Editor's note:

In collaboration with the popular game Honor of Kings, CGTN has produced a special video featuring the lively and historical "Hu Xuan Dance" – a dazzling whirl born over a millennium ago along the Silk Road, which became a celebrated part of Tang-dynasty court culture and a vivid symbol of China's long-standing artistic exchange and inclusive spirit. Ahead of its premiere during CGTN's overseas Spring Festival Gala "Super Night" on Chinese New Year's Eve, we are delighted to share two insightful articles by Dunhuang experts, exploring the cultural and historical roots of this vibrant dance from the Silk Road era. These pieces offer a deeper look into the artistry behind the upcoming visual showcase, blending traditional heritage with contemporary digital creativity. Stay tuned for the dance video – a festive fusion of past and present.

Mike, a teenager in dreadlocks and an oversized hoodie, stood in front of the mural in Mogao Cave 220 at Dunhuang, his eyes widening by the second. 

He couldn't look away from the spinning figures painted on the wall: four dancers stood on small round rugs, arms spread like birds in flight. The centrifugal force of their turns fans out their braided hair and swirling skirts, blooming like flowers at full stretch. That extreme body control, that bold, showy spinning – somehow it felt uncannily close to the street dance Mike had practiced for years. He murmured under his breath: "Wait … did the Tang Dynasty (618-907) have street dance too?"

The dance in the mural is the famous Hu Xuan Dance (literally "the whirling Hu dance"). In ancient Chinese, "Hu" was a broad label for non-Han peoples from west of Dunhuang along the Silk Roads. The Hu Xuan Dance originated in Sogdiana, roughly corresponding to parts of today's Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The Sogdians were often likened to the "gypsies" along the Silk Roads: shrewd traders of gemstones, spices, and silk, and also cultural messengers who carried music and dance from oasis to oasis. The dance was their traveling "spice of joy" along the long caravan routes. That's why the Hu Xuan Dance is also known as the Sogdian Whirl.

Its essence lies in one word: whirl. A dancer needs only a patch of ground. With one foot confined to the rug, the body spins at high speed; narrow-sleeved Hu-style garments billow open in the wind, and the flying hem of the skirt draws clean arcs through the air.

Much like street dance rising from the streets, the Hu Xuan Dance first became popular among the common people before it ever entered elite circles. In the pubs and restaurants of the West Market in Chang'an, the imperial capital of Tang China, the sight of female Hu dancers spinning at dazzling speed won waves of applause from scholars and travelers. When the great poet Li Bai wrote, "A Hu girl's beauty is like a flower, smiling in the spring breeze as she serves wine," he was writing about precisely these entertainers, many celebrated for their Hu Xuan Dance.

Often mentioned alongside Hu Xuan Dance as one of the "twin jewels" of Silk Road performance is the Hu Teng Dance (literally "the leaping Hu dance"). Hu Xuan Dance is prized for its spinning and was initially performed mostly by women, light and graceful in style. Hu Teng Dance, on the other hand, features leaping and jumping – strong, athletic movement more commonly associated with male performers. What they share is a strict stage constraint: both are performed on a small round dance rug. 

In the mural of Mogao Cave 220, the two dances appear together: four dancers spin and jump, blending softness and strength. Almost like the thrilling energy of a modern street-dance battle. With its huge popularity among the public, the Hu Xuan Dance eventually made its way into the Tang imperial court. 

The famous Tang poet Bai Juyi wrote: "There are Lady Taizhen and An Lushan – no one surpasses those two at Hu Xuan." Lady Taizhen was Yang Yuhuan, Emperor Xuanzong's most favored consort, said to have danced Hu Xuan with a beauty as swift and airy as wind. 

An Lushan was a frontier military governor of Hu background. According to historical records, he had a massive physique weighing over 180 kilograms. Unsurprisingly, his weight made the airborne flips and jumps of Hu Teng impossible to perform. Instead, he turned to Hu Xuan, spinning rapidly like a top. 

The delightful contrast was irresistible to the emperor and the consort, and it helped An Lushan charm his way into greater political power. 

The whirling dancers in Dunhuang are not confined to Cave 220. Across multiple caves, especially in large narrative murals illustrating Buddhist scriptures, you can find performers caught in the same lively spinning poses. 

Beyond Dunhuang, traces of the Hu Xuan Dance appear in murals from Chang'an and in artifacts from Ningxia, northwest China. These include stone carvings and pottery forms such as flat flasks, which together reveal a cultural fusion that traveled for thousands of miles.

When Mike finally stepped out of the cave, the setting sun was spilling across the Gobi desert in Dunhuang. He looked up and for a moment it felt as if he could see countless dancers still spinning, floating through the last light of day.

About the Author

Yong Rong is a Silk Road-focused family-culture lecturer and a former diplomat. She has introduced Dunhuang to the public through programs on Beijing Arts Radio, including Let's Set Off: Eat, Drink, Play in Beijing. She has served as a docent for major exhibitions such as "Dunhuang: A Journey Through Time and Space", "Echoes of Civilizations – A Grand Silk Road Exhibition", and "Thus Is Mogao: The Dunhuang Grottoes Exhibition". In November 2023, she delivered a speech at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), discussing the connection between grotto-temple conservation and public participation under climate change. With a dual academic background in archaeology and museology from Peking University and diplomacy from the China Foreign Affairs University, she is known for making Silk Road culture vivid and accessible through clear explanations and cross-cultural comparisons – efforts that have won her wide popularity among general audiences.

(Cover: A still from CGTN's video on Hu Xuan Dance. /Guo Huakang)