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"War drums" were used on the battlefield to direct and galvanize the soldiers. There are different beats for attack and retreat.

These Chinese drums are still considered a tool of war, but they have since been transformed into folk art. They continue to play a powerful role in expressing the spirit of the Chinese people.

Waist Drum (腰鼓)

The waist drum is shaped like an hourglass with circular drumheads on both ends. It is about 15 inches long. It produces a medium pitch. It can be attached to the waist by colored ribbons, allowing the dancers great mobility as they dance.

Waist drums first became popular in Shaanxi province in north-central China. They are played during folk dance performances where performers jump, kick, and dance, while drumming. The drums play upbeat rhythms that are cheerful and lively.

Erhu (二胡) - the Chinese Violin

The erhu is one of the two string instruments that are used in Chinese traditional music. It is similar to violin.

The erhu is not a bowed instrument, but it is played with a bow. It has been played for over 4000 years in China.

The erhu is often used to accompany other instruments, such as the Chinese flute, and Chinese guitar.
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Erhu.mp3
The erhu has a unique sound and playing style. It is usually played sitting, and is played by strumming and plucking with only one hand.

Strings are held between the musician's index and middle fingers and moved back and forth to create notes. Players press their fingertips against the strings and move the strings in order to play.

No fingerboard means players must keep their fingers on the strings to make the instrument play. The erhu has no frets; the bow is already between the strings, and the hair of the bow is either pushed forward or backward to catch a string.

To keep intonation, the same amount of pressure needs to be applied in different positions and degrees of pressure.

The erhu is an incredibly expressive, musical instrument. Its melodies can be tender or somber. It is especially stirring and moving when played in the lowest and middle ranges

Gong (大鑼)

The gong is a Chinese musical instrument. It is a hollow metal vessel with a fixed bottom. It is struck by a mallet, in order to create a loud and resonant sound.
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Chinese%20Gong.mp3
The gong has a rich and powerful tone. It can emphasize a dance's rhythm and beat. The loud, sonorous sound demands attention

The smaller and thinner hand gongs can produce a variety of sounds and can be used with other hand cymbals and drums to create music that evokes a celebratory mood.

In Chinese performing arts, Gong is one of the most popular instruments. It can be used to accompany traditional folk music, or it can be used as an accompaniment to other instruments.

Pengling (碰铃) - Hand Bells

The pengling hand bells are small cup-shaped brass or copper bells connected by a string. They produce a clear and lovely sound when struck together.
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Peng%20ling-Hand%20Bells.mp3
This instrument was originally used in China around the 4th century and was depicted in Buddhist murals and sculptures of the famous Dunhuang caves.

These two identical bells have many different names- pengling or pengzhong (struck bells), dual chime bowls, bell cymbals.

The hand bells are often used in traditional Chinese music and dance, folk songs and dances, and Chinese instrument ensembles.

Pipa (琵琶) - Chinese Lute

The pipa, or the Chinese Lute, has reigned as the "king" of Chinese folk instruments for thousands of years. It is a pear-shaped stringed instrument with four strings. it is one of the most expressive Chinese musical instruments.
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Pipa.mp3
The plucked instrument is a lyre and is often used by female characters in ancient Chinese paintings

The pipa has four strings and the length of its body is three feet and five inches in Chinese measurement. The body construction of the pipa demonstrates ancient Chinese beliefs:

The three feet represent the 3 powers-heaven, the earth, and man;

The five inches represent the 5 elements-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; and

The four strings represent the 4 seasons.

The playing technique of the pipa is quite difficult. It is played by plucking , but is held upright with the base on the lap and the neck at the player's shoulder.

Qing (磬) - The Bowl Bell

The qing is one of most ancient Chinese musical instruments, and was classified as the stone instrument in the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.).
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Qin-Chime%20Bowl.mp3
Because "qing" also means "celebration" in Chinese, so these bowl bells became auspicious symbols.

Monasteries in China ring these bowl bells to call the monks together; therefore qings also became an important Buddhist musical instrument.

In the Shen Yun orchestra, they can give certain compositions a sacred feeling.

Suona (唢呐) - the Chinese Trumpet

The suona is one of the most fun and unique Chinese musical instruments. Along with the erhu and pipa, the suona is one of the most important instruments in Chinese music.
https://media1.shenyunperformingarts.org/misc/Suona.mp3
It can produces clear and bright sounds when skillfully played. So it is often used to accentuate the rhythm of weddings, funerals, and the celebrating of festivals.

