佛山醒狮：一头狮子背后的江湖 | Foshan Lion Dance: The Martial World Behind a Lion

黄师傅说："你看到的是狮子，我看到的是拳。" / Master Huang Said: "You See a Lion. I See a Fist."

我去佛山祖庙那天，本来是冲着黄飞鸿纪念馆去的。

The day I went to Foshan's Ancestral Temple, I was originally there for the Wong Fei-hung Memorial Museum.

结果还没进门，就被广场上一阵锣鼓声拽住了。两头狮子在三米高的钢桩上腾挪跳跃，狮头猛地一甩，眼睛眨了两下，嘴巴张开又合上——那表情活得像一只真的在思考的野兽。旁边一个穿白背心的老师傅抱着胳膊看，嘴里嘟囔了一句："后腿马步不够沉。"

Before I even got through the gate, the drums on the plaza pulled me in. Two lions leaped between steel poles three meters high, a lion head whipped around, eyes blinking twice, mouth opening and closing — the expression alive like a real beast thinking. An old master in a white tank top stood nearby, arms crossed, muttering: "The back leg's horse stance isn't low enough."

我凑过去搭话，才知道他姓黄，在南海教了四十年醒狮。他说的那句话我一直记着："外行看热闹，觉得是舞蹈。内行看门道，每一步都是南拳。"

I struck up a conversation and learned his surname was Huang — he'd taught lion dance in Nanhai for forty years. What he said stuck with me: "Outsiders watch the spectacle and think it's dance. Insiders watch the technique — every step is Southern Fist kung fu."

一千年前的驱邪兽，怎么变成了武林绝技 / How a Thousand-Year-Old Evil-Warding Beast Became a Martial Art

醒狮的历史比你想的要长得多。

Lion dance history goes back further than you'd think.

最早的记载可以追溯到三国时期，距今一千七百多年。但那时候的狮舞更像是一种宫廷仪式，跟今天佛山街头看到的完全不是一回事。真正的转折发生在清末——一个叫黄飞鸿的佛山人，把南拳的步法、身法、劲道全部揉进了舞狮动作里。

The earliest records trace back to the Three Kingdoms period, over 1,700 years ago. But lion dance then was more of a court ritual — nothing like what you see on Foshan streets today. The real turning point came in the late Qing Dynasty, when a Foshan man named Wong Fei-hung folded Southern Fist footwork, body mechanics, and power into every lion dance movement.

从此，醒狮不再只是"舞"，而是"武"。

From then on, lion dance was no longer just "dance" (舞) — it was "martial" (武).

黄飞鸿在佛山开了宝芝林医馆，白天看病，晚上教拳，逢年过节就带徒弟们上街舞狮。他的徒弟林世荣把这套功夫传了下去，一代接一代，传到今天。2006年，佛山醒狮入选了首批国家级非物质文化遗产名录。一头狮子，扛着一千年的历史和一百年的武术基因，走进了二十一世纪。

Wong Fei-hung opened his Po Chi Lam clinic in Foshan — treating patients by day, teaching kung fu by night, leading his disciples to dance lions during festivals. His student Lam Sai-wing passed the art down, generation after generation, to the present day. In 2006, Foshan lion dance was inscribed on China's first National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. One lion, carrying a thousand years of history and a century of martial arts DNA, walked into the twenty-first century.

南狮和北狮：同一个名字，两个物种 / Southern and Northern Lions: Same Name, Two Species

有人问我南狮和北狮有什么区别。我说，这就像问川菜和粤菜有什么区别——除了都是菜，哪儿都不一样。

Someone asked me the difference between Southern and Northern lions. I said it's like asking the difference between Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine — apart from both being food, nothing's the same.

北狮长得像真狮子，毛茸茸的，通常一公一母成对出场，跟着一个拿绣球的引狮人嬉戏打闹。看北狮像看马戏，轻松愉快，适合全家老小一起乐呵。

Northern lions look like real lions — shaggy fur, usually appearing in male-female pairs, playing with a monk figure holding an embroidered ball. Watching Northern lions is like watching a circus — lighthearted, fun for the whole family.

