In 2010, Nanning Incense Fire Dragon Dance was selected into Guangxi’s List of Non-material Cultural Heritage in Need of Protection, which helps carry forward and develop this folk art.
It is understood that the dance was originally a celebration program before firing in the “Fire Dragon Kiln” at Gangwayao Village, Liangqing District, dating back to the Qing Dynasty and spreading from Shiwan Town, Foshan City, Guangdong Province. So far it has had a history of over 300 years. Before firing, people would hold a series of sacrificial activities and then these rituals gradually developed into Nanning Incense Fire Dragon Dance --- a folk dance praying for safeness and auspicious omens. The “Incense Fire Dragon” is usually made and donated voluntarily by villagers. Villagers will burn incense sticks and then insert them onto the “dragon” while dancing and walking with it. When the “dragon” reaches a household, the owner will set off firecrackers to welcome the auspicious “dragon”, burn new incense to insert onto the “dragon” and take three incense sticks from the dragon head back home for offering sacrifice to their own ancestors and praying for safeness and prosperity for the whole family. Nanning Incense Fire Dragon Dance occurs on the nights of the fourteenth, fifteen and sixteenth days of the eighth lunar month every year.