In a dance performance, the suona can add an extra humorous effect to the character of a performer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most popular Chinese musical instruments?

The 5 most poplar Chinese musical insturements today are: Erhu(二胡), Guzheng (古筝) , pipa (琵琶), guqin (古琴), Xiao (箫).

How to choose a Chinese musical instrument?

1. Check the price.
2. Check the brand name.
3. Check the size.
4. Check the sound quality.

How does the performance of Chinese traditional music differ from Western music?

The Chinese traditional music is usually simple and slow, and there are fewer instruments than in Western music.
Traditional Chinese music is much more ritualistic than Western music.
The instruments used in traditional Chinese music are much simpler than those used in Western music.
There is no piano in traditional Chinese music, but there are other instruments used.

What are some of the Chinese musical instruments that accompany dancing?

The Chinese musical instruments commonly used with the dance performing are: Drum, Erhu, Flute, Gong, GuQin, GuZhen, Pipa.
Resources

shenyunperformingarts.org

en.wikipedia.org

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Top 8 Chinese Musical Instruments That Are Most Used To Accompany Dancing

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"War drums" were used on the battlefield to direct and galvanize the soldiers. There are different beats for attack and retreat. These Chinese drums are still considered a tool of war, but they have since been transformed into folk art. They continue to play a powerful role in expressing the spirit of the Chinese people.

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With the focus on the diminishing wild life in India, quite wonderfully, both rural and urban communities in Maharashtra have worked hard to create miraculous 'peacock sanctuaries and jungle habitats' which are a tourist's delight today.
Within a short distance from the pulsating city of Mumbai, stand some of the most magnificent peacock sanctuaries of India. The jungles around Ahmednagar district and the wooded areas of Pune, both in Maharashtra, resound with the cries of peacocks as the rainy season unfolds. With the first showers, the forests become verdant and cool, making them a perfect background for more than 6000 dancing peacocks that live in the hills and valleys of these regions. On rainy evenings, they dance with their plumage spread like a halo, creating a magnificent spectacle of nature.

Dark rainclouds gathering on the horizon to a slow beat of thunder; mellow sunrays piercing through chinks in the cloud cover; rain drops beginning to fall one by one on the sun-parched trees and flocks of splendid peacocks dancing under the grey skies - this is a familiar motif of Indian life. Not only does this scenario recur each monsoon in thousands of forest landscapes, but it is also invariably woven into India's folksongs, literature, music, dance and miniature paintings. Though the ever-present motif of a dancing peacock is a deeply etched in every Indian's psyche and though the peacock is the national bird of India, it is often wrongly associated only with the northern states of the country. The arid deserts of Rajasthan, the riverbanks of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh and the forests of Haryana - these are considered to be the major and commonly-known habitats of peacocks in India.

However, in recent decades, the monsoon-dependent state of Maharashtra has suddenly hit the headlines for being home to magnificent peacock sanctuaries that have been nurtured by the communities living in this area. The site of this sanctuary, given the status of a wild life reserve in 1994, is among the forested hills of Ahmednagar district, which is just a 50 km drive from Pune. Along the Ahmednagar-Pune road, vast tracts of hilly forest lands have come to be home to the largest single population of peacocks in India. Newly discovered by tourists and wild life lovers, the Moranchi Chincholi Peacock Sanctuary has almost 3000 birds which live in the sprawling jungles with monsoon streams flowing through them. The entire area covering these villages and valleys is thickly forested and thus offers the most suitable breeding haven for not only peacocks, but also Teetars, Neelkanth, Bharadwaj and Robin birds. Small animals of the cat family, monkeys and reptiles also inhabit the jungles. Additionally, the 500 deer and stags ambling around in the ringing silence of the jungle give the sanctuary a rare appeal and beauty. Travellers who routinely drive along the Pune-Ahmednagar highway are often pleasantly surprised by herds of deer scampering among the woods or flocks of peacocks perched atop leafy trees or farmhouse roofs. During the monsoon, the incredible rain dance of these resplendent birds is an unforgettable sight.

