Lang Xianfen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Lang Xianfen, Female, Unspecified, from Lvjuyuan, Shandong, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Luju Opera (Ⅳ-116). The tradition is documented in Lvjuyuan, Shandong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Luju Opera in Lvjuyuan, Shandong: Lu opera was formerly called "zuqiang yangqin" (seated-tune yangqin) and "huazhuang yangqin" (painted-face yangqin). It evolved and developed out of Shandong qinshu by absorbing folk flower-drum, ditties and local tunes, and is popular in Shandong and in parts of Jiangsu and Anhui.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Born in August 1935 in Shouguang County, Shandong Province, she is of Han ethnicity. She joined the Shandong Luju Company in 1952, and years of practice shaped her distinctive artistic style. She proceeds from real life, from the personality of each character and from the specific circumstances, combining deep inner experience with a precise command of stage convention; this has produced a performance style that is truthful and unaffected yet full of passion. She makes full use of a voice that is powerfully penetrating, subtle and endlessly varied, so that her singing is deep and restrained, rich in feeling and flavour, with sound and emotion equally present. Her signature works include Li Ersao Remarries, Mu Guiying, Cai Wenji, The Peach Blossom Fan, Mountains High and Waters Long and Bitter Herb Flower. She is honorary president of the Shandong Luju Theatre and a National March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter. Within the documented technical tradition of Luju Opera in Lvjuyuan, Shandong: It belongs to village art, playing out the affairs of farming households and singing out the feelings of farming households; its roles are centred on the "three small" of xiaosheng (young male), xiaodan (young woman) and xiaochou (comic), and its lyrics and spoken lines also draw largely on everyday folk usage. When it is sung, its principal accompanying instruments are the zhuihu, the erhu and the sanxian. The vocal music of Lu opera evolved from folk popular tunes and belongs to the typical banqiang (ban-style) structural system, being made up of such modes as "siping" and "erban" together with a certain number of tune patterns. Its melodies are simple and plain, beautiful and pleasing, natural and easy to render, easy to learn and easy to sing, and they are saturated with a strong flavour of everyday life and local character; among the people in the areas where it is popular it enjoys the reputation of a "post for tethering wives". Lu opera has close to three hundred plays in its repertory, among which Wang Xiao Drives the Cart, Sisters Swap Marriages and Li Ersao Remarries are representative works. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Wang Xiao Drives the Cart": Lu opera has close to three hundred plays in its repertory, among which Wang Xiao Drives the Cart, Sisters Swap Marriages and Li Ersao Remarries are representative works. "Sisters Swap Marriages": Lu opera has close to three hundred plays in its repertory, among which Wang Xiao Drives the Cart, Sisters Swap Marriages and Li Ersao Remarries are representative works. "Li Ersao Remarries": Lu opera has close to three hundred plays in its repertory, among which Wang Xiao Drives the Cart, Sisters Swap Marriages and Li Ersao Remarries are representative works.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a national representative bearer of Luju opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1998 she received the eighth Wenhua Performance Award. She has received lifetime achievement awards from the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and from the Shandong Provincial People's Government respectively. Since the 1990s she has concentrated her energies on training the next generation of Luju performers.

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. Lang Xianfen · National Representative Bearer Archive