Preserving and Passing on the Dance

After the farmers' dance of Chinese Koreans was listed as a world intangible cultural heritage, it drew more attention. The government of Wangqing County established an intangible cultural heritage preservation center and Jin was appointed its director. Entering Jin's office, you see elephant caps, Korean long-drums and pictures of Jin's performances around the country. Jin watches videos of the elephant cap dance on his computer while developing new movement. "As an inheritor, my most important task is to preserve and pass on the art. I have been working with other colleagues to help more people fall in love with the dance," Jin said.

In recent years, the government of Wangqing County has set up over 30 elephant cap dance training centers in kindergartens and communities with many ethnic Koreans. Old and young both participate wholeheartedly. Jin often visits ordinary people to choose potential performers, including students and retired people, to form elephant cap dance troupes. Jin also actively responds to government-organized activities such as "Bring Elephant Cap Dance into Campus" and "Farmer's Dance of China's Korean Ethnic Group Training Class" by personally explaining the origin, history and cultural background of the dance and teaching the movements.

When talking about the work he has engaged in for decades and how to carry on preservation work in the future, Jin said: "I can't live without the elephant cap dance. In the future, I plan to edit books and make instructional films of the dance and let more people study and pass on the art. I will keep trying to innovate it into an acrobatic dance, and ensure that the dance which is distinctive to Chinese Koreans enjoys a bright future!"

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