Photo: Gilles Sabrié for the Washington Post.
Members of the Xiaohexi Tongyi stilt-walking club in 2025.
According to the traditional Chinese calendar, this Lunar New Year, (also called Spring Festival) is the Year of the Horse, the Water Horse, to be exact.
Lunar New Year traditions go back hundreds of years, although in China they were forbidden during the Cultural Revolution. Nowadays the Chinese government loves them so much it has asked UNESCO to protect them as “intangible heritage.”
At the Washington Post, we learn about a newly revived aspect of the celebrations.
Last year at this time, Christian Shepherd reported, “The once-endangered folk tradition of stilt walking has staged a dramatic comeback in China, where it is being embraced by young performers eager to find community and preserve their heritage. …
“Its revival has also been helped along by Beijing’s efforts to encourage — and control — traditional art forms and spiritual practices as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s push for ‘cultural confidence.’
“ ‘I have loved folk culture since I was a child,’ said Guo Wenmiao, a 20-year-old engineering undergraduate who is a big fan of the NBA and Nike kicks — and stilt walking. …
“Stilt walking is part of a folk tradition of performances, rooted in ancient Chinese belief systems such as Confucianism and Taoism, that have been used to mark festivals and celebrate local deities for hundreds of years.
“But these rituals of pilgrimage and prayer were effectively banned in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s, when the first leader of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, encouraged militant student ‘red guards’ to eradicate ‘old culture’ and superstition.
“Volunteer-run cultural associations are now reviving many of these suppressed traditions and passing them on to a new generation.
“Here in the countryside of northern China, people born this century are performing folk arts that date back at least 400 years — not least to provide distraction from economic uncertainties.
“Traditional theater, music and acrobatic performances are becoming popular at local ‘temple fairs’ and during national holidays such as Lunar New Year.
“At one festival last year on the outskirts of Tianjin to mark the birthday of Mazu, the sea goddess in Chinese folklore, crowds were wowed by fire breathers, cymbal jugglers and leaping kung fu fighters. … It was the stilt walkers, however, who stood out.
“Perched on meter-high wooden platforms in colorful outfits, wearing face paint and elaborate headdresses, they acted out folk tales to rhythmic drums and clashing gongs.
“The performers are amateurs, but they know how to put on a show. In one act, Guo … played a foppish princeling who becomes obsessed with catching an evasive butterfly.
“Before the Tianjin celebration, Guo and the other members of the Xiaohexi Tongyi stilt-walking club prepared to perform in their hometown of Shengfang, a small town an hour’s drive east of Tianjin.
“They play-fought one minute and applied makeup the next. A used-car salesman smoked a cigarette and complained about business before transforming himself into a rosy-cheeked matron — a comedic cross-gender role known as the ‘foolish mother.’
“All the performers were male, between age 10 and 35, and came from a variety of backgrounds. But all of them considered dressing up in elaborate costumes and dancing on stilts a perfectly unremarkable hobby.
“ ‘Joining the troupe is something that’s ingrained in everyone’ [said] Guo Tongkai, the 23-year-old lead performer, no relation to the butterfly chaser.
“Many of the performers began stilt walking when in primary school and regard themselves as ‘disciples’ of the art form.
“ ‘It’s a tradition passed down from our ancestors,’ said Guo Tongkai, who started learning to walk on stilts at the age of 5. ‘Everyone progresses and learns together.’ ”
More at the Post, here, where you can see some amazing photos and videos. And check out a Business Insider story on the dancing stilt-like robots in Beijing, here.
Photo: CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
Dancers — robot and human — performed in Beijing for last year’s spring festival.
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