Huanglongxi Town Fire Dragon Festival

The Chinese folk art "fire dragon lantern dance" dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in ancient China. The story behind the origination of the fire dragon lantern dance, states that the "candle dragon" regulates the light and darkness and the "ying dragon" is in the charge of controlling the wind and rain. There is another dragon that gives birth to nine young dragons. This way the legend led to the creation of fire dragon lantern dance following the totem culture of "dragon dance". The dragon dance has gradually been developed over time. Constant up gradation of this folk art over the passage of time has turned the Huanglongxi Town, in the Shuangliu County of Sichuan province, into the "Hometown of Fire Dragon".

The Huanglongxi Town Fire Dragon Festival is well known all over China. It usually occurs on the second day to the fifteenth day of the first month in lunar calendar. The dragon dance in this gorgeous Fire Dragon Festival is performed with drums, cymbals, gongs and other Chinese folk musical instruments. The viewers spray the naked performers with specially designed fireworks. The impressive performances of the dancers in the Fire Dragon Festival of the Huanglongxi town will surely add to your pleasure. This fire dragon festival is a very popular form of New Year celebration among the Chinese people. The Huanglongxi fire dragon dance also marks the yearly Spring Festival. This popular dance festival follows the Lantern Festival in Chengdu.

This festival offers a wide variety of lanterns ranging from traditional lanterns made of paper, silk and color glasses to the modern neon lamps regulated with sound. The lanterns in dragon design can be of different types such as jade dragon made of ceramics, golden dragon drawn with sugar, golden dragon with a pillar, two dragons playing with a pearl and many more.

Huanglongxi Town Fire Dragon Festival and the Lantern Festival together constitute a great start of the Chinese lunar calendar.