The 'Goal' - Choy Cheng ("Plucking the Greens" 採青)
When translated, the phrase Choy Cheng (採青) literally means "plucking the greens" - but this phrase has a deep symbolic meaning in Chinese. The "greens" (青; Cheng) are commonly symbolised by a lettuce - in Chinese, the word for "lettuce" is 菜 (Choy), which also sounds like the word for "wealth" (財). Therefore, since the lettuce symbolises wealth, by taking and spitting out the vegetable the lion is spreading wealth and good fortune to the person or business the dance is being performed for. Being hit by the greens is said to bring good luck and is seen as a blessing and/or guard against misfortune.
The Tradition
It is considered bad form to simply approach the greens and take it. Instead an elaborate story is portrayed as part of the performance.
This typically involves the lion "solving a puzzle" in order to get the greens, and the more difficult and elaborate the puzzle the more luck and prosperity is given out to the guests.
What We Can Do
There are a number of special types of Choy Cheng that can be performed.
We have listed a selection that we can perform as part of our routines:
Standard Cheng / Dei Cheng (Earth Greens 地青)
In this type of Choy Cheng, a puzzle is laid out on the ground and must be solved by the lion before it can capture the lettuce.
Commonly added to this standard puzzle are oranges or tangerines as a barrier to the lettuce. These are typically presented to guests after the puzzle has been solved, representing either gold nuggets (tangerines) or lotus flowers (oranges).
High Cheng / Tin Cheng (Heavenly Greens 天青)
In these dances the lion is required to recover greens that have been placed high in the air. This can be from a hung from a doorway or ceiling, held from a long bamboo pole, or secured to the outside of a building.
Typically the lion head performer must jump and land on the tail performer's shoulders or head to attain the height necessary to reach the greens - this requires exceptional coordination, skill and balance between the two lion dancers.
The typical options we can perform for a high cheng would be:
Fishing Rod - the lettuce would be held on the end of a bamboo staff, which would be held by an important guest or the buddha character.
'Found' High Cheng - the lettuce would be tied to an existing high object such as an awning, door frame, or ceiling.
New Option
Supported Cheng - we have a stand that be in place of a generic high structure, set up as a tree, or a 'person-less' fishing rod.
Reflecting Moon
This is a specific variant of the High Cheng, where the lettuce is suspended over a pool or well (normally a wide plant pot or similar with foil inside to represent the water)
The 'reflection' of the suspended cheng in the water fools the lion initially, before solving a suspended cheng.
This does give the lion the option to spit out water after trying to eat from the well - something we can represent with confetti canons and guaranteed to be a surprise event within the performance
Bridge / See Jee Gwo Kiew (Lion Crossing the Bridge 獅子過橋)
Here the lion finds a river (or other water feature) blocking its way to the greens. The lion must navigate a bridge (wooden benches or other mock bridge structure) or stepping stones (plant pots) to get to the greens, capture them, and return across the bridge. In some instances the bridge can be broken, which requires the lion to figure out an alternative method of crossing the bridge, or the greens are hung directly under the bridge which requires the lion to carefully lean over the edge of the bridge to collect the greens without falling into the water.
We can provide a bridge and 'water' (blue tarpaulin) for this, and it can easily be integrated alongside most of the other "puzzles" we offer.
Snake / Duk seh zoh lou (Poisonous Snake Blocking the Road 毒蛇阻路)
The snake is a popular choice as an animal puzzle. The snake can represent an obstacle that blocks good fortune from entering a business or home. The word for snake in Cantonese (蛇; seh) sounds similar to the word for death (死; sei), so by removing the snake the lion removes whatever is killing the business.
The snake is comprised of a body, head, fangs and eyes. The body is normally represented by a spear or staff. The head is made from a lettuce, the eyes from oranges and the fangs from knives or similar weapons.
To solve the puzzle the lion must first blind the snake by "eating" its eyes, disarm it by removing its fangs, and then kill the snake by eating its head and body.
After the dissection the lion may spit out the staff or spear (as a bone it can't digest), which the Buddha can catch and either perform a Kung Fu sequence (while the lion sleeps) or fight the lion. The head, represented by the lettuce, is then eaten and spat onto the audience by the lion in the manner of the Choy Cheng.
Crab (蟹)
The crab is formed from a body, legs, claws and eyes. The greens are placed under a bowl, pan or bucket (usually green, and never red, as a red crab would indicate it has been cooked) to represent the body, chopsticks or pieces of bamboo are used for the legs, knives or other weapons for the claws, and oranges or tangerines for the eyes.
The crab is solved in a similar manner as the snake puzzle. The lion first blinds the crab, disarms it by removing its claws and legs one by one, and then kills it by "opening its shell" (tipping the bowl, pan or bucket over) to reveal the greens inside, which it then captures.