Miao post-85s man integrates ICH into rural tourism

During the Spring Festival holiday, Qianzhou Ancient Town in Jishou City was bustling with people. Shi Jiehai, a post-85s man, played the role of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, sending blessings to tourists from all over the world.

Shi Jiehai, a local Miao man in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, is an actor of the art troupe, the drum king of the Miao ethnic group, an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, and a livestreamer on short video platforms such as Douyin. He has made efforts to promote the ancient Miao drum dance of his hometown online and offline. The Miao people will perform the Miao drum dance on grand occasions such as harvest celebrations and weddings. On his homepage of Douyin, the first video at the top is about the drum dance competition in 2013 where he won “the King of Drum”.

The monkey drum dance is a branch of the Miao drum dance. “Performers must act like a real monkey when beating a drum.”

Shi Jiehai’s ancestors made a living by performing the Miao drum dance. He began to be infatuated with the monkey drum dance at the age of 12 and joined the Art Troupe of the Dehang Scenic Area at 19. At that time, Dehang Village was still isolated from the outside world by high mountains, with harmonious coexistence between humans and monkeys. He often went deep into the mountains to observe and imitate the naughtiness and rich facial expressions of monkeys. He has gradually formed his own performance style by integrating the movements of monkeys into the Miao drum dance.

Compared to other drum dances, the monkey drum dance performed by Shi Jiehai is more interesting and worth watching. With the rhythmic tapping, his actions and expressions are very similar to that of monkeys.

Opportunities and success always favor those who are prepared. Shi Jiehai participated in the 6th, 7th, and 8th Hunan Ethnic Minority Traditional Sports Games and achieved excellent results. In 2013, he was awarded the “Monkey Drum King” in the International Drum Culture Festival held in Jishou City, where his vivid performance made him seem like a real mischievous wild monkey that has entered the human world. With the continuous improvement of transportation in Xiangxi, especially the upgrading of Aizhai Bridge Scenic Area and Dehang Miao Village, and the rise of short video platforms, road and bridge wonders, Miao village customs, and canyon scenery are introduced to the world. The Miao drum dance, as a cultural brand, is developing rapidly.

There are four “Drum Kings” and two “Monkey Drum Kings” in Dehang Village. Despite winning the honor “Drum King”, Shi Jiehai still indulged in the Miao drum dance culture and art.

He participated in ethnic cultural exchange activities both domestically and internationally with Dehang’s drum team multiple times. Especially, he performed the Miao drum dance in Russia and in the national traditional sports events for ethnic minorities across the country, showcasing the unique drum dance of the Miao ethnic group in Xiangxi. In 2020, he was rated as a prefecture-level inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project “Xiangxi Miao Drum Dance”.

As the hometown of national folk culture and art, various activities are held annually in Aizhai Town, such as the Hundred Lions Dance Festival, Siyueba, Ganqiu Festival, and Miao New Year Celebrations. During leisure time, Shi Jiehai likes to shoot short videos with friends to share the cultural life of the Miao village, in a bid to attract more tourists.

Since 2019, nearly 400 videos have been released on his Douyin account to showcase the daily life, literary and artistic works, and intangible cultural heritage of the Miao people, and now he has 134,000 fans on Douyin and millions of video views. Among them, a short video about the unique way of proposing a toast of the Miao people has received 63,000 likes, and the intangible cultural heritage skills like climbing a tall ladder with sharp blades and spurting fire are truly amazing.

Netizens will also consult on the learning and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills on his Douyin account. He enthusiastically replied to them, “I am an actor on the stage, a tour guide in the scenic area, a teacher in the classroom, and an inheritor of ethnic culture in life.” His purpose is to inherit and promote ethnic culture through Douyin.

Nowadays, Shi Jiehai is devoted to cultivating new talents to inherit intangible cultural heritage. he had 13 new apprentices in 2023 and more than 60 apprentices have mastered all core skills. When he has free time, he plans to teach the intangible culture heritage skills in villages one by one to pass down the Miao drum dance permanently.