Reviving a grand spectacle

Local Mongolians in Ordos perform their traditional chopstick dance, an intangible cultural heritage item.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Traditional Mongolian weddings are known for their outstanding attire, mesmerizing melodies and dazzling ornaments. But they were heading for the pages of history until Ts Bileg decided to act. Wang Kaihao and Yuan Hui report from Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

If it is grand traditional Mongolian wedding ceremonies you want to see, there's one man you can count on. Since the 1990s, Ts Bileg, a 67-year-old from the Mongolian ethnic group in Ordos, a city in the southwest of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has written 18 dance operas for 15 troupes on the traditional Ordos wedding - a series of rituals dating back to the time of Genghis Khan, which were listed as national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

His shows have been staged in more than 10 countries and regions. Nevertheless, the man is not satisfied with the wedding ceremonies being recreated only onstage.

"Cultural heritage is meant not only for the stage," he says. "It has no significance if it is not part of people's lives."

Explaining how he decided to stay close to tradition when reviving the ceremonies, he recalled when he was traveling around Ordos in the 1980s visiting different Mongolian tribes to source elements for his shows, he was often told by people that he should not cater to modern tastes at the cost of tradition.

"That was when I decided to revive traditional rituals," he says.