Liu Houyun
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Liu Houyun, Male, Unspecified, from Jingzhou, Hubei, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Jinghe Opera (Ⅳ-35). The tradition is documented in Jingzhou, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Jinghe Opera in Jingzhou, Hubei: It is popular in north-western Hunan and around Jingzhou (Shashi) and has a history of more than four hundred years. To this day the locally rooted “single-bell” (danbo) line of Jinghe opera still circulates around Jingsha, welcomed by the people of Jingzhou's central districts and surrounding areas. In the Wanli reign of the Ming operatic performance flourished in Shashi. By the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing (1651) there was already Jinghe opera activity here. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns the two great Jinghe troupes “Taishou” and “Sanyuan” appeared in Shashi, gathering celebrated actors and enjoying over a hundred years of fame around Jingsha.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
He was born into a family of the Shashi Jinghe Opera weigu (drum-circle) ensemble tradition, and under the influence of his household from childhood he was especially fond of drum conducting. In the 1940s he studied successively under Li Youben, the renowned drum master of Shashi's Upper Street, and Yang Wenxuan, the renowned drum master of Lower Street, and attained considerable mastery. Besides drum conducting, he could also perform a variety of roles in the chou (clown), jing (painted-face) and sheng (male) role types. Through decades of artistic practice he gained a thorough understanding of the artistic characteristics and traditional repertoire of Jinghe Opera and a command of its drum patterns and gong-and-drum notation; his cueing was precise, his drum patterns clear and his rhythm steady, enabling him to control the pace of a performance with accuracy. On stage he performed at full power and full pitch, his singing vigorous and forceful and his acting expansive and unrestrained, and he was greatly admired by audiences. He preserved numerous Jinghe Opera scripts and qupai (tune titles), leaving important materials for the study of Jinghe Opera. Within the documented technical tradition of Jinghe Opera in Jingzhou, Hubei: Jinghe opera was originally called “Jingsha opera”, popularly “Shanghe opera”, “Shanghe lu zi” and “Jinghe diao”, known in Hunan as “big-stage opera” and “Dahan troupe”, and named Jinghe opera after the founding of New China. It is a multi-vocal genre, singing gaoqiang, Kunqiang, tanqiang (southern and northern roads) and miscellany and popular tunes, and it has absorbed many musical elements of the work and life songs of Jingchu folk. Its music blends north and south with a special charm; its singing is high and vehement yet fine and melodious; its performance is grand and direct, close to life. At present Jinghe opera still has three hundred gongche-notated qupai and nearly a thousand pieces. For half a century its development has stalled and it has gradually declined. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Guo Ziyi Feng Wang (Guo Ziyi Made a Prince)": A traditional Jinghe opera play whose southern-road suona passage was recorded and notated and included in the Collected Music of Chinese Xiqu, Hubei volume. "Lian Tai Shou Fei (Taking the Consort at the Lotus Terrace)": A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of the representative works of the inheritor Tan Fuxiu. "Zuo Gong (Sitting in the Palace)": A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works. "Tan Mu (Visiting the Mother)": A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
Guo Ziyi Feng Wang (Guo Ziyi Made a Prince)
A traditional Jinghe opera play whose southern-road suona passage was recorded and notated and included in the Collected Music of Chinese Xiqu, Hubei volume.
Lian Tai Shou Fei (Taking the Consort at the Lotus Terrace)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of the representative works of the inheritor Tan Fuxiu.
Zuo Gong (Sitting in the Palace)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
Tan Mu (Visiting the Mother)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1928 in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, and died in May 2009. He was a national representative bearer of Jinghe Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
In the Wanli reign of the Ming operatic performance flourished in Shashi. By the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing (1651) there was already Jinghe opera activity here. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns the two great Jinghe troupes “Taishou” and “Sanyuan” appeared in Shashi, gathering celebrated actors and enjoying over a hundred years of fame around Jingsha.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhang Youjun | Li, Hunan | 02-0526 | Other regional school |
| Xiao Yaoting | Li, Hunan | 02-0527 | Other regional school |
| Liu Houyun | Jingzhou, Hubei | 03-1019 | This page |
| Tan Fuxiu | Jingzhou, Hubei | 05-2342 | Same declared area |
| Wang Yuyou | Li, Hunan | 05-2343 | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。