Zhao Yunshan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He studied under Zhao Wenzhi and Xiao Laofei, and is the twenty-first-generation bearer of Zepan taige. From the 1990s onward he successively trained the twenty-second-generation bearers Bai Xianhai and Xiao Fuchou, the twenty-third-generation bearer Cui Yanxue and others. Within the regional tradition and school record of Taige in Longyao, Hebei: Zepan taige is strict on both counts — the frames and the selection of personnel: the troupe leader settles the cast in the twelfth lunar month, one boy and one girl per taige; at ordinary times the props are kept by a designated person and the craft is secret, while performances are restricted to dragon and tiger years. Taige (raised pavilions) originated from deity-welcoming festival gatherings in the Central Plains region, and later spread to the southeastern coast and the northwestern region; it was highly popular for a time during the Qing dynasty, and in the course of its transmission it combined with local conditions in different places, developing distinct characteristics. Zepan taige in Longyao County is a mass folk art popular in Longyao County, Hebei Province; it originated from deity-carrying activities at the end of the Yuan dynasty and has a history of more than five hundred years. Zepan taige originally had people carrying deity statues on their shoulders, but gradually evolved into carrying living people made up as deities, mostly in the form of two eight-person taige setups.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in August 1938 in Longyao County, Hebei Province. He has a comprehensive command of Zepan taige, including its historical origins, its construction and its performance. He actively organizes Zepan taige for cultural performances at various levels: in 1986 it appeared at the opening ceremony of the Xingtai Prefectural Games, and in 1997 it took part in the Xingtai City Lantern Festival rural arts competition and won first prize for performance. In addition, it has repeatedly appeared in successive Longyao County rural arts performances staged in the county town and in major festival performances at city, county and village level. Within the documented technical tradition of Taige in Longyao, Hebei: Taige — also called 'taijiao' (raised corners), 'taige' (raised songs), 'gaotai' (high raises), 'naoge' (naoGe), 'naoge' (NaoGe, head-borne pavilions), and 'gaozhuang' (high displays) — is a folk procession performance form in traditional festival activities. In a taige performance, several children dressed as ancient-costumed opera figures are arranged into elaborate tableaux according to the plot, fixed to iron pillars and brackets on a square pavilion, which bearers carry as they walk. Traditional taige tableaux are mostly drawn from plays such as The Butterfly Lovers, The Marriage of the Heavenly Fairy (Tianxian pei), The Legend of the White Snake, Journey to the West, Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Blue Bridge Meeting, The Yellow Crane Tower, and The Fisherman's Revenge (Daiyu sha jia). The tableaux stand about 3 to 5 meters high, and the pavilions have three to five tiers, generally with one person per tier; some have four on the bottom tier, five or six in the middle tier, and one on the top tier. In a taige procession, four pavilions are generally used, and at most six or even eight may be used, each carried forward by four or eight bearers. Taige fuses painting, opera, colored paper craft, and paper sculpture into one, with elegant forms and spectacular scenes; it is loved by the broad masses and has long remained prevalent among the people. A typical taige bed is 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 1 meter high. During the performance, one actor stands or sits upright on the taige bed, while another actor appears to stand on the former's hands or shoulders. The whole performance is full of thrilling quality and humorous wit. Selection of Zepan taige performers is extremely strict: usually in the twelfth lunar month the troupe leader selects boys and girls under twelve years of age to appear on the taige, generally one boy and one girl per taige. When a performer is selected, the whole family celebrates and fellow villagers admire them. The plots presented in the taige are mainly opera stories and folk legends, and themes with a contemporary flavor may also be inserted according to circumstances; 'Lü Dongbin Teases the Peony Fairy,' 'Zhao Kuangyin Escorts Jingniang a Thousand Li,' 'Thrice Beating the White Bone Demon,' 'Guan Yu Protects His Sister-in-Law,' 'The White Snake and Xu Xian,' 'Nezha Battles the Third Prince,' and 'Yue Fei and Qin Gui' are all among the more common subjects. Zepan taige is accompanied by percussion instruments such as duizi drums, led by the horse gong; the performers' costumes are chosen from corresponding opera dress according to the needs of the content. By convention, taige performances may be held only in years of the dragon or tiger. At ordinary times the taige props are kept in the care of a designated person, and the crafting techniques are kept secret. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Choosing boy and girl performers in the twelfth month": A strict ritual: the leader picks children under twelve in the twelfth lunar month, usually a boy and a girl per platform. "The two eight-man platforms": What began as men carrying an image became a living god in costume, and now runs as two platforms of eight bearers each. "Dimensions and staging of the platform bed": The bed measures 1.5 by 1 by 1 metre; one actor stands or sits on it while another appears to rest on his hands or shoulders. "The leading horse gong and paired drums": Paired drums hold the beat under a leading horse gong, while costumes change with the story shown.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Taige (Xinzi, Tiezhi and Piaose) (Zepan Taige of Longyao County), 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. Zhao Yunshan · National Representative Bearer Archive