Wu Tianyi
01 · Lineage & Regional School
He was born into a family of opera performers and inherited the family art from an early age. From the age of seven he appeared on stage with the troupe of his father, Wu Wansheng, who taught him singing and recitation; he later studied acrobatic and martial stagecraft with Chen Yitong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dacheng Opera in Quanzhou, Fujian: Dachengxi centres on Quanzhou city, Fujian, and is popular in Quanzhou, Jinjiang and Shishi and the Minnan overseas-Chinese homeland; because it performs at such monastic and Daoist rites as “doing merit” and “beating the city” its troupes are mostly made up of monk and Daoist artists, hence the names “ritual opera”, “monk opera” and “Daoist opera”, making it a living sample for studying the relation between Minnan folk belief and opera. Drawing on the Fujian volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Quanzhou materials, dachengxi is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, its repertory and performance mostly evolved from ritual liturgy; a professional troupe was set up in the 1950s, and after 1990 the artists raised funds themselves to revive the troupe, so that this endangered genre could continue.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Born in December 1938 in Jinjiang County, Fujian Province, he is of Han ethnicity. In 1952 he joined the Quanyin Technical Opera Troupe and became a disciple of Zeng Huocheng, a celebrated actor of his generation. He is versed in several role types of Dacheng opera and has a solid grounding in its basic performance skills; he pays close attention to facial expression in characterisation and performs with vivid ease. In 1990 he raised funds himself to re-establish a Dacheng opera troupe, rescuing repertoire and training performers, so that this endangered genre was able to continue. He has been diligent in collecting and collating Dacheng opera texts, old photographs, props and other artefacts, preserving invaluable documentation for the genre. Within the documented technical tradition of Dacheng Opera in Quanzhou, Fujian: Dachengxi, also called “fashi opera”, “monk opera” and “Daoist opera”, is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, circulating in Quanzhou and Jinjiang in Fujian. It is at once dramatic performance and folk religious ritual, existing in dependence on such folk religious activities as “doing merit”. Its performing technique is highly skilled and distinctive, with such feats as pyramid-building, eating and spouting fire, whisking the beard, whisking the hair, the clam dance, the black-and-white ghost dance, the fork dance and the flag dance, making heavy demands on the actors: in the table-flipping feat, with seven or eight tables stacked up, the actor must hold eleven eggs with both hands, armpits, mouth and neck and somersault down from the top of the stack to stand on a stool. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Mulian Rescues His Mother": A representative work of dachengxi, winning the “Golden Clown” award at the twelfth Asian ritual drama festival in 2003. "Pyramid-Building, Fire-Eating and Spouting, Beard-Whisking, Fork Dance and Other Feats": Dachengxi's distinctive feats making heavy demands on the actor; in the table-flipping feat, with seven or eight tables stacked up, the actor must hold eleven eggs with both hands, armpits, mouth and neck and somersault down from the top.
Mulian Rescues His Mother
A representative work of dachengxi, winning the “Golden Clown” award at the twelfth Asian ritual drama festival in 2003.
Pyramid-Building, Fire-Eating and Spouting, Beard-Whisking, Fork Dance and Other Feats
Dachengxi's distinctive feats making heavy demands on the actor; in the table-flipping feat, with seven or eight tables stacked up, the actor must hold eleven eggs with both hands, armpits, mouth and neck and somersault down from the top.
Core Technique I
Dachengxi, also called “fashi opera”, “monk opera” and “Daoist opera”, is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, circulating in Quanzhou and Jinjiang in Fujian.
Core Technique II
It is at once dramatic performance and folk religious ritual, existing in dependence on such folk religious activities as “doing merit”.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
He is a national representative bearer of Dacheng opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His signature work Mulian Rescues His Mother won the Golden Clown Award at the twelfth Asian Festival of Ritual Theatre in 2003.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Drawing on the Fujian volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Quanzhou materials, dachengxi is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, its repertory and performance mostly evolved from ritual liturgy; a professional troupe was set up in the 1950s, and after 1990 the artists raised funds themselves to revive the troupe, so that this endangered genre could continue.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wu Tianyi | Quanzhou, Fujian | 03-1127 | This page |
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。