Lion Dance (Guangdong Southern Lion, Suixi)

The Guangdong southern lion originated around Nanhai in Foshan and travelled with Cantonese settlers to the Leizhou Peninsula, where Suixi's strong martial-arts culture made it a key home of the craft. In 2006 the lion dance (Guangdong southern lion) entered the first national ICH list under code Ⅲ-5.

Two performers share one lion, warming up with southern fist stances, then dancing through horse stances, leaps, ascents and the plucking of greens to the beat of drum, gong and cymbal, fierce and nimble; Suixi lion dance is famed for daring feats on high poles and wire.

Suixi's lion dance carries the peninsula's martial-arts heritage and festival folklore as an important branch of Lingnan lion dance, often representing Guangdong at home and abroad, with notable cultural and artistic value.