In the old society of Shangyuan Dragon Dance, Shangyuan Village was surrounded by water, so it was inconvenient for villagers to travel and seek medical treatment, so they prayed to Shangyuan to worship Buddha and pray for blessing. However, there are no temples in Nanzhuang, and people just burn incense on handmade dragons to pray for well-being. Since then, the ancestors of Shangyuan combined incense burning with dragon dancing. On August 15 and 16 of the Mid-Autumn Festival every year, they first burn incense for the Dragon King, praying for good weather and good health in the coming year, and then begin to dance the dragon. Later, dragon dance gradually developed into a festival folk activity in Shangyuan, which was passed down from generation to generation and has a history of more than 500 years.
At present, the dragon dance is mainly performed by Xinshefang, which is held on the evening of August 15th and 16th of the lunar calendar. After nightfall, firecrackers and drums sounded, and the more prestigious people in the village put incense on the headstock. People immediately rushed to incense the dragon, the most rare of which was to put longevity incense on the faucet. It is said that it is most effective to put incense on the faucet to pray for blessings. After the fire dragon is started, onlookers will squeeze into the fire dragon and shuttle back and forth. This ceremony is called "piercing the dragon stick", which means that crossing the dragon will bring prosperity. Except that the dragon head is carried by the stronger youth in the village, the whole Youlong is completed by the youth in the village, and each dragon stick is carried by three people in turn. The fire dragon set out from the front of the ancestral hall of Xinhua News Agency, with a path sign in front, dozens of children holding colorful flags, followed by the honor guard of Shangyuan Primary School, followed by the fire dragon, followed by the luminous dragon of the lion awakening team of more than 20 meters, decorated with floats with the theme of crossing the sea by the Eight Immortals and four beautiful women, various myths and historical figures. Finally, the team invited the Huang Feihong Lion Awakening Team of Foshan to perform a professional lion awakening performance. The fire dragon lasted for nearly three hours, and it needed to be changed twice on the way, totaling about 700 kilograms of longevity incense. Whenever the dragon parade stops, people around will take a step forward and add fragrance to the dragon again, so that the villagers can pray for good health, good weather and peace and prosperity.