The most prominent feature of the Chinese folk dances is their folkloric character. To enable the readers to clearly understand these Chinese folk dances, we, according to the angle of folklore, have classified self-entertainment, sociality and choosing spouses, physical exercises and technical sports, dancing for a living, etc.; Festival and Seasonal Dances, Ritual Dances such as those happening at child-bearing rituals, adult rituals, weddings, birthday celebrations, funerals, sacrificial rituals, military practices, etc.; Belief Dances such as those done at the rituals of the Taoism, Buddhism, Islamism, primitive religions, spiritual belief activities among common folks; and Working-based Dances.

The Chinese folk dances have formed a complicated phenomenon of multi-function and multi-culture mixing with each other during their long spreading and evolutionary process, thus leading to a diverse situation. Therefore, the following dances are classifies according to their major characters for the purpose of exposing their cultural meanings more properly.

  Shangdong Volume: Guzi Yangge

It is widely popular in the Counties and the Cities of Shanghe, Huimin, Leling, Lingxian, Yangxin, Jiyang, and Linyi of Shangdong Province and performed at the Spring Festival or some other important celebrations.
There are four roles in Guzi Yangge: "Umbrella", "Drum", "Stick" and "Flower", and three of which are named after the props while the fourth refers to a female dancer. The movements of "Umbrella" are well-rounded, smooth, standing erect and fairly forceful; the movement of "Drum" are bold and imposing; the movements of "Stick" fast and lively, clean and clear, and the movements of "Flower" fiery and powerful, light-hearted and graceful.

The history of Guzi yangge can be traced back to as early as the Emperor Jiajing's Reign in the Ming Dynasty from 1522 to 1566, according to the historical record.

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