The sanctuary acquires its name from the village of Chinchoni, meaning tamarind. The sanctuary is supported by the Mauli Krishi Paryatan Kendra formed by the village community. It presently has the largest population of peacocks - 3000 birds. In other surrounding villages, which are called Nirgudi, Pimpalgaon, Dhasla, Nalwadi and Domri, there are 3500 peacocks and each year, this figure is growing. The reasons for the burgeoning peacock population are two. The hills around Ahmednagar are formed by a stone and soil mixture known as Deccan Trap and the red soil mixed with gravely-textured rock chips keeps the monsoon moisture locked under the top soil layer for many months after the last rains have fallen. The air is humid and warm and the tree cover remains thick throughout the year. This environment is ideally suited to the growth of peacocks.

Secondly, though the ever increasing number of peacocks often invade farms and grain fields and destroy crops, causing serious damage to the income of the local farmers, the villagers believe the birds to be divine and belonging to the temples in the area. Therefore, whatever nuisance they cause, the villagers protect the birds from poachers and do not harm them. However, every February, at the end of the winter, the birds shed their feathers in the natural course of their growth, and forest folk collect these to sell to tourists!

Today Moranchi Chincholi has gained such popularity among Mumbai and Pune citizens, that the locals offer camping, safaris for bird watching, picnics, farm meals, harvest feasts, jungle treks, a taste of rustic life and games for visitors to enjoy their day with the peacocks. On rainy evenings, nature's theatre offers the most heavenly dance performance anyone has seen. Various websites offer route maps, activities and facilities in this wonderful location.

More recently, yet another experiment in breeding peacocks has resulted in stunning success right in the urban complex of Pune. 34-year-old Dr. Ajay Kulkarni, a nature lover, has made Herculean efforts for 15 years to create a sizeable population of peacocks in the midst of Pune, near the Paud-Taljai areas, where there are forests. He has also been feeding peacocks on the hill behind Maharashtra Institute of Technology's guest-house. This man of medicine has walked with determination in the hills, providing food grains and water to peacocks in the hot and humid jungle, to increase their population from a mere three to several hundreds. A city-based NGO called Prabodhan also provides water trays to senior citizens who wish to join the community effort to increase trees and keep the peacock and other bird populations safe and growing.

Kulkarni's idea first took seed when he saw three peacocks while walking along the hill. He decided to feed them. Well fed and cared for, they laid eggs and the number expanded gradually. Today, more than 350 peacocks can be seen along the hill, in addition to other birds. "Looking at the success of the project, we can hope to create a tourist destination if we get the required permissions," says Dr. Kulkarni, "A grove with thousands of peacocks can be created. The peacock is our national bird and such a grove can work wonders to increase tourism to this area. Meanwhile, residents and regular walkers around the Taljai forest have not only planted and watered trees but also created water reservoirs and fed the peacocks. Such community efforts are unique and must be emulated by all so that similar miracles can happen all over India to save many species of animals and birds and to make India a nature-and-wild-life-rich nation."
The author was Editor of Femina for 25 years. Vimla Patil is among India's senior most Journalists-Media persons. She excels in writing lifestyle pieces, women's concerns, travelogues, celebrity interviews, art-culture pieces about India.

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With the focus on the diminishing wild life in India, quite wonderfully, both rural and urban communities in Maharashtra have worked hard to create miraculous 'peacock sanctuaries and jungle habitats' which are a tourist's delight today. Within a short distance from the pulsating city of Mumbai, stand some of the most magnificent peacock sanctuaries of India.

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Tarian ini merupakan salah satu jenis tarian Kreasi Baru yang mengekpresikan kehidupan burung merak, tata cara dan gerakan-gerakan dari kehidupan burung merak ini diangkat ke atas pentas. Ciri tari merak dapat dilihat dari pakaian yang digunakan oleh para penarinya yaitu pakaian yang motifnya bergambarkan bentuk dan warna bulu-bulu merak, ditambah lagi dengan sepasang sayapnya yang juga berlukiskan sayap atau ekor merak yang dipasang di bagian belakang penari.

Ujung sayapnya ditempelkan kejemari penari sehingga kalau kedua tangannya merentang akan membentuk merak yang sedang melebarkan sayapnya. Gambaran merak akan lebih jelas lagi dengan mahkota (badong) yang dipasang pada kepala setiap penari.

Tarian ini biasa ditarikan secara rampak, tiga penari atau lebih yang masing-masing memerankan merak betina atau merak jantan. Iringan lagu gendingnya adalah lagu Macan Ucul. Diantara tarian ciptaan R. Tjetje Somantri mungkin tari merak inilah yang paling terkenal di Indonesia dan di luar negeri nih wargi Bandung!

