Qilin Dance (Dachuankeng Qilin Dance)

The Dachuankeng qilin dance began in the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty and has more than four hundred years of history. The villagers of Dachuankeng are all Hakka whose ancestors, by tradition, migrated through Henan and Fujian into Guangdong, and the qilin dance is a classic expression of their Hakka customs.

Performers manipulate a brightly built qilin and preserve the full set of eight inherited movement sequences, accompanied by ten boxing routines and weapon displays with knife, staff and trident, uniting dance and martial arts in one form.

In 2011 the Dachuankeng qilin dance, having kept its ancestral routines and martial arts intact, entered the third batch of the national intangible-heritage list, a living witness to Shenzhen's Hakka migrant culture.

It is performed mainly in the Hakka village area of Dachuankeng in Bao'an, now Longhua, during the Spring Festival and other celebrations.