Yan Gaihao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Yan Gaihao, Male, Han, from Zhangzi, Shanxi, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-124). The tradition is documented in Zhangzi, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship in Zhangzi, Shanxi: In the past, Zhangzi's resonant bronze workshops were mostly set up as shops with the store in front and the workshop behind—one room sold gongs in its front half and had a furnace in its back half; fathers and sons, brothers each guarded one link, from melting copper and forging blanks to tuning, and none overstepped their role. The output of nearly thirty kinds—pingdiao large gongs, Pu opera gongs, kaitao gongs—is divided within the county into high, medium, and low registers, each with a dedicated person in charge, and the shops each have their own regular sales channels. The origin of gong-making in Zhangzi can be traced to the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, since when this area has been a production center for all kinds of gongs and drums. In northern folk life, loud percussion instruments are used for every festival, wedding or funeral, joyous occasion, and deity-inviting fair, and this demand has carried the local craft down through the generations. The crux of "resonant bronze" lies in the ratio of the copper-tin alloy: too much copper and the tone is muffled; too much tin and the material is brittle and cracks easily; once the ratio is set wrong, no amount of later hammering can recover the sound. The entire process—annealing forging, quenching, cold forging, secondary tuning, and polishing—is interlocked step by step, and among them secondary tuning most demands craftsmanship.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in January 1959 in Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province. National representative bearer of Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship (Zhangzi Xiangtong Musical Instrument Making Craftsmanship), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. A technician of Zhangzi xiangtong (resonant bronze) instrument making. Born into a farming family, he entered the xiangtong instrument trade at the age of 18 and learned the craft under the guidance of his maternal uncle, Cui Yinde, becoming a quanbashi, a craftsman who has mastered every stage of the process. Through repeated practice he adjusted the proportion of raw materials, a copper-tin alloy, used in making xiangtong instruments, greatly improving their ductility and durability, and he restandardized the manual procedures. This was especially true of tuning, expressed in the adage that a gong is shaped by a thousand hammer blows but fixed in pitch by one, which depends on an apprentice's own sensitivity and long practice and can be grasped precisely only after a craftsman has fully mastered the entire workflow. While inheriting tradition he has also introduced modern equipment and carried out technical innovation to improve the precision of the instruments. Within the documented technical tradition of Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship in Zhangzi, Shanxi: Chinese ethnic musical instruments have a long and distant history, are closely tied to the cultural life of all ethnic groups, and are an important component of traditional Chinese culture. These instruments have a concise and graceful form, a rational structure, exquisite workmanship, and a pure tone, and have been loved by music lovers of every era. Since ancient times, ethnic musical instruments have been played at folk festivals, weddings and funerals, joyous occasions, and deity-inviting fairs, as well as at the major political, military, and religious ceremonies held by court and government. The craft of making ethnic musical instruments has become an important traditional manual skill of our country, transmitted to the present day with far-reaching influence. Chinese ethnic musical instruments come in a great variety, with superb craftsmanship, renowned at home and abroad. Among them, the making of Zhangzi resonant bronze instruments, Korean ethnic instruments, Suzhou ethnic instruments, the Caifumei drums, and Uyghur ethnic instruments are particularly distinctive. Zhangzi County in Shanxi Province began manufacturing instruments around the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty, and is one of China's earliest production centers for resonant bronze instruments, enjoying the reputation of being the "home of bronze instruments." The forging craft of resonant bronze instruments here is a typical traditional manual skill, comprising steps such as annealing forging, quenching, cold forging, secondary tuning, and polishing. Nearly thirty kinds of instrument products—such as the pingdiao large gong, the Pu opera gong, and the kaitao gong—are all produced by this method. The Zhangzi resonant bronze instrument craft is mainly transmitted orally and through personal demonstration within families and between masters and apprentices; an inheritor must undergo long-term practice to truly master the skill. Many steps in the entire resonant bronze instrument making process (such as the tuning technique of "a thousand hammer-strikes to forge the gong, one hammer-strike to set the pitch") are completed entirely by hand, and are difficult for modern technology to replace. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Records of the Production Process": Many steps in the entire resonant bronze instrument making process (such as the tuning technique of "a thousand hammer-strikes to forge the gong, one hammer-strike to set the pitch") are completed entirely by hand, and are difficult for modern technology to replace. "Choosing and alloying the metal": The tin proportion in the bronze decides hardness and tone; revised ratios improved both workability and durability. "Full annealing": The metal is repeatedly heated and worked until the grain is uniform, judged by eye. "Quenching": The hot blank is cooled fast, tightening and hardening the metal for a bright tone.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2009, Yan Gaihao was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship, with Zhangzi, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship in Zhangzi, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Zhangzi, Shanxi as its declared area, and Zhangzi County Xi Nan ChengJiuXingLuXiangTongLeQi Factory as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

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. Yan Gaihao · National Representative Bearer Archive