Ding Jie

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From 1942 he learned the art from his parents. Within the regional tradition and school record of Su Opera in Suzhou, Jiangsu: The traditional repertoire of Su opera is the same as that of the costumed Su tan, and is divided into two main categories, qiantan and houtan. In 1912 the spoken-and-sung nanci already had a simple costumed form of performance; in 1941 Zhu Guoliang founded the Guofeng New-style Su Opera Troupe in Shanghai, attempting to develop the spoken-and-sung nanci into the independent operatic vocal genre Su opera and to have Su opera performed in mixed bills together with kunqu. The great majority of the qiantan repertoire works derive from kunqu. The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Red Pear, Lanke Mountain, The Jade Hairpin, The Embroidered Tunic, The West Tower, Taking the Flower Champion and Yu Jia Le are its representative plays; in performance they are given mainly as excerpt plays, their plots and dialogue are basically the same as in kunqu, while the sung lines have been changed from the mixed long-and-short line into the plain and easily understood seven-syllable line.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

He came from a family of opera performers; his parents were disciples of Zheng Shaogeng, who enjoyed fame alongside Lin Buqing, a celebrated master of Sutan. In 1951 he helped to initiate and establish the Shanghai Minfeng Su Opera Troupe. His range is wide, and he could play xiaosheng, laosheng, xiaochou and hualian roles. His singing has correct enunciation and full-bodied tones and is beautiful to hear; his spoken passages are refined, with attention to the musicality and rhythm of theatrical language. Drawing together the basic elements of the various Su Opera melodies, he created the "baida" transitional passage, which is still in use today. He composed music for 41 full-length operas and directed 28 theatrical works. Within the documented technical tradition of Su Opera in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Su opera was formed by the confluence of huagu tanhuang with nanci and kunqu, and is popular in the towns and villages of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. Its predecessor, Su tan, was originally called the spoken-and-sung nanci and is popularly known as “da shantou” (“going up the hilltop”); it is a form of folk art in which the performers sit in a circle and sing a cappella. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Su opera grew up healthily. The music and vocal styles of Su opera have three main sources: first, kunqu tune patterns; second, nanci; third, tanhuang tunes. Because it is deeply influenced by kunqu, the musical style of Su opera is supple and clear, delicate and moving, while retaining the plain and flowing character of Su tan. Its accompaniment is led by the erhu, together with Jiangnan sizhu. Commonly used traditional tunes include several dozen items such as the Taiping tune, the Xiansuo tune, the Fei family tune, the Chai tune, the Mind-Snatching tune, the Silver Whirl and the Flowing Water mode; in addition there are tunes deriving from kunqu such as [A River Breeze], [Crimson Lips], [Locking the South Branch] and [Yudiao Pai Ge], together with folk ditties current in the Suzhou area such as [Spring Tune], [Splitting the Jade], [Great Nine Links] and [Little Nine Links]; there are also various ban forms such as manban, kuaiban and sanban. The role types of Su opera are basically the same as those of kunqu. They now include laowai, laosheng, fumo, guansheng, jinsheng, pheasant-tail sheng, qiongsheng, laodan, zhengdan, zuodan, sidan, wudan, liudan, jing, fu and chou. Actors often double in several lines: laosheng also plays laowai and fumo, fu also plays chou, and zhengdan also plays zuodan, sidan, wudan and liudan, and so on. The performance of Su opera also draws fully on the experience of kunqu; it is graceful and varied, fine and expressive. To suit the fact that Su opera actors are not skilled at dance, the plot is sometimes modified to an appropriate degree. The houtan repertoire works include material adapted and transplanted from kunqu and other genres and from folk art, as well as shidiao ditties and topical sketches sung solo by the chou role; Jiao Ge, Zhang San Borrows the Boots, Song Shou, Visiting Kin and Quarreling, Selling the Haystack, Begging for a Vegetarian Meal and Touring the Eighteen Views are all representative houtan plays. Suzhou tanhuang, the foundation and soul of Su opera, has a long history, deep traditions and rich resources; Su opera itself is closely connected with kunqu in literature, music, performance and many other respects, fully embodying the character of Suzhou culture. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber)": The great majority of the qiantan repertoire works derive from kunqu. The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Red Pear, Lanke Mountain, The Jade Hairpin, The Embroidered Tunic, The West Tower, Taking the Flower Champion and Yu Jia Le are its representative plays; in performance they are given mainly as excerpt plays, their plots and dialogue are basically the same as in kunqu, while the sung lines have been changed from the mixed long-and-short line into the plain and easily understood seven-syllable line. "Mudan Ting (The Peony Pavilion)": The great majority of the qiantan repertoire works derive from kunqu. The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Red Pear, Lanke Mountain, The Jade Hairpin, The Embroidered Tunic, The West Tower, Taking the Flower Champion and Yu Jia Le are its representative plays; in performance they are given mainly as excerpt plays, their plots and dialogue are basically the same as in kunqu, while the sung lines have been changed from the mixed long-and-short line into the plain and easily understood seven-syllable line. "Hongli Ji (The Red Pear)": The great majority of the qiantan repertoire works derive from kunqu. The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Red Pear, Lanke Mountain, The Jade Hairpin, The Embroidered Tunic, The West Tower, Taking the Flower Champion and Yu Jia Le are its representative plays; in performance they are given mainly as excerpt plays, their plots and dialogue are basically the same as in kunqu, while the sung lines have been changed from the mixed long-and-short line into the plain and easily understood seven-syllable line. "Lanke Shan (The Rotten Axe)": The great majority of the qiantan repertoire works derive from kunqu. The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Red Pear, Lanke Mountain, The Jade Hairpin, The Embroidered Tunic, The West Tower, Taking the Flower Champion and Yu Jia Le are its representative plays; in performance they are given mainly as excerpt plays, their plots and dialogue are basically the same as in kunqu, while the sung lines have been changed from the mixed long-and-short line into the plain and easily understood seven-syllable line.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in August 1931 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and died in February 2010. Representative bearer of Su Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His performance as Zhu Erqing in Huakui Ji (The Courtesan's Tale) won second prize for performance at the first Jiangsu Provincial Opera Observation and Performance Festival in 1957.

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. Ding Jie · National Representative Bearer Archive