The intangible cultural heritage of an auspicious creature : the unicorn dance in Cheung Chau

Abstract

This dissertation aims to understand the unicorn dance, a traditional Chinese cultural performance. To study this intangible asset, this dissertation focuses on the unicorn dancing tradition found on the island of Cheung Chau, Hong Kong. Cheung Chau, an outlying island of Hong Kong, is rich in Chinese traditional activities. To better understand the unicorn and the unicorn dance in Cheung Chau, a documentation of unicorn making process and unicorn dance is made through the interviews with local masters who make the unicorn for the dance and those who perform the dance with the unicorn. This primary information reveals the inherited wisdoms and the intangible aspects involved in the unicorn making process and the unicorn dance. Through these interviews, the evolution and changes of the unicorn dance in Cheung Chau are also discovered and documented in this dissertation. In addition to the documentation and explanation of the unicorn tradition, the dissertation also aims to provide a greater appreciation of the unicorn dance in Cheung Chau as an intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong. And this is achieved through a site study, carried out in 2016, of the annual Bun Festival in Cheung Chau, in which the unicorn plays an important socio-cultural role for the island’s community. With this study, the challenges and opportunities of this intangible cultural heritage can then be analyzed, so as understand its future in Hong Kong.