Yao Jichun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Yao Jichun, Male, Han, from Puyang, Henan, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Daxian Opera (Ⅳ-44). The tradition is documented in Puyang, Henan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Daxian Opera in Puyang, Henan: Daxian opera, formerly called the Gongxing troupe and also called Xianzi opera, is centred on Kaifeng and Puyang in Henan Province and is current in north-eastern Henan, southern Hebei and south-western Shandong. Among the troupes of the Puyang line there are further divisions such as the Limen and Wangmen mentou (lineage schools), and the qupai and role types that each lineage practises have their own emphasis; more than two hundred ancient vocal qupai of different vocal styles and different modes — among them the “Qingyangqiang” of the hongsheng vocal style, the “gougou qiang” and the “Luoluoqiang”, together with suqu and xiaoling — are preserved above all within the Puyang system. Daxian opera is generally held to have a certain connection with the Liyuanxi (Pear Garden play) of the Tang court, and in the course of its evolution and development it also inherited the tradition of the northern ququ of Song-Yuan zaju. Since the 1990s, as entertainment programmes have grown ever more varied, the performance market for Daxian opera has continually contracted.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in January 1962 in Puyang County, Henan Province. In 1974 he joined the Puyang County Daxian Opera Troupe and became a disciple of Dou Gaifa, a celebrated painted-face (jing) performer of the Li school of Puyang Daxian Opera, and studied the major painted-face (dajing) role type. In 1982 he took as his master Du Enrong, fifth-generation transmitter of the Wang school and a renowned red-face (hongsheng) performer, and systematically studied hongsheng singing and acting. He learned more than two hundred ancient vocal tune patterns in different modes and vocal styles, including the Gougou tune, the Luoluo tune, popular songs and xiaoling, and mastered the most demanding of the hongsheng vocal styles, the Qingyang tune. In performance he inherited the hongsheng style of Daxian Opera, which takes the Great Hong Boxing (Dahong Quan) as its structural base: his stances and freeze-frame appearances (liangxiang) were expansive, and his cloud hands (yunshou) were exaggeratedly raised above the head. Within the documented technical tradition of Daxian Opera in Puyang, Henan: Daxian opera, formerly called the Gongxing troupe and also called Xianzi opera, is an ancient and rare multi-vocal-style genre; it is centred on Kaifeng and Puyang in Henan Province and is current in north-eastern Henan, southern Hebei and south-western Shandong. Daxian opera once had more than five hundred plays, of which about a hundred survive; their content centres on the struggle between loyal and treacherous ministers, on warfare and campaigns, and on ridding the people of local tyrants. Its representative plays include Rebelling at Five Passes, Black Stone Pass, The Yang Mansion Selects Generals, The Battle of Luoyang, Marching Down to Southern Tang, Sun Wuzi Raises an Army, Yellow Flower Temple, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Liangjia Mountain. The vocal music of Daxian opera belongs to the qupai (tune-pattern) system and consists mainly of five great suites such as Hailihua and Jiangtou Jingui together with sanqu such as Shanpo Yang and Bubu Jiao; in addition it has taken in part of the music of the Qingyangqiang, Shipaiqiang, xiansuo gaoqiang, Luoluoqiang and other folk suqu and xiaoling. It has more than four hundred qupai of all kinds, of which one hundred and eighty-odd have now been excavated and collated. The accompaniment of Daxian opera is divided into ruichang (soft field) and yingchang (hard field). The principal instruments of the soft field include the sanxian, xidi, dadi, hengdi and sheng; the xidi is an instrument peculiar to Daxian opera, and pieces accompanied by it are called xiqu (fine pieces), while those accompanied by the dadi, dizi and hengdi are called cuqu (coarse pieces). The hard field, besides the ordinary percussion instruments, also uses the sida shan (four great fans), the jianzi hao and the luohao (conch horn), to bring out a tense and stirring atmosphere. In the vocal style of Daxian opera the qupai change very frequently and the pitch intervals leap widely; the actors enunciate the words in the true (natural) voice, while the drawn-out passages are carried in the falsetto. The role types of Daxian opera are divided into five sheng, five dan and five painted-face types, and the painted-face designs are delicate and carefully worked out, rich in individuality. To this day Daxian opera still preserves in its original flavour the traditional “tiaojiaguan” play as well as the “huaji xi” (comic play), “shuanchu yanduan” and “chibo xi” of Song-Yuan zaju; its performance takes the plum-blossom boxing and hong boxing as its framework, and is rough, fiery, archaic and of deep power. The movement and special-skill passages are staged with real weapons and real danger, thrilling and stirring; some of the tour-de-force skills such as “xiao liuchuan” (shaving the willow pole), “da wubacai”, “da shangdiao”, “shui sankongqiao” and “zawa” leave the audience involuntarily exclaiming. At present Henan has only two professional performing troupes, the Puyang Daxian Opera Troupe and the Huaxian Daxian Opera Troupe. Because funding is tight, the actors' income has fallen year by year, the conditions for survival and performance have deteriorated sharply, performing talent is running out, and many plays, qupai and special skills have been lost. Some one hundred qupai and more than two hundred plays now await excavation; only one person still masters the great Tang-Song suites and the qupai music of Daxian opera, and he is already close to seventy, so protection is urgently needed. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Rebelling at Five Passes": Daxian opera once had more than five hundred plays, of which about a hundred survive; their content centres on the struggle between loyal and treacherous ministers, on warfare and campaigns, and on ridding the people of local tyrants. Its representative plays include Rebelling at Five Passes, Black Stone Pass, The Yang Mansion Selects Generals, The Battle of Luoyang, Marching Down to Southern Tang, Sun Wuzi Raises an Army, Yellow Flower Temple, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Liangjia Mountain. "Black Stone Pass": Daxian opera once had more than five hundred plays, of which about a hundred survive; their content centres on the struggle between loyal and treacherous ministers, on warfare and campaigns, and on ridding the people of local tyrants. Its representative plays include Rebelling at Five Passes, Black Stone Pass, The Yang Mansion Selects Generals, The Battle of Luoyang, Marching Down to Southern Tang, Sun Wuzi Raises an Army, Yellow Flower Temple, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Liangjia Mountain. "The Yang Mansion Selects Generals": Daxian opera once had more than five hundred plays, of which about a hundred survive; their content centres on the struggle between loyal and treacherous ministers, on warfare and campaigns, and on ridding the people of local tyrants. Its representative plays include Rebelling at Five Passes, Black Stone Pass, The Yang Mansion Selects Generals, The Battle of Luoyang, Marching Down to Southern Tang, Sun Wuzi Raises an Army, Yellow Flower Temple, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Liangjia Mountain. "The Battle of Luoyang": Daxian opera once had more than five hundred plays, of which about a hundred survive; their content centres on the struggle between loyal and treacherous ministers, on warfare and campaigns, and on ridding the people of local tyrants. Its representative plays include Rebelling at Five Passes, Black Stone Pass, The Yang Mansion Selects Generals, The Battle of Luoyang, Marching Down to Southern Tang, Sun Wuzi Raises an Army, Yellow Flower Temple, The Romance of the Western Chamber and Liangjia Mountain.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He was a national representative bearer of Daxian Opera, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He accepted twelve disciples in succession and trained a group of bearers for the new era.

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. Yao Jichun · National Representative Bearer Archive