During the New Year holidays, 28 children in Gaochun district of Nanjing city were busy rehearsing Gaochun small horse and lantern dances, and some old people and women were also hurrying to make stage properties for the performances.
72-year-old Lyu Fengsheng introduced that the Gaochun small horse and lantern dance is a folk art that can be dated back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368), which means it boasts a history of over 653 years. But due to the shortage of funds for buying costumes and stage properties in the recent decade, the dance had to be halted. In 2016, villagers in Gaochun voluntarily donated a total of 80,000 yuan (US$12,900) to support the Gaochun small horse and lantern dance.
The troupe of the Gaochun small horse and lantern dance, an intangible cultural heritage of Nanjing city, will give its performances to residents in each village of Gaochun during the Spring Festival holidays this year.
