香港舞獅迎猴年新春 Hong Kong's lions dance for prosperity
In Hong Kong the year of the monkey will be ushered in next Monday by dancing lions. The dances, believed to bring good luck and prosperity, are performed at Chinese new year in shopping malls, hotels, government offices and residential estates.
下週一，香港將用舞獅表演迎接猴年的到來。在中國新年，商場、酒店、政府大樓和居民住宅區都會表演被認爲能帶來好運和昌盛的舞獅。
“Traditional Chinese culture is very strong in Hong Kong and everyone loves to see lion dances,” says Jerry Keung who, with his two brothers, runs Keung’s Dragon and Lion Dance team, one of Hong Kong’s most successful dance troupes.
“傳統中國文化在香港非常盛行，每個人都愛看舞獅，”姜偉池(Jerry Keung)說。他和他的兩個兄弟經營着姜氏金龍醒獅團(Keung’s Dragon and Lion Dance team)，香港最成功的舞獅團之一。
The finale is choi tsing, “plucking the greens”. The lions rear up to snatch a red envelope containing money, wrapped around lettuce — considered a lucky vegetable because in Cantonese, “lettuce” sounds like “growing wealth”. Accompanied by pounding drums and clashing cymbals, the lion devours the bundle, spits out the lettuce, and claims the cash.
舞獅的壓軸環節是“採青”。“獅子”後腿直立起來，搶奪用生菜包裹的紅色利是封。生菜被認爲是一種幸運的蔬菜，因爲在廣東話裏，生菜聽起來很像“生財”。伴隨着鑼鼓的敲打，“獅子”將紅包一口吞下，把生菜吐出來，拿走紅包裏的錢。
This month Mr Keung’s dancers will perform more than 200 shows. It is their busiest period but “we are in demand year round”, he says. His team regularly performs at opening events for shops and restaurants.
這個月，姜氏金龍醒獅團的舞者們要表演200多場。這是他們最忙的一段時間，但姜偉池表示，“一年四季都有人請我們表演”。他的舞獅團經常在商店和餐廳的開業儀式上表演。
“The owners like to celebrate with a lion dance ceremony, because it signals the start of a successful business.” Performance fees depend on the scale and complexity of the show: a single lion costs HK$10,000 ($1,285). Elaborate performances involving several beasts start at HK$100,000.
“業主喜歡用舞獅表演來慶祝，因爲這標誌着生意成功的開端。”表演費取決於表演的規模和複雜程度：單獅表演的費用是1萬港元（合1285美元）。更復雜的多獅表演起價是10萬港元。
According to Mr Keung, the displays are popular in China, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, where dancers study and perform in their spare time. But Hong Kong is “the only place where the industry is commercially well-developed, and lion dancing can be a full-time career”.
據姜偉池說，舞獅表演在中國內地、澳門、新加坡、臺灣和馬來西亞都很受歡迎，舞者們在閒暇時間學習和表演舞獅。但香港是“唯一一個舞獅業在商業上達到成熟的地方，舞獅表演者能夠把這當作一份全職工作。”
Mr Keung, 37, inherited the business from his father, who ran a martial arts club — lion dancing has its roots in kung fu. “I started learning when I was six years old,” he says.
37歲的姜偉池從經營武術館的父親那裏繼承了生意——舞獅根源於中國功夫。“我6歲的時候就開始學習了，”他說。
During the 1950s and 60s, the scene was dominated by triad gangs and lion dancing gained a bad reputation: symbolic fights between competing lions often became violent and the Hong Kong government banned performances for a few years.
上世紀五六十年代，黑社會當道，舞獅也蒙上了惡名：鬥獅的象徵性打鬥時常會演變爲暴力，香港政府禁止了舞獅表演幾年。
Now the dances are enjoying a mainstream revival. Mr Keung’s more contemporary style aims to popularise the tradition, with choreography that incorporates crowd-pleasing acrobatics. Pairs of dancers propel themselves between tall poles topped with small circular platforms, leaping and landing in formation.
現在，舞獅表演在主流社會得到復興。姜偉池的舞獅表演採用了更現代的風格，旨在推廣傳統，其編排融入了大衆喜聞樂見的雜技。一對對舞者在上面安着圓形小平臺的高柱之間舞動，按照編排躍起落下。
Dancers are taught to make the lion expressive, “like a cat”. The beasts twitch their ears, bat their eyelids, paw the ground and tilt their heads with feline curiosity, “so the audience feels a greater emotional connection”.
舞者接受的訓練是要讓“獅子”活靈活現，“像一隻貓”一樣。這些獅子扭動耳朵、扇動眼簾、用爪子刨着地面，還會像一隻好奇的貓那樣歪着頭，“這樣觀衆在情感上更有共鳴”。
“We have also modernised the costumes,” says Mr Keung. Bamboo-frame heads are covered with neon-bright faux fur, sequins, paint, tiny mirrors and pom-poms. The props require significant investment: costumes cost up to HK$15,000 apiece and the steel poles more than five times that.
“我們把表演服也現代化了，”姜偉池說。竹製框架的獅頭上覆蓋着色彩豔麗的人造皮毛、亮片、彩漆、小鏡子和毛球。這些道具需要高價投資：每套行頭需要1.5萬港元，而鋼製表演柱的價格更是前者的5倍多。
On the rooftops of Hong Kong’s towering warehouses, the troupe practises for up to six hours a day, developing stamina and enough muscular strength to lift their partners above their heads.
在香港高聳的倉庫的屋頂，舞獅團每天練習長達6個小時，鍛鍊將夥伴高舉過頭頂的耐力和足夠的肌肉力量。
Students pay for lessons but those selected to perform receive a share of the fees. The company, which employs ten full-time teachers and administrators, also has more than 1,000 students enrolled in extracurricular lessons in high schools.
來上課的學生要收費，但那些被選去表演的人能夠分到一部分表演費。姜偉池的公司僱傭了10名全職老師和管理者，同時給報名參加高中課外課程的逾1000名學生教課。
Adidas sponsors an annual competition in Hong Kong — a sign that the tradition is gaining a wider audience. Business is thriving. But Mr Keung says his primary motivation is love. “My ambition is to see lion dancing recognised as a proper sport one day.”
阿迪達斯(Adidas)贊助了香港的一次年度舞獅大賽——這是這項傳統正獲得更廣泛受衆的一個標誌。這個行業正在興旺發展。但姜偉池表示，他的初衷是對舞獅的熱愛。“我的夙願就是有一天能看到舞獅作爲一項正式的運動受到承認。”
