Study on the Causes of Disappearance of China’s Regional Dance and its Live Transmission: A Case Study of Bamboo Dance of Hainan Li Nationality

As a multi-ethnic country, China boasts many kinds of regional dances. However, the development of such dances has been greatly hindered due to the absence of the written records and lack of effective ways to be inherited. Up to now, more than 800 kinds of dances have been extinct, and some are on the verge of disappearance. The fact has shown that it is high time to protect and inherit China’s regional dance. In view of the development status of the bamboo dance in Hainan, this study uses literature research and field research methods to conduct in-depth study on the historical origin, artistic characteristics, cultural connotation and social value of the bamboo dance, and analyzes the reasons for its loss. Through interviews with experts and scholars, government administrators, non-hereditary inheritors and representative local people, the present situation and difficulties of The Li nationality bamboo dance are fully reproduced. On the basis of summing up experience and lessons, a series of mechanisms for effectively protecting and inheriting Hainan Li nationality bamboo dance is tentatively constructed. The results show that: First, the origin of bamboo dance is numerous, but the religious origin is more reliable; Second, the artistic characteristics of bamboo dance are rich and diverse. The integration of movement elements of external dance makes the original ecological dance of our nation more and more mutated and weakened; Thirdly, with the development of The Times, the nature, function, expression form and cultural connotation of Li Nationality bamboo Dance have undergone great changes; Fourth, the rites of mourning of the Li people in Hainan have been simplified and sinicized, which has changed the function and social value of the Li people’s bamboo dance. Fifth, the lack of successors, the rapid development of economy and culture, insufficient government support, people’s weak awareness of the protection of national and regional culture, high-tech and accelerated urbanization have all become factors affecting the protection and inheritance of bamboo dance. The significance of this study is conducive to an in-depth understanding of the protection and inheritance of Chinese regional intangible heritage dances, and can provide reference materials for the subsequent study of the bamboo dance of Hainan intangible heritage dances.