Symbolic Meanings and Cultural Transmission of Props in Chinese Traditional Dance

Abstract

Props in Chinese traditional dance carry material, performative, and cultural functions at the same time. Fans, sleeves, umbrellas, drums, lanterns, handkerchiefs, baskets, feathers, and related objects enter the dance field from everyday life and ritual practice, then develop into symbolic media for emotional articulation, narrative construction, ritual presentation, and identity marking. Based on dance studies, folklore, and semiotics, this article examines the sources of props, modes of movement, semantic structures, transmission chains, and contemporary transformation. The study argues that props form a visible system of cultural coding in Chinese traditional dance. They preserve collective memory, condense local experience, shape aesthetic style, maintain ritual order, and remain active in education, choreography, media circulation, and intangible cultural heritage protection. In the current stage environment and digital context, research on props needs to integrate original context, craft genealogy, movement logic, and aesthetic spirit, so that traditional dance culture may continue its living transmission with renewed vitality.