Jin Jingxiang
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in 1928, a native of Gaocheng, Hebei. At the age of fourteen, Jin Jingxiang began studying the Xihe dagu (a drum-accompanied form of storytelling in song) under his uncle. His years as a storyteller in his youth and his experience of singing opera laid a solid foundation in the theatrical arts. Jin Jingxiang was adept at elaborating incomplete stories, giving them a connected beginning and end and a rich, full texture. When telling a story he spoke with clarity and precision; at times his voice rose high and sonorous, at times it dropped to a whisper, and his imitation of dialogue between characters was remarkably true to life. Any story he told became vivid and colorful, full of wit and humor. He had a deep understanding of the performing arts and a sure command of the eyes, the gestures, the vocal tone, and facial expression. He was also skilled in employing the set phrases of the pinghua (storytelling) tradition, combining them with the local speech of Gengcun. By May 2004, the relevant authorities had made eleven successive recordings of more than four hundred of Jin Jingxiang's stories, together with his folk songs and proverbs, totaling more than 800,000 characters. In 1989, Jin Jingxiang's collection of Gengcun folk tales, The Flower Lantern Mystery, was published by the China Folk Literature and Art Publishing House, and he was awarded a third-class merit citation by the Hebei Provincial Government for this book. His representative works include The Origin of Gaocheng Palace Noodles, The Origin of the Three Matchmakers and Six Certificates, Why No One in Gengcun Is Named Geng, Chang'e and Hou Yi, The Flower Lantern Mystery, The Thief in the Box, and The Legend of Minister Shi.
Honors & Recognition
A representative bearer of the Gengcun Folk Tales, a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
- Gengcun Folk Tales Ⅰ-14
Profile
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, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。