The Green Lion Strategy (GLS), or Lion-Killing Performance, originated during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty more than two centuries ago.

The strategy is actually a genre of Chinese martial arts disguised as lion-dancing. Grandmaster Yiyuan created the dance to avoid losing Shaolin Kung Fu after Emperor Kangxi, grandfather of Qianlong, ordered the destruction of the South Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou.

Grandmaster Yiyuan opened GLS schools in southern Fujian and passed Kung Fu on to his disciplines.

The art was spread to the Sanwu Village in Cizao town around the year 1900 by Master Wu Jizong, who fostered a group of Kung Fu practitioners. Wu’s faction has entered the fifth generation with more than 60 members.

Local villagers have always embraced the Sanwu GLS and often stage GLS performances.

In a GLS performance, two actors dress up together in a lion costume, while others dressed as warriors holding spears, swords, shields and even farm tools such as hoes and shoulder poles as weapons.

There are two formations under GLS: the butterfly formation and the lion-tiger formation, with different weapons used based on different objects of attack.

The scale of a GLS performance varies from as few as two “warriors” to up to 80, who wear ancient outfits and straw sandals.