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After 10 months of shooting, editing and post-production, a documentary and a picture album by the name of “Dreams of Kirin Dance” premiered Sunday in Luohu District.

Directed by Wang Keping, a researcher with the Chinese Film & TV Information Science Academy of Beijing, the 48-minute documentary begins by tracing the history of Shuiku New Village where Liwei kirin dance finds its home.

A kirin prop rises at Fairy Lake Botanical Garden.Courtesy of Shuiku New Village Industrial Company

It records the historic development of Liwei kirin dance, explaining the complete set of movements and recounting kirin dance masters’ efforts to protect and pass on the intangible cultural heritage item.

The 159-page picture album contains some 500 photos from different historic periods, giving an elaborate introduction to the history, rituals and masters of the dance. It also records watershed moments in Shuiku New Village’s development since 1959.

The documentary is co-produced by Shuiku New Village Industrial Company and Shenzhen Xianyun Culture Investment Development Co., Ltd.

Liao Ruiguang paints the eyes of a prop kirin.

Another documentary called “Liwei Kirin Dance” will be aired on Shenzhen TV on the third day of the Chinese New Year, which falls Feb. 16 this year.

The latter, a co-production with Shenzhen TV, mainly features Liao Ruiguang, a fifth-generation heir to Liwei kirin dance. It tells how Liao leads his kirin dance team to revival and what his team is doing to preserve the heritage.

A mythical animal bearing mixed characteristics of a dragon, horse and reindeer, kirin is deemed a revered animal in Chinese culture. Unlike the dragon dance, which can be seen nationwide during traditional festivals or grand opening ceremonies, kirin dance is only practiced in Hakka culture. It was not until recent centuries that kirin dance had developed into a performing art of aesthetic and historical value that incorporates music, dancing and acrobatics.

Liao Ruiguang performs kirin dance.

According to Wang Chengtai, president of Shenzhen Association of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection, the Liwei kirin dance team was named a city-level intangible cultural heritage item in 2006 and a provincial-level heritage item in 2007.

Four other professional kirin dance teams in Shenzhen are on the provincial cultural heritage list, namely Longcheng kirin dance team, Guanlan kirin dance team, Dachuankeng kirin dance team and Bantian Yongshengtang kirin dance team. The latter two teams are also on the national cultural heritage list.