英文摘要:The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics and cultural meaning of traditional and competitive dragon dance. Adopting historical-study methods and field-study methods of anthropology, I first try to search of characteristics and types of traditional dragon dance, then to explore the formation and techniques of competitive dragon dance, and finally to analyze the cultural meanings of traditional and competitive dragon dance from the following seven aspects: educational value, religious belief, economy and sightseeing, politics and racial groups, community identification, sexual consciousness, and cups and medals mania. Following are the conclusions reached: 1.Traditional Dragon Dance is a port of folk culture, which derived from a dragon totem. As our civilization progressed, it gradually got combined with some folk etiquettes and festivals. With the blending of the old and the new, Dragon Dance is now showing great diversities. 2.Competitive Dragon Dance originally come from traditional dragon dance. It’s a folk activity adjusted by people at will to meet contemporary competition pattern, and thus has gained great popularity. 3.Traditional and competitive Dragon Dance has each its distinctive characters. Judging from any of the seven aspects mentioned earlier, they both have their positive values. They carry our traditions and values, which makes them something worthy of promotion.