Wang Liyan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Liyan, Female, Unspecified, from Laoting, Hebei, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Leting Dagu Drum Balladry (Ⅴ-8). The tradition is documented in Laoting, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Leting Dagu Drum Balladry in Laoting, Hebei: Leting Dagu was born in Leting County and, together with Pingju opera and Tangshan shadow puppetry, is known as one of the “three blossoms of eastern Hebei folk art”. Besides its founder Wen Rong, Chen Jichang, Qi Zhen, Feng Fuchang, Wang Enhong, Wang Deyou, Qi Yongwu, Qi Wenfeng, Han Xiangpu and Jin Wenran were representative artists of the various historical periods; among them Han Xiangpu and Jin Wenran of the Republican period were the most famous, and the art of the two was honoured respectively as the “Han (Xiangpu) school” and the “Jin (Wenran) school”. The Leting County Cultural Heritage Inheritance Centre shoulders the protection of the project. Wang Liyan gave up teaching for the performing arts in 1962 and studied “Han school” Leting Dagu under Han Xiangpu, joining the Leting County Quyi Troupe in the same year; in 2002 she formed the Leting County Xiangpu Art Troupe, and in her later years she taught more than twenty pupils.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

In 1962 she gave up teaching for the performing arts, studying the Han school of Laoting Dagu under Han Xiangpu, and in the same year joined the Laoting County Quyi Troupe. Her voice was broad, ample and unaffected, her diction clear and her carrying power strong. Her performances united form and spirit, reserved and gracious yet strikingly true to life. She was good at absorbing the strengths of many schools, drawing widely on the vocal art of pingju opera and shadow puppetry, and she inherited in full the traditional long pieces of Laoting Dagu, including Yan Bei Ji (Swallowing the Cup), Bian Da Lu Hua (Whipping the Reed Catkins), Rao Kou Ling (Tongue Twister) and He Bo Duan Qiao (The Broken Bridge). In 2002 she founded the Xiangpu Art Troupe of Laoting County, and in her later years she taught more than twenty students. Within the documented technical tradition of Leting Dagu Drum Balladry in Laoting, Hebei: Leting Dagu is a comparatively representative northern quyi form of drum storytelling and drum ballad, widely circulated in eastern Hebei (Jidong), Beijing, Tianjin and in the northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. In performance one person stands and narrates and sings, striking the drum clappers by himself, while others accompany on instruments such as the sanxian. Since its formation it has produced one notable artist after another, spread widely, and built up a fairly deep popular base and cultural accumulation. More than three hundred traditional tunes (books) of Leting Dagu have been handed down from generation to generation, in long, medium and short forms alike; typical representatives include Dong Han, Sui Tang, San Xia Wu Yi, Hu Yanqing Da Lei, Jin Ling Fu, Xiao Shang Fen, Lan Qiao Hui, Gu Cheng Hui, Yu Tang Chun and Chang Sheng Dian. The music of its vocal style belongs to the banqiang system, and its tunes are rich and highly varied. Besides complete manban (slow ban), liushui ban (flowing ban), kuaiban (quick ban) and sanban (free ban) patterns, it also shifts back and forth between two different tonalities, the shangzi diao and the fanzi diao, so that its ban-pattern changes are highly flexible. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Han school": The school of Han Xiangpu; his follower Wang Liyan inherited long works such as Swallowing the Cup and The Tongue-Twister. "The Jin school": The school of Jin Wenran; his follower Jia Youran, later head of the Tangshan troupe, was celebrated in the four-level tune. "Traditional repertoire": More than three hundred traditional pieces in all lengths, of which the Eastern Han, Sui-Tang and Three Heroes are typical. "Shang and fan modes": Its metrical system runs through slow, flowing, fast and free boards and alternates between two modal transpositions.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Female, Han ethnicity, born in March 1935 in Laoting County, Hebei Province, and died in August 2018. National representative bearer of Laoting Dagu, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Wang Liyan · National Representative Bearer Archive