On the Culture Signs in Yancheng Nuo

Since Yangtze River basin is an important source of Chinese civilization, in modern times, Nuo as a folk sacrifice ceremony in Jiangsu is a division of Chinese Nuo culture. Nuo culture is the oldest and most vigorous intangible cultural heritage in China. It is derived from expulsion spell and witchcraft in ancient hunting times to deal with the wild animal, it is rooted in nature, totem worship, ancestral worship, god worship. Culture is a construction of signs, verbal signs are texts of sacred books (script of Tongzi drama), chanting of Nuo practitioners, written announcement by ink brush around the sacred shelter, and non-verbal signs including various artifacts, works of art are viewed as tangible signs. Auspicious thoughts, customs and folk beliefs belong to intangible signs. This study deals with semiotic analysis of Yancheng nuo in Jiangsu. It aims to find out the cultural connotations of its sign systems. The source of data was taken from fieldwork and interviews. Based on innovative classification of signs, it tries to explore the semiotic transformations between tangible signs and intangible signs.