Gu Huamin

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1957 he entered the Anhui Hui Opera Troupe, studying under the celebrated veteran Hui Opera artists Cheng Faquan, Cheng Youfang, Lin Tianci, Shi Shuangkui, Fang Yonglin and Cheng Songshun, and receiving their true transmission. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huiju Opera in Anhui: Hui opera is mainly current within Anhui Province and around Wuyuan County in Jiangxi; within the province its troupes are most concentrated in Huizhou, Anqing and Chizhou, and it spread along the trade routes of the Huizhou merchants into Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi. The Hui troupes entered Beijing during the Qianlong reign, and not only gave birth to Peking opera — dozens of local operatic genres in the north and south of China are bound to them by an inseparable blood relationship. Hui opera took shape at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing. After the luantan vocal style was brought into Anhui it combined with local vocal styles and folk music, forming the bozi in Shipai, Zongyang, Tongcheng and other places of Anqing Prefecture; during the Qianlong reign the bozi gradually fused with the chuiqiang evolved from the sipingqiang, forming the erhuang; the erhuang in turn combined with the Hubei xipi as the pihuang ensemble, laying the foundation of Hui opera.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1945, a native of Xiuning County, Anhui Province. He has a fine voice, beautiful posture and bearing, abundant spirit and a strong Hui Opera flavour. He specialises in the tongchui and jiazi painted-face roles and is also accomplished in sheng and chou roles, and over many years of artistic career he has created many rugged and bold stage images. His performance is majestic and commanding, his presence striking, his singing elegant and fluent, combining strength and softness, and his range of roles is wide. His representative works include Shui Yan Qi Jun (Flooding the Seven Armies) and Qing Yi Qian Qiu (Loyalty and Righteousness Through the Ages). Within the documented technical tradition of Huiju Opera in Anhui: Hui opera is an important local operatic vocal style, mainly current within Anhui Province and around Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing the luantan vocal style was brought into Anhui and, combining with local vocal styles and folk music, formed the bozi in Shipai, Zongyang, Tongcheng and other places of Anqing Prefecture. During the Qianlong reign the bozi gradually fused with the chuiqiang evolved from the sipingqiang, forming the erhuang. The erhuang in turn formed the pihuang ensemble together with the Hubei xipi, laying the foundation of Hui opera. The music and vocal styles of Hui opera fall into such categories as Hui-Kun, chuiqiang, bozi, erhuang, xipi and huachang xiaodiao (florid-tunes ditties). Hui-Kun is played mainly as martial plays, using much suona, gong and drum, with a grand manner; chuiqiang combines the qupai (tune-pattern) form with the banqiang form, using the flute and the small suona as leading instruments; bozi keeps time with a jujube-wood clapper and is accompanied by suona, flute and huihu; erhuang takes the huihu as its leading instrument and has ban styles such as daoban, yuanban, huilong and liushui; xipi likewise uses the huihu as its leading instrument and has ban styles such as the wenwu daoban, sanban, yaoban and erliu; huachang xiaodiao consists mainly of folk ditties and is rich in the flavour of everyday life. The role types of Hui opera include mo, sheng, xiaosheng, wai, dan, tie, jing and chou; its performance is fiery and ardent, heroic in spirit and broad in movement, and it is especially adept at martial plays, with such feats as flipping over the stage platform (fantaizi), leaping through the ring (tiaoquan), running through fire (chuanhuo), the flying fork (feicha), the rolling lamp (gundeng) and face-changing (bianlian). Hui opera has a rich traditional repertoire: its Hui-Kun plays are mainly martial pieces such as The Seven Captures of Meng Huo, The Eight-Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, Toppling the Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its Kun-Yi plays include Zhaojun Chusai (Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier), The Drunken Imperial Concubine and Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins); its chuiqiang and bozi plays include The Thousand-Li Colt, The Joined Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its xipi plays include The Battle of Fancheng and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Long Hu Dou (Dragon and Tiger Fight), Rebellion at Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and The Flower Field Error; and its huachang little plays include Li Da on Night Watch and Visiting Relatives and Quarrelling. Hui opera has a history of more than three hundred years and once played an important role in the development history of Chinese opera; it not only gave birth to Peking opera, but dozens of local operatic genres in the north and south of China are bound to it by an inseparable blood relationship. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Seven Captures of Meng Huo": Hui opera has a rich traditional repertoire: its Hui-Kun plays are mainly martial pieces such as The Seven Captures of Meng Huo, The Eight-Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, Toppling the Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its Kun-Yi plays include Zhaojun Chusai (Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier), The Drunken Imperial Concubine and Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins); its chuiqiang and bozi plays include The Thousand-Li Colt, The Joined Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its xipi plays include The Battle of Fancheng and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Long Hu Dou (Dragon and Tiger Fight), Rebellion at Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and The Flower Field Error; and its huachang little plays include Li Da on Night Watch and Visiting Relatives and Quarrelling. "The Eight-Formation Diagram": Hui opera has a rich traditional repertoire: its Hui-Kun plays are mainly martial pieces such as The Seven Captures of Meng Huo, The Eight-Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, Toppling the Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its Kun-Yi plays include Zhaojun Chusai (Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier), The Drunken Imperial Concubine and Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins); its chuiqiang and bozi plays include The Thousand-Li Colt, The Joined Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its xipi plays include The Battle of Fancheng and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Long Hu Dou (Dragon and Tiger Fight), Rebellion at Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and The Flower Field Error; and its huachang little plays include Li Da on Night Watch and Visiting Relatives and Quarrelling. "Badaling": Hui opera has a rich traditional repertoire: its Hui-Kun plays are mainly martial pieces such as The Seven Captures of Meng Huo, The Eight-Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, Toppling the Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its Kun-Yi plays include Zhaojun Chusai (Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier), The Drunken Imperial Concubine and Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins); its chuiqiang and bozi plays include The Thousand-Li Colt, The Joined Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its xipi plays include The Battle of Fancheng and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Long Hu Dou (Dragon and Tiger Fight), Rebellion at Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and The Flower Field Error; and its huachang little plays include Li Da on Night Watch and Visiting Relatives and Quarrelling. "Heroic Righteousness": Hui opera has a rich traditional repertoire: its Hui-Kun plays are mainly martial pieces such as The Seven Captures of Meng Huo, The Eight-Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, Toppling the Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its Kun-Yi plays include Zhaojun Chusai (Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier), The Drunken Imperial Concubine and Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins); its chuiqiang and bozi plays include The Thousand-Li Colt, The Joined Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its xipi plays include The Battle of Fancheng and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Long Hu Dou (Dragon and Tiger Fight), Rebellion at Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and The Flower Field Error; and its huachang little plays include Li Da on Night Watch and Visiting Relatives and Quarrelling.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Hui Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has performed in Beijing on several occasions and won high praise. He received personal instruction from the Peking Opera masters Li Hongchun, Hou Xirui and Mei Lanfang. He is enthusiastic about transmission and has trained two young performers, Zhou Feiran and Du Ming.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Gu Huamin · National Representative Bearer Archive