Rolling lamp, a folk dance of the Han Chinese, is popular in the area along the Qiantang River including Yuhang, Haiyan, etc. Yuhang rolling lamp originated in Wengmei area of Yuhang in Zhejiang. With a history of over 800 years, it is a folk dance performed in festivals and lantern fairs, and has a strong characteristic of competitive sports.
Yuhang is located in the outskirts of Hangzhou, the capital city in the Southern Song Dynasty, so there were frequent temple fairs here in history. Rolling lamp was very popular because it was an indispensable program in the guards of honor at the fairs and ceremonies. Wengmei of Yuhang is adjacent to the Qiantang River, where the salt industry flourished in the ancient time, and pirates intruded this area thick and fast. So the local people contested in physical prowess with rolling lamps to show their powerful strength and keep off the intrusion of the pirates. In the hundreds of years thereafter, the local people in Yuhang have always treated the rolling lamps as an auspicious object, a treasure which can build the body and entertain themselves. Each year on the Lantern Festival or during temple fairs, they would perform the rolling lamp; hence the activity has been passed down generation after generation.
The balls of the rolling lamp are made of bamboo strips. The balls can be divided to large, middle and small ones, and the large ones can reach over one meter in diameter and 50-odd kilograms in weight. In the center of the ball is a ball-type bamboo apparatus, in which candles are lightened. There are red balls and black balls, the red ones called "civil lanterns" while the black ones "martial lanterns".
Yuhang rolling lamp is an old folk dance of the Han Chinese which integrates athletics, dance and acrobatics. It requires the comprehensive use of skill and strength. The performance is made according to a certain procedure, and the closing must be the "Kaihehua" (lotus in bloom). Usually the male actors hold a black lamp to perform in the evening and during the performance the actors may be replaced by others but the lamp will not be changed. Gongs and drums are played as accompaniment. The traditional rolling lamp programs include 9 sets of 27 movements such as "Bawang juding" (Overlord holding a tripod vessel), "Jinhou xitao" (Golden monkey picking peaches), "Xuri dongsheng" (the sun rising in the east), "Bogu chongtian" (a wood pigeon flying to the sky), "baihe shengdan" (white crane laying eggs), "zhizhu tusi" (spider spinning silk), "Hehua zhengfang" (lotus in bloom), etc.