南狮完全是另一种生物。狮头硕大华丽，额头镶着镜子（据说能照妖驱邪），犄角高耸，眼睛和嘴巴都能活动。两个人钻在里面——前面的控制狮头，后面的撑起狮身——配合默契得像一个人。南狮不卖萌，南狮有脾气。

Southern lions are an entirely different creature. The head is massive and ornate, a mirror embedded in the forehead (said to reflect and repel evil spirits), horn rising high, eyes and mouth fully articulated. Two people inside — the front controls the head, the back supports the body — coordinated like a single being. Southern lions don't do cute. Southern lions have attitude.

南狮还分三种"性格"，用三国人物命名：刘备狮（黄色白须，稳重老成）、关公狮（红色黑须，忠勇刚烈）、张飞狮（黑色黑须，凶猛暴烈）。你看到什么颜色的狮子，就知道它今天演的是什么角色。

Southern lions come in three "personalities," named after Three Kingdoms heroes: Liu Bei lion (yellow with white beard — steady and dignified), Guan Gong lion (red with black beard — loyal and fierce), Zhang Fei lion (black with black beard — savage and explosive). The color tells you which character is performing today.

采青：一棵生菜引发的"血案" / Cai Qing: The "Crime" Triggered by a Head of Lettuce

醒狮表演的高潮，是一个叫"采青"的环节。

The climax of every lion dance performance is a ritual called "cai qing" — plucking the greens.

一棵生菜挂在高处，里面塞着红包。狮子要经历一整套"剧情"才能吃到它：先是沉睡，然后被鼓声惊醒，四处张望，发现猎物，犹豫试探，最后猛扑上去一口叼住——然后把生菜嚼碎吐出来，碎叶纷飞，象征"生财"（生菜的谐音）。

A head of lettuce hangs high, stuffed with a red envelope of money. The lion must go through an entire "plot" to reach it: first sleeping, then startled awake by drums, looking around, spotting the prize, hesitating and testing, finally lunging to seize it — then chewing the lettuce and spitting it out, shredded leaves flying everywhere, symbolizing "generating wealth" (生菜 sounds like 生财).

这不是随便嚼两下就完事的。好的采青，狮子的表情要有层次——困惑、好奇、贪婪、恐惧、决心——全靠舞狮头的人用双手控制眼睛和嘴巴来表达。黄师傅跟我说："采青采得好不好，看的不是动作，是'戏'。狮子要有戏。"

This isn't just a couple of casual chews. In a good cai qing, the lion's expressions must have layers — confusion, curiosity, greed, fear, determination — all conveyed by the lead dancer's hands controlling the eyes and mouth. Master Huang told me: "Whether a cai qing is good doesn't depend on the moves — it depends on the 'drama.' The lion must have drama."

高桩：在三米高的钢柱上飞 / Gao Zhuang: Flying on Three-Meter Steel Poles

如果说采青是醒狮的灵魂，那高桩就是它的肾上腺素。

If cai qing is the soul of lion dance, then gao zhuang (high poles) is its adrenaline.

二十多根钢柱，高的三米，矮的一米，间距不等。两个人顶着一头几十斤重的狮子，在柱子顶端跳跃、旋转、劈叉、单脚站立——最后在最高的柱子上完成采青。一个失误就是从三米高摔下来。

Over twenty steel poles, the tallest three meters, the shortest one meter, spaced unevenly. Two people carrying a lion weighing dozens of jin leap, spin, split, and balance on one foot atop the poles — completing the cai qing on the highest one. One mistake means a three-meter fall.

高桩醒狮是上世纪九十年代从马来西亚华人社区发展起来的，后来被佛山的队伍学了回去，越玩越极限。现在国际比赛的标准桩阵，难度已经到了让人看着手心出汗的程度。马来西亚的关圣宫龙狮团拿过多次世界冠军，但佛山南海的队伍这些年也在猛追。

High-pole lion dance developed in Malaysian Chinese communities in the 1990s, then was brought back and pushed to extremes by Foshan troupes. Today's international competition pole formations are difficult enough to make your palms sweat just watching. Malaysia's Kun Seng Keng troupe has won multiple world championships, but Foshan Nanhai teams have been closing the gap in recent years.

