Cai, the distant ancestor of Cai's family, was once elected as a public official during the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. There are three colorful paintings of Kirin in the center of the gate of Cai Ancestral Hall. Cai Qinghua, a 79-year-old artist, told us that Zhangmutou Town is a pure Hakka town, Kirin is a totem of Hakka people, and unicorn dance is brought to the south by Hakka people from the north, with suona and gongs and drums, which has the style of Jiangbei Flower Market and is different from Guangdong Lingnan music, and is a typical Hakka culture. Later, dancing Kirin became a culture passed down from generation to generation; Now the unicorn dance art in the town has a history of at least 450 years.
Cai Qinghua is now the president of the Kirin Dance Wushu Association in Zhangmutou Town. Although I am old, I can also demonstrate some difficult movements for the younger generation. Influenced by him, his children and grandchildren can dance Kirin. Speaking of his children and grandchildren, the old man was extremely happy. It turns out that he has a great-grandson who is only 3 years old and has the talent to learn dance. Every time he sees unicorns dancing on TV, he always learns to dance. "He is so small that he can't even lift the unicorn's head, but his movements are really similar!" Cai Qinghua smiled from ear to ear when he said this.
When chatting with us, the old man fell into a long memory: before the founding of New China, during the slack season every year, the local people usually rehearsed in the natural village, and the middle-aged and elderly people organized it every night. After practicing basic skills, young people practice according to a fixed routine. On New Year's Eve (New Year's Day), they go to every household, give performances to villagers on the morning of New Year's Day, and even give performances to other villages during the Lantern Festival and Lantern Festival.
"Now the unicorn dance is more prosperous, which I never expected. Every village has a Kirin team, and the number of people playing exceeds 1000! " As far as we know, there are now 17 unicorn dance teams in Zhangmutou town, which are distributed in 16 natural villages of 9 village committees in the town. According to preliminary statistics, in the past 10 years, Zhangmutou's unicorn dance has been staged nearly 1000 times. From the countryside of Tian She to the stage at home and abroad, Zhangmutou Town has the footprints of unicorn dance.