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A Yingge team pushing straight down the street, dancers in coloured costume with two sticks each, crowds packed on both sides

National ICH Ⅲ-8 · first batch, 2006

Puning Yingge

Puning in Jieyang: one route, one county. The line-up runs from 24 to 108, fast, medium and slow schools coexist, and the band carries a conch.

103 teamscurrent teams (provincial foreign affairs office, 2026-07)

24–1084 tiers

3 schoolsfast · medium · slow

4 figuresformations, four given in the source

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

The team opening out on a square, firecracker paper underfoot

Opened out in the square, firecracker paper underfoot

Opening at night in the square

The team pushing along the street, spectators on both sides

Pushing down the street, both sides lined

Puning writes Yingge down in numbers: how many to a team, how long and thick the stick, how the feet stand, how the figure moves.

Of the three routes, only this project page will set it out that way.

The numbers are ceilings, not what every team looks like.

1 · Line-up

Four tiers

The source: “at least 24 or 36, at most 72, up to 108”.

Tier24at least 24: two files make a team

Tier36same tier, a little wider

Tier72a full turn-out for one village or one lineage, with room for both the front and rear sections

Ceiling108taken from the 108 of Mount Liang; on the ground they often field 107, leaving out Lu Junyi, the man rescued

24 and 36 are one tier, 72 another, and 108 is the ceiling. The three degrees of “at most” each carry their own weight and are copied, not adjusted. The 107 line-up comes from some teams’ own accounts and from reports; it is not a rule of the list.

2 · Figures and sets

Four figures, eight names

The source ends with “and so on” — four are given, more than four exist.

Two dragons to seaformation figure

tiger coming down the mountainformation figure

ear of wheatformation figure

snail coilformation figure

laying the fields · laying the yeartwo spellings in one article; whether they are the same set is not said

washing the streetroutine name

New Year callsroutine name

spinning the sticka movement

stick flourisha movement

back strikeroutine name

passing the hiproutine name

cradling the stick, hooking the footroutine name

The names are only names: positions, group sizes and how often the figure changes are not in the source. And what bears the same name moves differently on a village lane and on a square.

3 · Ground and gear

Sticks, face, two grounds

Diagram of the two round wooden sticks, red-lacquered at both ends — Two round wooden sticks per dancer; the project page gives 10 cm across and 20 cm long. (Drawn for this site.)

The face painter's first stroke at the forehead, the design half done — Faces are painted after the heroes of Mount Liang. Halfway through, the colour arrives before the character does.

Opening out on the village ground, firecracker paper underfoot — Opened out on the village ground, firecracker paper everywhere: a performance just finished.

At night on the Bund, painted dancers leaping — The Bund, a performance out of province. The ground changed; the stick work did not.

The conch marks this route: when the dance reaches its pitch the shouts and the conch rise together. The list pages of the other two routes carry no such sentence.

4 · Images

Three teams in the street

Two from Fumei, one each from Niigou and Nanshan, all from the teams’ own accounts.

Dancers in colour packed into the street, people following behind.

The line opening out on a square, red columns and coloured paper, tower blocks behind — The line opening out on a square, red columns and coloured paper, rows of tower blocks behind.

Several dancers raising sticks overhead in the smoke — The smoke not yet cleared, several dancers raising sticks overhead.

A painted dancer holding a child in team kit.

Three different grounds: one in the street, one on a square, one before an ancestral hall.

5 · Close reading

Twelve notes

The list, the gear, the shape of the ground — each one checkable.

The list

Yingge (Puning Yingge), Ⅲ-8, first batch 2006, nominated by Jieyang.

Protection unit

Puning Cultural Centre. The list as revised on 2019-12-05.

Title, one

1996: “home of Guangdong folk and ethnic art (Yingge dance)”.

Title, two

2008: “home of Chinese folk art (Yingge dance)”. Three characters longer than Chaoyang’s 1996 title: it says Yingge dance, not just Yingge.

Stick

A pair of round short sticks each, 10 cm across and 20 cm long.

Step

Feet in the riding crouch, knee lifted, springing sideways.

Conch

Besides gongs and drums the band has a conch, and at the dance’s pitch the shouts and the conch rise together. The other two list pages have no such sentence.

Routine

Washing the street, New Year calls, laying the year, back strike, passing the hip, cradling the stick and hooking the foot. Elsewhere “laying the fields”; both spellings stand.

Ground, one

Qiaozhu Xinliao performs in a ring under a red awning before the temple.

Ground, two

Qiaozhu Puzha performs at night on the square before the temple, and two columns advance.

Team count, one

Provincial foreign affairs office, July 2026 visit note: 103 teams.

Team count, two

City culture and tourism bureau, January 2024: the same figure, said to be nearly 30 more than in 2022. Neither is a live count.

6 · Teams

Three representative teams

Fumei, Nanshan, Niigou.

Two painted dancers striding forward, the line behind them

FumeiFumei in Xiajiashan: four practices a week, both the men’s and the women’s team turn out.

A junior member with his face painted, purple robe and yellow jacket, a stick in his hand

NanshanNanshan, west of Liusha, the representative of the fast route. The picture shows a junior member having his face painted.

On the floor before the ancestral hall, a team opening out to dance

NiigouNiigou in Liaoyuan, the medium tempo. The floor before the ancestral hall is their ground.

The line-up and method of each are set out in Fumei, Nanshan, Niigou; for every team see Teams.

Last

Three things not yet settled

All three lack primary material.

One

How the three schools map onto the tempo categories. Whether the “three schools, fast, medium and slow” divide by team or by method, the introduction does not say.

Two

“Laying the year” and “laying the fields”. Both spellings occur in one article and officially no one says whether they are the same routine.

Three

The list of 103. There is a number; there are no names.

Elsewhere · exits

Look elsewhere

Chaoyang Yingge Jiazi Yingge The three traditions compared How it is danced Glossary

Sources

Sources	Type
Yingge (Puning 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
“Home of Chinese folk art”Jieyang municipal government site, from Jieyang Dailyposted 2011-06-21	Government website release
Visit noteForeign Affairs Office of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government2026-07-24	Government website release
Yingge images (Wikimedia Commons)Wikimedia Commons; photographers credited in captionsRetrieved 2026-10	Openly licensed images

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Last revised: 25 October 2026