Dai Chunlan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of 12 she joined the Wenzhou Folk Quyi Troupe and studied Wenzhou lianhua under Chen Chunhua. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wenzhou Lianhua in Wenzhoushilucheng, Zhejiang: Wenzhou lianhua has its centre of transmission in Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, while the vocal foundation of the “lianhua tune” was formed in the folk local music of the Yongjia area; Yongjia, Rui'an, Yueqing, Pingyang, Taishun and parts of Taizhou are all common places for performance. By the late Qing and early Republican period Wenzhou had already produced well-known artists such as Xu Bangzhong, Wu Wengao, Xu Shunjie and Li Goujin; in the early twentieth century the qin-accompanied form of lianhua appeared, adding the ox-tendon zither, sanxian and pipa to the original daoqing bamboo tube and yinyang clappers (bamboo clappers), so that the urban districts of Wenzhou became a place where artists gathered and competed. Wenzhou lianhua took shape in the late Qing dynasty and has a history of more than a hundred years; it is widely transmitted in the urban districts of Wenzhou, and in Yongjia, Rui'an, Yueqing, Pingyang and Taishun in southern Zhejiang, as well as in parts of Taizhou. It evolved from daoqing storytelling; by the late Qing and early Republican period it already had a large audience, and a batch of famous performers appeared, among them Xu Bangzhong, Wu Wengao, Xu Shunjie and Li Goujin.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in May 1944, a native of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. At the age of 14 she was selected to take part in the First National Quyi Festival. She has worked actively to collect and collate materials on Wenzhou lianhua and has completed the collation of the libretto Gaoji Maixiao (Gaoji Sells Silk). Within the documented technical tradition of Wenzhou Lianhua in Wenzhoushilucheng, Zhejiang: The lines of Wenzhou lianhua mostly use seven characters, though there are also five-character and ten-character lines, and paired lines generally rhyme. In performance the artists usually insert padding syllables and modal particles into the lines, to strengthen the rhythm and produce a lingering flavour. The vocal style of lianhua gradually took shape on the basis of the folk local music of the Yongjia area of Wenzhou City; it takes the “lianhua tune” as its foundation and supplements it with the “phoenix tune” and Wenzhou folk song melodies. When singing, the artists flexibly employ metrical forms such as the “fast beat”, “slow beat”, “free beat” and “stacked beat” according to what the content requires, producing distinctive artistic effects. The accompanying instruments of Wenzhou lianhua were at first only a single daoqing bamboo tube and a pair of yinyang clappers (that is, bamboo clappers); the qin-accompanied form of lianhua appeared only in the early twentieth century, adding the ox-tendon zither, the sanxian, the pipa and others, which made the music more beautiful and pleasing. Wenzhou lianhua takes a wide variety of subjects; its traditional repertoire numbers more than fifty pieces, mostly of medium and long length. Among them are mythological subjects such as “The Great Opening of Heaven” and “The Eight Immortals”, secular subjects such as “The Qilin Leopard” and “The Crystal Palace”, and local subjects such as “Liu Wenlong”, “Gao Ji and Wu Sanchun” and “Huang Sannü Niao and Lin Dinglang”; the content is very rich. A traditional medium-length piece can be sung for three to four hours, while a traditional long piece can be sung for around ten hours and has to be performed in three or four sessions. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The lotus tune and the phoenix tune": Wenzhou lianhua is built on the "lotus tune" supported by the "phoenix tune" and Wenzhou folk melodies; lines run mostly to seven characters and rhyme in couplets. "The daoji tube and the yin-yang clappers": The earliest accompaniment was only a daoji tube and a pair of bamboo clappers; from the early twentieth century the qin, sanxian and pipa were added. "Fast, slow, free and piled metres": Singers shift between fast, slow, free and piled metre according to the narrative, and insert padding syllables inside lines to sharpen the rhythm. "The early famous lianhua singers": By the late Qing and early Republic the form had a large following and had produced famous singers such as Xu Bangzhong, Wu Wengao, Xu Shunjie and Li Goujin.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a national representative bearer of Wenzhou lianhua, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She has remained active on stage, taking part in various cultural and publicity activities and winning awards on many occasions. In 1957 Chang Longchuan'er (Singing the Dragon Boat Song) won first prize at the First Zhejiang Provincial Quyi Festival, awarded by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture. In 1986 Laosaopo (The Grumbling Woman), performed in collaboration with others, won second prize for performance at the Zhejiang Provincial Competition for New Quyi Pieces, awarded by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture.

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. Dai Chunlan · National Representative Bearer Archive