Dragons and lions provide link to the past

An icon of celebration

From the Qing Dynasty

It is said that Zeng Guofan, a general and the leader of the Xiang Army during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), would organize dragon leaping and jumping in his camp after winning a battle.

Beijing Olympics in 2008

Before the Olympic Games was held in Beijing in 2008, invited by China Central Television, dragon making master Qiu Guoliang led Peking University students in a dragon dance performance on the Great Wall for a promotional commercial, using two 100-meter-long dragons he made.

Guinness World Record in 2012

Gu Haoqiang, who learned his skills from Qiu, together with his father Gu Huixian, who is a bamboo weaving master, helped make a super-long dragon that measured 5.57 kilometers in 2012, setting a Guinness World Record for the longest dragon of its kind. It was gifted to an overseas Chinese trade union in Markham, Canada, to commemorate the centenary of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, led by Sun Yat-sen.