the chest, raised, brought back

paring strikethe upper stick pares past the lower and pushes away with the momentum

cross slidecrossed at the waist, one slips out

dart strikecrossed and held at the waist, one hand thrusting straight forward

planting strikethe head driven down into the ground

back strikehands behind the back, the two sticks beating up and down

under-hip strikestruck under the hip, one before the other

Nine + twonine strikes, two spins

The one-line descriptions are aides-mémoire written for this site; the wording of the standard is in Volume 2, How it is danced, and in chapters 7 and 8 of the standard.

3 · Costume and gear

Face, armour, tail, stick

Faces follow the heroes of Mount Liang; costume is matched to the role, not standardised by team.

Four face designs: red with a long beard, painted, blue-green lines, white with black lines — A hundred and eight faces, in four kinds: red with a long beard, painted, blue-green, white. (Drawn for this site.)

Marching in the street; a dancer in blue armour wears two long pheasant tails — Two pheasant tails and a man stands a head taller.

A white face with red lines, white beard, gold crown, a red banner embroidered in gold behind — Face painting at Meihua: white ground, red lines, a white beard, a gold crown. Photo: Zzz108

The back of a red back-plate at night, brass studs and key-fret patterns on it — The team banner in front, a file following.

A pair of wooden sticks crossed at the chest, one in each hand — A pair of wooden sticks crossed at the chest. Photo: Xiao Kaihong

Close on the second stick, red face and red beard, the line standing behind — The second stick, red face, red beard. Photo: Zoemonday, CC BY-SA 4.0

The written basis for faces and costume is in annexes A and B of the district standard; what teams actually wear differs.

4 · Face and team

Numbers and street

The first three show the numbering: lead stick, second, third, written on the face. The last three are the Ximen women’s team of Miancheng, in the street and on stage.

A red face with a red beard, a broad-brimmed hat pressed down to the brows — Lead stick: red face, red beard, a broad-brimmed hat. Photo: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0

A black face with a black beard, black armour, a red sash at the waist — Second stick: black face, black beard, a red sash at the waist. Photo: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0

A white painted face, blue monk's robe, prayer beads at the neck — Third stick, Lu Zhishen: a blue monk’s robe and a string of prayer beads. Photo: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0

At night in the street, the women's team in red and green — At night in the street, the women’s team walking through in file.

A dancer in a flower crown, both hands raised — A flower crown, red and green costume, both hands lifted.

On stage with the light pressed to red, a team performing — A scene on stage, the lighting pressed to red.

5 · Close reading

Eleven notes

The rules, the list, the counts — each one checkable.

The standard

DB 4405/T 315—2025, issued 2025-02-24 and in force the next day, forty pages in all.

Drafting

Proposed by the municipal culture, radio, television, tourism and sports bureau; the drafting bodies include five Yingge teams — Mianbei Houxi, Wenguang Taoyuan, Caowei township, Chengnan Zhongjing and the Ximen women — together with Shantou Polytechnic.

Transmission bases

Ten, from the same reply as the 130-odd teams.

Inheritors

Forty-seven across the levels. The project page names eight more — Hong Feiying, Guo Yaoyang, Chen Hanlong, Yao Xinta, Yang Wei, Zhou Xiuxing, Chen Kunli and Lin Abao — without grading them.

Title

In November 1996 it was named a “home of Chinese folk art” — this title does not carry the words Yingge dance.

The Ximen women’s team

Founded in 1952, broken off for a time, rebuilt in 2011; the base is the five-strike count.

a hundred phoenixes dancing

A ten-strike duelling set, composed in recent years. “Circling taiji” is a solo, made in the same batch.

Formations

Double coin, four columns, plum blossom. Names only; no floor plans.

Ground, one

Yubei in Tongyu works a great circle on the village ground.

Ground, two

Yiying in Xiashan forms a long file at the mouth of the street. The movement changes with the ground.

The counts

The 130-odd also appear in a November 2024 Southern.com report marked “incomplete statistics”; the district government’s reply does not carry those words.

6 · Teams

Two representative teams

Taguan in the town, Jin’ou in Chaonan.

The main body marching down the street over coloured firecracker paper

TaguanTaguan in Miancheng, formed in 2014. Once they take the street, firecracker paper covers it.

The lantern tower at night, red lanterns on every tier, the plaque reading “peace to the rite”

Photo: Bailin

Jin’ou townshipJin’ou in Liangying, Chaonan: the Baosheng Emperor gets a rite every three years and the team exists for it.

The line-up, method and formations of each are in Taguan, Jin’ou township; for every team see Volume 6, Teams.

Looking down on the ground of the rite, the team in a ring

At the rite the team circles round, one man leading in the centre

One rite: on the ground they walk the circle, in the line they keep the order.

Last

Three things not yet settled

All three lack primary material.

One

What divides the Nanshan civil and martial schools. Officially only the two names are listed, with no method, formation or representative team.

Two

How the 130-odd were counted. Neither the reply nor the report says how, or whether school teams and ad hoc groups are included.

Three

Which team plays which tempo. The slow tempo is found in Wenguang, Mianbei and Chengnan; that is a geography, not a claim that every team there is slow.

Elsewhere · exits

Look elsewhere

Meihua Yingge Puning Yingge Jiazi Yingge The three traditions compared Volume 2 · How it is danced Volume 9 · Glossary

Sources

Sources	Type
Yingge (Chaoyang Yingge)China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network / Digital Museum of China ICHNo publication date on the item page; announced in the first batch, 2006	National list entry
Publication of the revised protection units for national ICH representative itemsDepartment of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism2019-12-05	Ministry release
Reply from the Chaoyang district government to a CPPCC proposalChaoyang District People’s Government, Shantou2025-05-14	Government website release
Chaoyang district local standard, “Intangible cultural heritage: Chaoyang Yingge”DB 4405/T 315—2025, Shantou Administration for Market Regulationissued 2025-02-24, in force the next day; forty pages in all	Local standard
Chaoyang, Tongyu: men and women sparring, filmed posted by the team’s own account · the street before Cai Chusheng’s former homeThe lead image is taken from that video; the stream tops out at 1024×576	Images
Meihua Yingge footage Douyin, Zzz108 (display permitted by the photographer by direct message)permission given 2026-10-25	Licensed footage
Yingge images (Wikimedia Commons)Wikimedia Commons; photographers credited in captionsRetrieved 2026-10	Openly licensed images

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Last revised: 25 October 2026