Tian Aiyun
Lineage & School of Heritage
She studied under Yan Lijun, specialising in the young male role (xiaosheng) and also performing the elderly female role (laodan).
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Born in September 1941 in Heze, Shandong Province, she is of Han ethnicity. She holds the rank of a national second-class performer. Her vocal style absorbed melodic elements from Peking opera, Yue opera and other genres, giving rise to a register and tonal colour entirely her own. Her range is broad; in performance her voice is supple and sinuous, combining full-throated articulation with the fine drawn-out cadences of the small-voice (xiaosang) technique. Her spoken passages are brisk and crisp, her acting meticulous, and her movements steady yet free and easy. Her signature works include Si Rong Ji (The Velvet Scheme), Pan Qi Suo Qi (Taking a Wife to Seek a Wife) and Huo Lang Fan Xiang (The Pedlar Rummages in His Box). Her portrayal of a comic pedlar in Huo Lang Fan Xiang was chosen as the play-within-the-film in the motion picture Li Shuangshuang, after which it became popular throughout the country.
Honors & Recognition
She is a national representative bearer of Erjiaxian, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 2002 she founded a school and enrolled students. At the first Henan Provincial Festival of Outstanding Traditional Folk Opera her students won five gold medals and two silver medals for performance as well as a gold medal for ensemble performance, and she herself received a special contribution award.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
Profile
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