Wushi is the wonderful and colorful Lion Dance. It brings joy to occasions such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, wedding celebrations, and opening ceremonies for businesses and so on.

The Lion originated from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386 - 589). The Lion Dance became more and more popular during succeeding dynasties. Many famed poets have described the jolly dance scenes in verse.

For Wushi, there are two types of lions - those of the north of the Yangtze River and those of Southern China. The northern lions are vivid with golden hair. Dancers will wear clothes to match the lion's color.

Usually two dancers cooperate to act as a big lion while another acts as a small lion, such lions dance as a pair. Employing a variety of steps the lion-dancers will express different emotions such as joy, sadness, anger, affection or suspicion and so on.

On the other hand, most Southern lions look quite fierce. In the Huang Feihong Museum for the Art of Lion Dance in Guangdong Province, exhibits record about the stunts of Huang Feihong, the great master of Wushi.

A legend explains the reason for the popularity of the Lion Dance during the Spring Festival. In the early Ming Dynasty, there was a beast that haunted the Foshan area of Guangdong Province and at the end of each year it would appear and do evil things.

The people could not bear this any longer so they made models of lions out of bamboo, and painted them in variegated colors. When the beast appeared, they beat gongs and drums, danced with their lions and rushed at the evil beast. On seeing this, the beast ran away in a blue funk.

Ever since then local villagers have believed the lion to be an auspicious symbol with which to exorcise evil spirits and the like. The custom of performing a lion-dance continues to this day.