Liang Suzhen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Since she began studying under Zhong Xiyi (stage name Zhong Mei) in 1954, she has accumulated more than sixty years of performance experience and attained profound mastery. Within the regional tradition and school record of Guangdong Hanju Opera in Guangdonghanjuyuan: Guangdong Han opera centres on Meizhou city, Guangdong (where the Guangdong Han opera theatre was founded in 1959), and is popular in eastern and northern Guangdong and the Hakka areas of western Fujian and southern Jiangxi, spreading with Hakka migration to South-East Asia; because it uses the Zhongzhou rhymes and standard Chinese as its stage language and sings in a pronunciation easily understood by audiences in Hakka-dialect areas, it is praised as the “peony of the south”. Han opera is one of the ancient operatic genres of China; Guangdong Han opera, originally called “waijiang opera”, entered eastern Guangdong in the Qianlong reign of the Qing and spread from Chaozhou as its centre to the neighbouring areas. Its artistic style differing from Hubei Han opera, it was named “Guangdong Han opera” in 1956 to show the distinction. In 1959 the Guangdong Han opera theatre was founded, its seat in Meizhou city in north-eastern Guangdong.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in July 1938 in Meizhou, Guangdong Province. A national first-grade actor, she specialized in qingyi and huadan roles and starred in seventy productions, creating many vivid and moving images on stage and earning renown as the “treasured showpiece” of Guangdong Hanju. She also co-directed more than ten productions and arranged and designed the vocal music for more than twenty, and several of the productions she starred in were made into films or stage television productions, giving her a high reputation among Hakka communities at home and abroad. Within the documented technical tradition of Guangdong Hanju Opera in Guangdonghanjuyuan: Guangdong Han opera's singing music includes such vocal styles as “erhuang”, “xipi” and “daban”, mainly the latter two, with Kun opera, folk ditties and a small amount of bangzi tunes besides. Its roles divide into the seven of sheng, dan, chou, gong, po, wujing and hongjing, each with clearly marked features in singing, and its stage language continues the “Zhongzhou rhymes” and standard Chinese, its performance rich in the conventions of singing, recitation, acting and combat. Its traditional repertory is abundant, about eight hundred pieces. With complete roles, colourful performing art and rich and beautiful musical singing, it is much loved by audiences and was praised by Premier Zhou Enlai as the “peony of the south”. This distinctive local genre is an important part of Hakka culture, of extremely important reference value for studying Hakka culture and the operatic art of the south. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Baili Xi Recognises His Wife": One of the traditional plays of Guangdong Han opera. "The King of Qi Seeks a General": One of the traditional plays of Guangdong Han opera. "The Lantern Case": One of the traditional plays of Guangdong Han opera and a house speciality of its sheng and dan roles.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Guangdong Hanju Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She trained two dan actors, Li Xianhua and Yang Xiuhui, both now national first-grade actors and both recipients of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award.

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. Liang Suzhen · National Representative Bearer Archive