Yang Xiaolan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1977 she was admitted to the Hengyang City Huagu Opera Troupe in Hunan Province to begin her training, and the following year she studied under Yang Yingtai, Liu Zhaoying, Zhou Enlan and other veteran artists of Hengzhou Huagu Opera. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huagu Opera in Hengyang, Hunan: Hengzhou huaguxi is a folk short-play genre popular in southern Hunan in the late Ming and early Qing, formed by slightly refining the Hengzhou local dialect as its stage speech. Drawing on the Hunan volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Hengyang materials, Hengzhou huaguxi is a folk short-play genre popular in southern Hunan in the late Ming and early Qing, formed by slightly refining the Hengzhou local dialect as its stage speech; by the mid-Qing troupes were already performing at temple fairs and festivals, and after the 1950s professional troupes were set up.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in May 1961, a native of Neixiang County, Henan Province. She is a National Second-Grade Actress. Her stage appearance is lovely without lacking spirit, and her acting is lively and vivid, full of operatic savor: humorous yet never ungenerous, bold and uninhibited while retaining refinement. She excels at delineating character, and by intensifying the portrayal of personality she makes each role come alive; together with her crisp and fluent vocal delivery this conveys the rich flavor of Huagu Opera and is regarded as quite exceptional. Within the documented technical tradition of Huagu Opera in Hengyang, Hunan: Its vocal styles are mainly the “suona paizi” and “chuanzi diao”, its performing roles mainly xiaosheng, xiaodan and xiaochou, the chou being the most prominent. Hengzhou huaguxi holds a high place in the traditional cultural life of the people of southern Hunan. Its commonly performed plays include Liu Hai Plays with the Golden Toad, The Chart of Longevity and The Hall of a Hundred Endurances. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Liu Hai Plays with the Golden Toad": One of the commonly performed plays of Hengzhou huaguxi. "The Chart of Longevity": One of the commonly performed plays of Hengzhou huaguxi. "The Hall of a Hundred Endurances": One of the commonly performed plays of Hengzhou huaguxi.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Huagu Opera (Hengzhou Huagu Opera), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1983 her performance in Yunxiang Yingwu (Cloud-Soaring Tassel Dance) won first prize for leading performance, and in 1984 she was named among the first batch of outstanding young actors of Hunan Province.

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. Yang Xiaolan · National Representative Bearer Archive