Photo Archive: Daliuzi performance

Daliuzi is a traditional entertainment form, usually involving four participants, two with gongs and two with cymbals. The participants engage in mock fights, and other mimed sequences, in time with strongly rhythmic beats from their instruments. Although daliuzi has become much rarer over the past fifty years, efforts are being made to revive the practice. The daliuzi instruments, with an accompanying suona (traditional trumpet), are still regularly heard at village weddings. This photo of an impromptu demonstration was taken in Shidi village of Pojiao rural township in Longshan County, and an audio recording of parts of it is available from the download page. See also the next photo.