Ｄａｎｃｉｎｇ ｏｎ Ｆｉｒｅ ｉｎ Ｐａｎ’ａｎ

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from The Mother River: Carrying on the Culture of Traditional Culture in the Construction of New Countryside in Zhejiang. See the preface of the book in English is on page 11 of this issue.

Fire Dancing is an ancient folk custom still very alive in Pan'an County in central Zhejiang Province. Dancers are volunteers. The number of participants varies from dozens to hundreds. Sometimes several villages join forces and sometimes one village holds its own fire dancing. Dancers must lead a vegetarian life and abstain from sex for three days before the grand occasion.

The fire dancing takes place at night. It is performed within a fire altar that measures 20 meters in diameter. Households contribute their shares of charcoal to build a big fire. The fire on a layer of 20-cm-thick charcoal bursts into hot blazes while horns and drums and gongs sound vehemently. When the fire flames become strong， barefoot dancers march through the village first， upholding and brandishing knives， cudgels and bells. They dance onto the fire altar after coming through the north gate. Then they leave the fire through the south gate and come back to the fire through the west gate. One dancing period lasts 15 minutes and after three sections， the fire dancing ends.

The fire ceremony in Pan'an dates back to immemorial times. It was first an activity held to entertain people. Later it was held to pay homage to deities as it was regarded as the best ritual to please them. Gradually the fire ceremony evolved to aim to achieve health， peace， and prosperity. If someone was very sick， a fire ceremony might be held. If the patient could not walk through the fire， he or she would be carried through the fire on the back of someone else.

The fire ceremony came to prominence in the life of the local people of central Zhejiang during the Northern Song Dynasty in commemorate of Hu Ze， an official whose home village was in Yongkang， central Zhejiang Province. The honest official once suggested waiving a tax in central and southern Zhejiang. History may not be certain whether his proposal was accepted and adopted， but the local people built temples in his memory after his death， regarded him as a god and called him Lord Hu. Legend has it that Lord Hu had a passion for watching fire ceremonies. So a fire dancing ceremony was held annually in his memory. That is how the fire dancing still persists in Pan'an. The local celebration is even grander than the Spring Festival.

The fire dancing in Pan'an embodies an indomitable spirit. Miraculously， fire dancers never get their feet burned even though charcoal is hot at about 700 ℃. According to scholars at home and abroad， the fire dancing ceremony has integrated fire fetishism， sorcery， ideas of Buddhism， Taoism， and Confucianism. It displays ancient mysticism; it is a living fossil of the traditional lifestyle popular in Pan'an. The dancing on fire is an art that integrates music， dancing， sports， martial arts and theater; the ceremony proceeds in the accompaniment of drums， gongs and horns; artists of local operas are invited to sing arias in special tunes requested by hosting villages.

Due to the fact that the fire dancing is not as popular as it was in the past， a series of measures have been taken to preserve and carry on the fiery tradition. A databank on the fire dancing ceremony has been built; the local museum has a special space assigned to display the fire ceremony; a panel of experts collects and compiles references on the dancing tradition; fire dancing bases have been designated; five teams of fire dancers have been organized; a five-year plan has been in place to promote the preservation the heritage systematically; local representatives from all walks of life are put into a steering committee to coordinate all the preservation efforts.