Drama Card 2

Level 3-4

The Man of Gold

There are many different beliefs about the beginnings of the Lantern Festival and the legend below is just one. Make sure your whole group knows all about it.

It is said that Buddhism first came to China in the very first century and this was a time of the reign of Emperor Mingdi. Now Emperor Mingdi it seems, was not quite as powerful as he would have hoped and his people, did not find him that important.

One day this Emperor had a dream. He saw a gold man in his palace and he began to ask him who he was. At that very moment the mysterious gold figure rose into the sky and disappeared in the west.

The next day Emperor Mingdi sent a man of great learning, a scholar, to India to find the Buddhist scriptures. This scholar, so the story goes, travelled thousands of miles in the search but returned to his Emperor one day, with the scriptures.

Now the Emperor ordered that a temple be built and in this temple would sit a statue of Buddha who would guard the scriptures and hold them in safe keeping.

Followers of Buddha believe that the power of Buddha can drive away darkness and it was for this reason that Emperor Mingdi ordered his subjects to display the lights of their lanterns during what was to become the lantern festival. This story also tells of the lanterns getting bigger, better and brighter over time and it is said that over time the lantern festival has done the same.

Your mission

Create a short drama that tells this legend to the rest of the class. Perform it in mime or add words but as you work it out decide which characters could be stilt walkers, for they are an important part of the Lantern Festival.

Stilt walking is a traditional performance and a popular lantern festival event. Some actors even perform plays while walking about on stilts. You might not perform your play on stilts but we still want to know which characters from your story would use them.

See some stilts here.