2024年：狮子上了热搜，也上了奥运 / 2024: Lions Went Viral — and to the Olympics

2024年是醒狮的"出圈"之年。

2024 was the year lion dance "broke out" of its niche.

广州体育学院的女子醒狮队在抖音上爆了——五亿播放量。姑娘们穿着传统服装，在高桩上完成了以前只有男队才敢做的高难度动作。评论区最高赞的一条是："谁说舞狮是男人的事？"

An all-female lion dance team from Guangzhou Sport University went viral on Douyin — 500 million views. The women in traditional costumes completed high-difficulty pole maneuvers previously attempted only by male teams. The top comment read: "Who said lion dance is a man's thing?"

同年，佛山醒狮队受邀在巴黎奥运会文化活动上表演。一头中国狮子，在埃菲尔铁塔的背景下采青——这画面，怎么看都像是一部电影的结尾。

That same year, a Foshan lion dance troupe was invited to perform at Paris Olympics cultural events. A Chinese lion, plucking greens against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower — no matter how you look at it, it feels like the ending of a movie.

还有一个让我笑了半天的新闻：一个佛山小伙在比赛的采青环节，把求婚戒指藏在了生菜里。狮子"吐"出来的不是碎叶子，是一枚钻戒。微博两亿播放。他女朋友答应了。

And one story that had me laughing for half a day: a young Foshan man hid an engagement ring in the lettuce during a competition's cai qing. What the lion "spat out" wasn't shredded leaves — it was a diamond ring. 200 million views on Weibo. She said yes.

去佛山，看一场真正的醒狮 / Go to Foshan, Watch a Real Lion Dance

李白写"仰天大笑出门去"，我觉得用来形容看完一场好的醒狮表演之后的心情，刚刚好。

Li Bai wrote "I throw back my head laughing and stride out the door." I think that perfectly describes how you feel after watching a great lion dance performance.

如果你只能去一个地方，去佛山祖庙。黄飞鸿纪念馆就在里面，每天都有醒狮表演，还能看到历代狮头的展览。一张门票，历史、武术、醒狮全看了。

If you can only go to one place, go to Foshan Ancestral Temple. The Wong Fei-hung Memorial Museum is inside, with daily lion dance performances and exhibitions of lion heads through the ages. One ticket covers history, martial arts, and lion dance.

想深度体验的话，南海有醒狮培训中心，半天的沉浸式课程，教你基本步法，让你试戴狮头（比你想象的重），还教你敲三星鼓。我试过，狮头戴上去的那一刻，视野突然只剩一个小孔，耳边全是自己的呼吸声——然后鼓一响，你就什么都忘了，只想跟着节奏动起来。

For a deeper experience, Nanhai has a lion dance training center offering half-day immersive courses — teaching basic footwork, letting you try on a lion head (heavier than you'd imagine), and showing you the three-star drum pattern. I tried it. The moment the lion head went on, my vision narrowed to a tiny hole, all I could hear was my own breathing — then the drums hit, and I forgot everything, just wanting to move with the rhythm.

春节是最佳时间。2025年春节，祖庙路上一百多头狮子同时巡游，鼓声震得整条街的窗户都在抖。但就算不是春节，中秋、国庆、甚至普通的周末，祖庙广场上都可能碰到醒狮。

Spring Festival is the best time. During Spring Festival 2025, over a hundred lions paraded simultaneously on Zumiao Road, drums shaking every window on the street. But even outside Spring Festival — Mid-Autumn, National Day, even ordinary weekends — you might catch a lion dance at the Ancestral Temple plaza.

黄师傅最后跟我说了一句话："狮子是假的，功夫是真的。你记住这句就行了。"

Master Huang left me with one last line: "The lion is fake. The kung fu is real. Remember that and you're good."

我记住了。

I remembered.