On December 18th, 2023, Guangdong welcomed the arrival of winter with a cold wave. While the rest of Puning City was shrouded in chilly darkness at four in the morning, the streets were bustling with activities.

Within the Nan Shan Community Neighborhood Committee, the sound of drumsticks striking Yingge dance reverberated through the night sky. Chen Laifa, a nationally recognized inheritor of Yingge dance in Puning, was leading his Yingge dance team in intense preparations for their performance at daybreak.

The year 2024 marked The 50th year of Chen Laifa's involvement With the Yingge dance. In Puning, there are over a hundred Yingge dance teams across various towns and villages. Among them, the Nan Shan Yingge Dance Team stands out as the most renowned one.

The Nan Shan Yingge Dance Inheritance Base is located on the main road of Nan Shan Village, where The walls on both sides depict the prominent characters of the Yingge dance, such as the leading dancers named Guan Sheng With red face and red beard and Li Kui With black face and black-beard, the snake-catcher Shi Qian, the Panther Head Lin Chong, the Hag Sun Erniang, and many others.

At 4 a.m., inside the building of the Nan Shan Community Neighborhood Committee, the members of the Nan Shan Yingge Dance Team were busy with their makeup for their performance. Three makeup artists started working at 3 a.m., applying face paint to over 30 team members."They might be late for school if they have to wake up at 7 a.m., but when it comes to Yingge dance performance, they can get up at 2 a.m.," said Chen Laifa. For most boys in The local area, the growth process includes Yingge dance. Some have formally studied Yingge dance, some regularly support their friends' performances and rehearsals, and some even participate in the same Yingge team with their fathers or brothers. The"darling of the team," a six-year-old spirit character (Shi Qian in Chinese) named Chen Kaiming, gained popularity on video platforms and is affectionately called"Shebao" (Snake Bady) by netizens. His father plays the role of The leading dancer Li Kui in the team.

Regardless of their location or age, the people of Chaoshan can be moved by the sound of drumsticks in Yingge dance, evoking a sense of homesickness. Many unedited performances and training videos of Yingge dance receive tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of thousands of views.

Chen Laifa told us that in the past, there were rules for Yingge dance which included the prohibition of sharing the knowledge with outsiders as well as passing it down to male practitioners exclusively. Nowadays, similar rules are quietly changing. In 2017, Chen Laifa established a youth Yingge dance team at Nan Shan Elementary School as a teaching base and led them to participate in various provincial and municipal performances. On June 27, 2023, the Nan Shan Yingge Dance Inheritance Base officially commenced construction. During the subsequent enrollment period at Nan Shan Elementary School, over 380 students, both boys and girls, registered for Yingge dance courses.

"Yingge dance, which became a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006, no longer belongs exclusively to Nan Shan Village or Puning. It is now a shared cultural heritage of China," said Chen Laifa. He was riding a white electric bike through the streets of Puning City while dressed in a white sports suit. Despite nearing his seventies, his age was hardly noticeable.

On this day and night, we witness the continuous efforts of Puning's inheritors of Yingge dance, represented by Chen Laifa, as they bring the ancient Lingnan intangible cultural heritage into more people's lives with a youthful spirit, reaching out to a broader world.

陈来发：让英歌舞走进更多人的生活　　

2023年12月18日，广东官宣“气候入冬”，寒潮来袭。凌晨四点，普宁市区却热气腾腾：街头的消夜食肆尚未打烊，菜市场上备货的身影来来往往……

在南山社区居委会里，英歌舞的棒槌声敲响夜空。普宁英歌舞国家级代表性传承人陈来发，正带领南山英歌队队员们，紧张地筹备着天亮后的演出。

2024年，陈来发迎来与英歌舞结缘的第50个年头。在普宁，有上百支英歌队遍布各个乡镇，但作为快板英歌的代表，“南山英歌”是其中最闻名遐迩的一队。

南山英歌传承基地位于南山村主干道，道路两旁的墙上绘就不少英歌舞的主要人物角色：红面红须的“头槌”关胜、黑面黑须的“二槌”李逵，抓蛇的时迁、豹子头林冲、母夜叉孙二娘……

凌晨4点，南山社区居委会大楼里，南山英歌队的队员们正在为当天的演出化妆。三名化妆师傅从凌晨3点开始作业，为30多名队员画脸谱。“让他们早上7点起床上学可能迟到，但让他们舞英歌，凌晨2点就能爬起来。”陈来发说，当地大部分男孩的成长历程中，都留下了英歌舞的印记。他们有的专门学过英歌舞，有的常为朋友的表演和排练捧场，有的还是父子俩、兄弟俩一起参加同一支英歌队。队内的“团宠”——6岁的“小时迁”陈楷铭今年在视频平台上火爆出圈，被网友们亲切称为“蛇宝”。他的爸爸是队里的“二槌”，扮演李逵的角色。

无论身处何地，成长或老去，潮汕人都能被英歌舞的棒槌声敲响“乡愁”。不少未经剪辑的英歌舞演出、训练视频，都能获得上万点赞、数十万播放量。

陈来发告诉我们，过去，英歌舞有“传内不传外，传男不传女”的规矩。如今，类似的“祖训”正在悄然变化。2017年，陈来发以南山小学作为教学阵地，组建了一支少年英歌队，屡次带队参加省市的演出活动。2023年6月27日，南山英歌传承基地正式动工。随后的开学季，到南山小学报名参加英歌舞课程的学生达380余人，既有男生，也有女生。

“普宁英歌舞在2006年成为国家级非遗以后，就不只属于南山村了，也不只属于普宁，而是国家共有的文化遗产。”身穿白色运动服的陈来发，骑着白色的电动车驰行在普宁市区，实在看不出他已年近七旬。

在这一年，在这一天一夜里，我们看到以陈来发为代表的普宁英歌舞传承人，正持续努力地让古老的岭南非遗以年轻的姿态不断走进更多人的生活，走向更广阔的天地。

总策划：杜传贵 林海利
总统筹：陈桥生 邓琼
统筹执行：吴小攀 朱绍杰
文｜羊城晚报记者 周欣怡 朱绍杰
翻译｜陈萱