Sumber: Buku Ragam Cipta oleh Atik Soepandi, S.Kar - Drs. Enip Sukanda P - Drs. Ubun Kubarsah
Tari Merak Sunda, Warisan Budaya Takbenda dari Kota Bandung
Indonesia merupakan negara dengan keanekaragaman kebudayaan yang sangat kaya. Banyak sekali aneka ragam kebudayaan di Indonesia dan salah satunya adalah kesenian tari yang sudah menejadi warisan luhur yang wajib dijaga. Masing-masing daerah di Indonesia memiliki seni tari yang khas. Salah satunya adalah tari merak, kesenian tari yang berasal dari daerah Bandung, Jawa Barat.

Tari merak ini diciptakan pada tahun 1950-an oleh seniman dan koreografer tari asal Jawa Barat bernama Raden Tjetje Soemantri. Beliau mengambil gerakan-gerakan indah dari burung merak yang kemudian dijadikan sebuah tarian. Pada mulanya, penciptaan tarian ini ditujukan untuk menghibur para delegasi Konferensi Asia Afrika dalam acara resepsi di Bandung tahun 1955.

Sejak diciptakan, Tari Merak Sunda karya Tjetje hanya dipertunjukkan lima kali, yaitu dalam rangkaian kegiatan KAA di halaman belakang Gedung Pakuan pada tahun 1955; tahun 1955 di Hotel Orient, Bandung; tahun 1957 dalam rangka menyambut kehadiran Voroshilof, Presiden USSR (Rusia) di Gedung Pakuan; di Hotel Savoy Homann tahun1958 dan tahun 1958 dalam pertunjukan tari di YPK.

Sepeninggal Raden Tjetje Somantri pada Tahun 1963, Irawati Durban sebagai muridnya menyempurnakan tatanan Tari Merak ciptaan Rd. Tjetje Somantri dengan mengolah kembali struktur koreografi tariannya.

Seiring perkembangan zaman, Tari Merak mulai dikenal secara luas. Tarian merak merupakan tari modern atau kontemporer, dimana setiap gerakan dalam tarian ini diciptakan secara bebas dengan kreasi sendiri. Tari ini bukan tarian tradisional atau tarian klasik.

Tarian ini terinspirasi dari burung merak dan diadaptasi dari gerak-gerik burung merak jantan dengan pesona bulu-bulu ekornya yang cantik saat memikat merak betina serta mempunyai bulu yang indah, seperti kostum yang dipakai oleh para penarinya. Biasanya tarian ini dijadikan hiburan atau sambutan kepada tamu di acara besar.

Karena keindahan gerakannya, tarian ini mampu menjadi kebanggaan masyarakat Jawa Barat dan Indonesia secara luas. Gerakan Tari Merak memiliki makna sebagai salah satu perwujudan atas rasa kagum terhadap keindahan burung merak di alam bebas. Jelasnya tari ini diambil dari perilaku burung merak jantan ketika ingin memikat burung merak betina.

Salah satu gerakan indah yang ditampilkan adalah gerakan burung merak jantan yang memperlihatkan keindahan bulu ekornya. Setiap penari memiliki peranan masing-masing,, yaitu sebagai merak jantan dan merak betina.

Tari Merak ini biasa ditarikan oleh perempuan dengan mengenakan busana yang sangat glamor, estetis, eksotis, serta komposisi kinestetiknya. Hal ini menjadikan Tari Merak Sunda memiliki daya pikat tersendiri bagi siapapun yang menari dan menontonnya. Setiap gerakan penari diiringi oleh musik tradisional bernama gending macan ucul.

Hebatnya lagi, Tari Merak Sunda Kota pada tahun 2020 lalu mendapatkan penghargaan sebagai salah satu Warisan Budaya Takbenda Indonesia. Selain menjadi ikon Kota Bandung, Tari Merak Sunda juga menjadi salah satu ikon budaya khas Jawa Barat yang sudah dikenal hingga mancanegara.

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Tari merak ini diciptakan pada tahun 1950-an oleh seniman dan koreogra

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Tarian ini merupakan salah satu jenis tarian Kreasi Baru yang mengekpresikan kehidupan burung merak, tata cara dan gerakan-gerakan dari kehidupan burung merak ini diangkat ke atas pentas. Ciri tari merak dapat dilihat dari pakaian yang digunakan oleh para penarinya yaitu pakaian yang motifnya bergambarkan bentuk dan warna bulu-bulu merak, ditambah lagi dengan sepasang sayapnya yang juga berlukiskan sayap atau ekor merak yang dipasang di bagian belakang penari.

