Man in China violently assaulted over ‘cultural taboos’ after he helped child pull beard of dragon during traditional festival procession
- Touching the dragon is allowed, but not dragging it by beard or scales
- Man beaten after almost making head of dragon fall to the ground
A man in China was beaten because he tried to help a little boy yank on the beard of a dragon prop during a local festival, an action that is considered a cultural taboo.
The centuries-old Cannon Dragon Festival is little known across China but is popular in Binyang county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region of southern China.
Touching the dragon’s body is considered good luck, but people cannot yank either the beard or the scales.
The attack started when a man was holding a little boy and trying to help the child yank the beard of the dragon, which is usually held up by people carrying wooden sticks while dancing around fireworks.
A member of the “dragon protection squad” told the man to stop several times but was ignored and became outraged when the man nearly knocked over the dragon’s head.