Yingge · Questions and gaps

Are yingge and yingge wu the same thing?

Yes. The formal item name is yingge; in common speech people say yingge wu; the official entry records other spellings — singing yingge, eagle song, parrot, yangge.

Why is it called yingge?

The official entry says it is “also called eagle song, parrot, singing yingge or yangge”; several spellings coexist and the common item name is yingge. As to why, the official text gives no etymology; a similarity of sound is not enough to settle it, so this page records the variants and does not rule.

Is yingge a form of nuo dance?

They are not the same item. Yingge and nuo dance are two separate national-level ICH representative items. There is a view that Yingge comes from nuo, and in 2024 the Journal of Guangzhou University (social sciences) carried a piece, “A query on ‘Yingge dance derives from nuo’”, examining it. Both stand side by side here and neither is ruled on.

Why is it called “China’s war dance” or “the living terracotta army”?

Both are recent promotional phrases, not scholarly designations, and neither appears in the early gazetteers. They come from the look of it: the ranks straight, the drum fast, the shouting loud.

How old is it, and where does it come from?

The official entry says “traditionally more than three hundred years”, and its origin is usually explained either as a variant of local martial custom or as a staging of Water Margin stories. The Chaoyang entry adds that by the Ming it had absorbed the northern big-drum yangge; the Jiazi entry says it came from Fujian in the early Ming and was improved by local martial artists in the late Ming. The accounts stand side by side with no settled answer.

How many in a team, and how long does a performance last?

Teams are even-numbered; the official entry describes team sizes ranging from 12 to 108 dancers, the Puning profile 24, 36, 72 up to 108. There is also the view that a full team fields 107 with Lu Junyi’s seat left empty — that comes from teams’ own accounts and from reports; the official page never writes 107, and it is not a rule every team follows (see Volume 1, “107 and 108 answer different questions”). Length is not fixed: the longest record measured for this page runs 8 minutes 19 seconds, no complete performance was found, and what is titled “full set” has mostly been cut.

Can women dance it?

The official entry says “performed by men”, which describes the traditional form. Contemporary women’s teams are numerous: the Ximen women’s team was founded in 1952, broke off for a time and resumed in June 2011; on the second day of the first lunar month 2026 the first women’s Yingge group in Puning came out.Volume 6 In the team table six names carry “women’s”; counting the Nanshan women’s group, seven.Volume 4 lists eleven from the records, and these seven are among them.

What is the difference between the front and rear sections?

The official wording: “the front section is the gong-and-drum playing and the Yingge dance; the rear section is short plays and speciality turns, each with its own character”. The front is the backbone; the rear depends on what a team can do, and the Jiazi route still has names for its rear-section plays. Only the two together make a performance — see the glossary.

How do slow, medium and fast differ?

The Chaoyang entry is the most concrete: the slow tempo uses a long stick, three or four strikes to a set; the medium strikes five or seven, also eight to thirteen, with the drum tapping continuously; the fast uses a short stick and a tight drum, and divides into the duelling set, the Nanshan civil school and the Nanshan martial school. They are not three speeds but three ways of playing.

How long is the stick, and why do lengths differ?

The rule gives a round stick 10 cm across and 20 cm long. The Chaoyang route divides by tempo: the slow tempo uses a long stick, three or four strikes to a set; the fast uses a short stick that moves freely. Puning divides into fast, medium and slow schools.

When can it be seen, and where?

Mostly in the first lunar month, going out with god parades, community sacrifices and temple fairs; dates differ by township and team, so the announcement for the year governs. The spread across the year is in Volume 5, When it is danced, and the god-parade dates are in the god-parade calendar.

How does it differ from Chaozhou opera?

Yingge is a square dance: it goes through streets and lanes, keeps time with ranks, paired sticks and drums, and does not sing. Chaozhou opera is a theatrical genre with role types, sung delivery and a stage. They are not the same kind of thing.

What is the lead stick?

The name of the leading role at the front of the line. Chen Laifa’s file records that he “became lead stick the following year” and moved to coaching in 1990, so it is a post within the team. What the holder actually controls differs by team and cannot be written up as a general director.

What is the second stick?

The position after the lead stick; a Puning account says the team “is led out by the head stick and the second stick”. None of the three official project pages defines it or describes how it stands with the lead stick. This page records the name only and adds no method.

Is there one standard face design?

No. The Puning route paints by the heroes of Mount Liang;Volume 4 records seven characters that can be identified. The same character carries different ground colours and patterns in different teams.