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Peacock Dance Display - Peacocks Opening Feathers HD & Bird Sound

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HD  Nutcracker Arabian Dance - the Peacock

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China Reform and Opening - Forty Years in Perspective The story of peacock dancer Editor's note: He has captured his own story and the nation's journey in China Reform and Opening - Forty Years in Perspective. China Daily is running a series of articles every Thursday starting from May 24 that reveal the changes that have taken place in the country in the past four decades. Starting this month, China Daily will run two articles from this series each week - on Tuesday and Thursday. Keep track of the story by following us. Laurence Brahm, first came to China as a fresh university exchange student from the US in 1981 and he has spent much of the past three and a half decades living and working in the country. He has been a lawyer, a writer, and now he is Founding Director of Himalayan Consensus and a Senior International Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.

Author with Yang Liping during filming of Searching for Shangrila. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

I first saw Yang Liping in Yunnan in the very early 1990s. I believe it was 1991. Her "Peacock Dance", mimicking a peacock, was both shocking and beautiful. I was stunned and mesmerized watching her live performance in Xishuangbanna, sitting together with a delegation of central bank of officials from Beijing.

I had traveled to Yunnan as a legal advisor to a team of officials from the People's Bank of China to research and draft a law for negotiable instruments in China. Monetary policy had become my specialization after advising the central banks of Laos and Vietnam. The delegation had chosen to meet in Kunming and then Xishuangbanna, the home of ethnic Dai tribes, who are a lot like the Lao. After discussing regulatory restrictions for the manipulation of money, I slipped out the back door of our hotel, rented a jeep, and drove off into the hills looking for the Dai. I found them living in cramped villages built on stilts along misty rivers beside lonely white pagodas.

I saw Yang Liping again in 1992, this time on television. I was sitting in a dirty, run-down Sichuan restaurant in Lhasa, eating spicy toufu. The tiny television in a corner of the restaurant showed her performing the Peacock Dance for an audience that included some of China's heavy- weight leaders. Somehow the last thing on my mind was the remote possibility that there would one day be a connection between myself, Tibetan Buddhism and Yang Liping. Somehow that was the last thing that could possibly have entered my mind that night while eating spicy toufu in a Sichuan restaurant in Lhasa. I thought about it no more. I left Lhasa. It would be exactly ten years before I returned.

A decade later, I came across Yang Liping again in Kunming, where she had established a dance studio for sustaining the culture of ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Every road that opened to a village brought with it development and change, and Yang Liping was determined to save what she could while it was still there. To enable preservation of her people's culture on a sustainable basis, she brought young village children to her studio in Kunming, recorded their songs and filmed their dance. To keep their culture alive, she brought their different traditional dances and music into an ongoing performing arts program.

As I sat beside her, Yang Liping pointed to the girls dancing in synchronic rhythm. There was something totally organic about their movements. Their clothes and exquisite headdresses were woven in villages, maybe a generation or two before, passed from grandmother to mother to daughter. Their movements were natural, over owing with a spirit that could not be choreographed.

Moving her long thin fingers in a slow movement like a Bodhisattva's mudra, Yang Liping pointed a finger - extended into the infinity of a single fingernail prolonged into a moment that seemed to hang in the air as if floating - toward the children as they danced. She whispered, "The children of Yunnan are pure; they are like little Buddhas."

I was momentarily struck by profundity, held in the simplicity of her words. In fact, I was totally taken back. Still craving for re-confirmation, I asked Yang Liping to repeat what she said.

She did not, just shrugged, and added, "The people of Yunnan are like that." As far as she was concerned, what was said should be understood. Otherwise, it was not meant to be understood. Then her fingers unfolded again like a fan and her eyes beamed with a depth of penetrating black as she talked about Yunnan and the ethnic minorities - her own people. "Xishuangbanna, in our tropical south, is home to the Dai people. It is their place locked in rice-terraced valleys along the Mekong River. They are like the Thai and move in long sarongs of silk. Further along the Red River, which flows to Vietnam, is the place of the Wah. Some of their lifestyle and religious practices even resemble those in Africa. They pray to the sun. They live close to the sun. This way is right. Then there are the Yi people who are different. They live in mountains, slash and burn, and move when there is nothing left to keep them. They pray to fire and tigers and have no possessions because they do not stay long enough in one place to make possessions worth keeping."

