Ge Suyun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of nine she entered the Lanxi Little Cultural Stage, where she studied xiaosheng roles under Fang Huaquan and others, and later joined the Darongchun troupe, where she received guidance from masters such as Fang Binghuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wu Opera in Jinhua, Zhejiang: Wu opera centres on Jinhua city, Zhejiang, and is popular in the Jinhua, Quzhou and Lishui area and in western Zhejiang and north-eastern Jiangxi; the various vocal styles long shared one stage in the troupes, forming a performing tradition mainly of luantan but also singing high-pitched, Kun, Hui, tanhuang and shidiao. Drawing on the Zhejiang volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Jinhua materials, Wu opera is popularly called “Jinhua opera”, named for Jinhua's ancient name Wuzhou; it was gradually fused from the high-pitched and Kun vocal styles that came into central Zhejiang in the mid-Ming and the luantan, Hui, tanhuang and shidiao that came in the early Qing, these co-existing in the same region and performing in the same troupes over a long period, forming a pattern of multi-vocal companies.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han nationality, born in February 1938, a native of Lanxi County, Zhejiang Province. In 1955 she entered the Zhejiang Wu Opera training class, switched to dan roles, and later sought instruction from such renowned teachers as Jia Muchao of Peking opera and Yao Chuanxiang of Kunqu. She performed several dozen xiaosheng plays in both martial and civil roles, child roles included, and her regular roles ranged from Mu Guiying, Fan Lihua, Yang Bajie, An'an and Zhang Sumei in traditional plays to Tiemei, Jiang Shuiying, Ke Xiang and Yin Huan in modern plays. In Guang Pu Mai Jiu she and Wang Yifan successively created the special techniques of "kicking the sword" and "sheathing the sword". Within the documented technical tradition of Wu Opera in Jinhua, Zhejiang: Wu opera is an ancient xiqu genre of our country, popularly called “Jinhua opera”, with a history of about four hundred years to the present. It has more than five hundred traditional plays, and its vocal and musical system is marked by comprehensiveness, embracing such vocal styles as high-pitched (gaoqiang), Kunqu, luantan, Hui tunes, tanhuang and shidiao. Wu opera also has its own features in the systems of costume and make-up: its facial masks, costumes and props are all quite distinctive. Performing civil plays in a martial manner and martial plays in a civil manner is the main characteristic of Wu opera performance, and can be called a unique feat. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Princess Shuangyang": One of the representative plays of Wu opera. "Three Invitations to Lihua": One of the representative plays of Wu opera. "Tears of Xishi": One of the representative plays of Wu opera, made into a film. "The Monk and the Nun": One of the representative plays of Wu opera, a typical work of “civil play done in martial manner”.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A national representative bearer of Wu Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1984 she was transferred to the Jinhua Wu Opera training class, where she trained many outstanding Wu Opera performers, including Chen Meilan and Yang Xiayun.

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. Ge Suyun · National Representative Bearer Archive