On March 11th, the 10th Aojiang Dragon Festival, also known as the “Fulin Jinian · Shengshi Dragon Ceremony”, opened. County leaders Chen Dong, Li Yangyang, and Hua Huaijian attended the event.
The Aojiang Dragon is a national intangible cultural heritage and a long-standing folk activity in the Aojiang River basin, known as the “Number One Dragon in the East”. Since last year, the time of dragon drawing has moved from Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) to February 2 of the lunar calendar, which is just combined with the proverb “On February 2, the dragon raises its head”, and the folk custom atmosphere is even stronger. Since its birth, the Aojiang Dragon has been of its own size and length, growing with each year. This year, the total length of the Aojiang Dragon is 99 meters, with the dragon head 5 meters high and the dragon body diameter 2.4 meters, which is the longest in history. Standing at the head of the dragon, one cannot see its tail at all, coinciding with the folk saying “divine dragons see their heads but not their tails”. The dragon has a total of 9 sections, using over 5500 kilograms of bamboo, over 1200 kilograms of colored cloth, over 7000 scales, and over 9000 kilograms of iron wire. It took 7 folk masters 50 days to complete the production, and more than 260 strong men were needed to lift it together during the parade. It is worth mentioning that this year, the artist master has improved the tying process of the dragon by adding dragon feet and tail swinging through the transmission system, presenting the swimming form of the dragon in a vivid and lifelike way. The dragon’s sound effect has been repeatedly screened, compared, and upgraded to make the dragon “live”, swinging like a real dragon descending into the sea, lifelike.
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