From above: the dancers in two rings, inner and outer, a round plaque at the centre

Photo: Bailin

Chaonan · Jin’ou, Liangying

Jin’ou Township Yingge Team

Jin’ou is in Liangying. The Baosheng Emperor is given a great rite every three years, and the team exists for that rite: seventy-two on stage, not one more.

72On stage

1leader, as Shi Qian

4 formationsformations, four named in the source

3 yearsone rite

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

At the rite the team circles round, one man leading in the centre. Photo: Bailin

Three dancers abreast in the street, a red plaque behind them. Photo: Zoemonday

Three dancers standing abreast in the street, a red plaque reading “High Promotion” behind them. Photo: Zoemonday

Face painting: the first stroke at the forehead, the design half done. Photo: Bailin

What Jin’ou has is the formation. Not the largest team, but the hardest movement: open out, close up, cut through, come round again.

Numbers and formations follow this township’s rules. Other teams can change theirs; here it does not move.

1 · Laying out the formation

Four sticks, four formations

First the tiger coming down the mountain, then a change to the assault formation.

Two dancers leaping and striking in mid-street, a float and a crowd behind

Photo: Taylor LZY

Numbers

Seventy-two

Seventy-two dance, matching the seventy-two earthly spirits; one leader is added, plus several on gongs, drums and the team banner.

A finished face, the character for “army” written at the centre of the forehead

Photo: Bailin

Leader

A cloth snake

The leader plays Shi Qian, a black-and-white cloth snake in his hand, directing with a whistle. The snake swings and the team moves.

2 · Who leads

Four sticks, four formations

The numbering and the characters are fixed in the team; of the formations only the names survive.

lead stickLi Kui

second stickGuan Sheng

third stickLu Zhishen

fourth stickWu Song

Two dragons to seaformations

four tigers abreastformations

sweeping away a thousand troopsformations

eight-trigram planformations

The four sticks set out the tiger coming down the mountain; then each appears in turn and the line changes to the assault formation. The source gives no positions, spacings or change-over beats.

3 · On the ground

Face, ground, lamp

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

The lantern tower at night, red lanterns on every tier, the plaque reading “peace to the rite” — The lantern tower at the rite, the plaque reading “peace to the rite”. Photo: Bailin

Jin’ou’s team exists for the rite that comes every three years. While the rite stands, the team stands.

4 · Images

Snake, conch, Liangying

Jin’ou is in Liangying; one of the three was shot there.

A man in black on the kerb, a pale cloth snake hanging from his hand — Shi Qian, a cloth snake in his hand. Photo: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0

A man in a yellow shirt with a white conch at his lips — The conch: held to the lips, its sound arriving before the gong. Photo: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0

A team opening out in a courtyard, yellow and red, the smoke not yet cleared — A Yingge team from Liangying opening out in a courtyard. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (photographer not named), CC BY-SA 3.0

The first two were shot at a Chaoshan community parade in Hong Kong, China; the third is Liangying on the first day of the first lunar month, 2008, and is not Jin’ou. The snake and the conch can be compared; the team cannot be identified.

5 · Close reading

Seven notes

Numbers, characters, formation names — each one checkable.

The rite

Jin’ou Yingge grew out of the township’s three-yearly rite to the Baosheng Emperor. It exists for the rite, not for competitions.

Numbers

Seventy-two matching the seventy-two earthly spirits, plus one leader, plus several on gongs, drums and banners.

Numbering

Li Kui leads, then Guan Sheng, Lu Zhishen and Wu Song. Number and character match, and the whole team is ordered by it.

Another account

One text records 107 in the Jin’ou team. It stands alongside the 72; the two are from different moments, so both are given and neither is cut.

Four formations

Two dragons to sea, four tigers abreast, sweeping away a thousand troops, the eight-trigram plan.

The cloth snake

Black and white, bending and stretching, with a whistle. The leader is the only man on the ground who does not follow the drum but his own whistle.

One route, one source

Chaonan was split off from Chaoyang in 2003. Jin’ou still dances the Chaoyang route.

Last

Three things not yet settled

All three lack primary material.

One

72 and 107. One is the establishment, the other what a witness saw; whether these are two moments of one team or two teams, the material does not say.

Two

How the four formations move. Names only: no positions, no spacing, no change-over beats.

Three

How the snake is made. Its length, its cloth, how it bends — nothing is recorded.

Elsewhere · exits

Look elsewhere

Chaoyang Yingge Taguan Yingge Team Volume 4 · Schools Volume 6 · Teams Volume 9 · Glossary

Sources

Sources	Type
Yingge at home — “China’s war dance”Economic Evening News (Qiu Er), supplement; reprinted by a WeChat account2026-02	Newspaper supplement
yinggeChina Intangible Cultural Heritage NetworkListed-project page; first batch, 2006	National list entry
Images from the Jin’ou rite Bailin (Douyin)Quoted 2026-10 under permission; credited in captions	Image permission
Yingge images (Wikimedia Commons)Wikimedia Commons; photographers credited in captionsRetrieved 2026-10	Openly licensed images

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Last revised: 25 October 2026