page_title: Dance in China
section_title: Folk dances of Han Chinese
hierarchical_section_title: Dance in China / Traditional dance / Folk dances of Han Chinese
caption_attribution_description: China
context_page_description: Dance in China is a highly varied art form, consisting of many modern and traditional dance genres. The dances cover a wide range, from folk dances to performances in opera and ballet, and may be used in public celebrations, rituals and ceremonies. There are also 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China, and each ethnic minority group in China also has its own folk dances. Outside of China, the best known Chinese dances today are the Dragon dance and the Lion dance.
context_section_description: Folk dances are important historically in the development of dance in China, some of the earliest dances in court rituals and ceremonies may have evolved from folk dances. Rulers from various dynasties collected folk dances, many of which eventually became court dances. However, at various times there had also been antipathy towards some folk dances and some emperors attempted to ban them.
  Many of the folk dances are related to harvest and hunting and the ancient gods associated with them. For example, the Constellation Dance was performed to procure as much seed grain as there are stars in the sky, while the Harpoon Dance was associated to Fuxi who according to the mythology gave the Han people fish net, and the Plough Dance was connected to Shennong, the god of agriculture.
  Some examples of Chinese folk dance:
  Yangge - a dance that is common in Northern China.
  Lantern Dance - a dance found in Southern China.
  Errenzhuan
caption: Folk dance from a minority group in China.
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