"What about yourself?" I asked. "What ethnic group do you come from?"

"I am a Bai. Our home is Dali. It was once a kingdom. The old city is still well protected. Many artists are going there to find Shangri-La. It is the first stop on the Tea Caravan Trail. If you want to find Shangri- La, then maybe this is where you should begin your journey."

Then with a faint voice bordering on a slight gasp, Yang Liping talked about her home. "The lake, Erhai, is shaped like a Buddha's ear and reflects the Cang Mountain. But there is more than the scenery for you to discover in Dali. There, you will find the people and their culture intact. So it is a special place. I remember when I was young, we went into the water of the lake. Fish would swim between our legs - humanity and nature was in harmony. The climate there is spring all year. Not too cold or hot. I am building my home there and when I retire from dance, I want to return to the home I was born in. I have been around the world but feel that Dali is closest to me. It is the best for me to return there. Behind me is the Cang Mountain and before me the Erhai Lake. The environment is still protected. Dali was once a powerful kingdom. Its culture is like a magnet."

"But some people say Lijiang is Shangri-La," I asked incredulously. "Others say it is somewhere north of there; they say Zhongdian. So you seem to say it is Dali. Where is the road to Shangri-La? Does it begin in Dali?"

She just laughed, then smiled and closed the fan of her outstretched fingers. "People say Yunnan is Shangri-La because its environment is pure and the ethnic diversity is sustained. So Lijiang is also Shangri-La and so is Zhongdian, for that matter. Every place in Yunnan thinks it is Shangri-La. To find it, follow the Tea Caravan Trail. It will lead you from Dali to Lijiang and past the Tiger Leaping Gorge to Zhongdian. Along the way, there are many sacred mountains. They are sacred to each of the peoples who live there." "Sacred mountains?" I asked, disbelieving. "What makes a mountain sacred?"
"After leaving Dali, you will go to Lijiang. There, the Jade Dragon Mountain is sacred to the Naxi people. Climb the mountain, but it is cold and difficult to stay there. Lijiang's water comes from the melted snow of the Jade Dragon Mountain. The people pray to the mountain. So you could say they drink sacred water, it is the source of life and death. People go to the mountain in search of 'death love'."

"'Death love'? What's that?"

"Young Naxi boys and girls believe in joint suicide to go to an ideal third world. They believe another world is even better."

I was even more confused. Sensing this, Yang Liping continued, her thoughts uninterrupted. "Then go north of Lijiang to the Lugu Lake. The Mosu people there believe it is Shangri-La. The women choose their lovers but never marry. The Mosu are a bit like Tibetan and Naxi mixed. Their life is very free and it is a matriarchal society. Because women can give birth, thus property should transfer to them. They think they are the useful part of the society; and love is natural there because women set the rules. Their belief is different - they feel that love is the highest state of conscious awareness, so they strive toward it instead of regulating it with laws and rules of marriage."

"So where is Shangri-La then? Lijiang or Lugu?"

"Zhongdian claims to be Shangri-La," Yang Liping smiled at my confusion. "Because the higher altitude makes it a Tibetan region. The natural environment is more protected. The environment is retained best. Due to high altitude, life there is not easy. People are few, so its natural environment is protected. Going further north is the sacred Tibetan mountain, Kawagebo. People going there in late autumn feel there are flowers growing in the snow, and yaks and sheep run free. There is no barrier between people and nature."
"Why?"

"Because they live a life that is close to the mountains. When you live close to the mountains, you can better listen to what they say. They are the words of spirits," she explained.

"So there is a way to communicate with a sacred mountain?" I asked incredulously.

"If you want to hear the words of spirits," Yang Liping said, no longer smiling but with one long outstretched fingernail pointing in an uncertain direction, "Then I suggest you find the mountain."

Please click here to read previous articles.

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Share - WeChat China Reform and Opening - Forty Years in Perspective The story of peacock dancer Editor's note: He has captured his own story and the nation's journey in China Reform and Opening - Forty Years in Perspective.

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Yang Liping - The Soul of Peacock - Chinese Peacock Dance - Dai Dance - HD 杨丽萍《雀之灵》   高清 唯美 孔雀舞 傣族舞