One day, as some local people passed him carrying buckets of water, an idea struck him. He ordered his army to make drums in the shape of water buckets.

On the following Lantern Festival, a group of his soldiers disguised themselves as drummers, with their weapons hidden inside the drums, and sneaked into Lanzhou. Attacked from both inside and outside, Lanzhou soon fell. To celebrate the victory and the peace that ensued, the drum was called the Taiping Drum, taiping literally meaning peace in Chinese.

This story, almost a Chinese version of the Troy Wooden Horse, is not without embellishments. But 1936, the year that the three branches of Red Army converged in the hometown of Taiping Drum Dance after the Long March, again heard the reverberating beat of the Taiping Drum, heralding the victory and peace that were not far away.

The place for the meeting was Huining County, close to Lanzhou. Not only was it a communication center in eastern Gansu Province, but also the name of the place itself carried propitious significance: in Chinese hui means meet, and ning peace. On the morning of October 2, the Red Army captured Huining. There were warm and excited handshakes, hugs, and victorious acclamations, all to the accompaniment of the sonorous drumbeat of the Taiping Drum.

1945 was another year when the Taiping Drum became witness to one of the important events in Chinese history, that is, the victory of the anti-Japanese war. Firecrackers were set and drum dance was performed in Lanzhou.

There were two younger and elder teams of drummers, both in black yet with the younger team showing their white shirts and the elder tying a red ribbon to their waist. The earthshaking drumbeat and the drummers' vigorous dancing steps released years of pent-up passion. Many people who had long looked forward to this victory were moved to tears by the mighty drum performance.

Today, Taiping Drum Dance is still very popular in Lanzhou, where even the urban dustbins take the shape of the local drum. In Lanzhou suburbs, every village has their drum team. When the Spring Festival comes, Taiping drum teams in each village will hold parades before village temples, dispersing evil spirits and invoking blessings.

Author:Lency

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