Ding Ruikui

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He began learning the art at the age of nine and first stepped onto the stage at twelve. Within the regional tradition and school record of Erguxian in Wuzhi, Henan: During the Cultural Revolution the only five erguxian troupes there closed and this distinctive local genre almost disappeared; because it has long rehearsed and performed itself in the countryside, erguxian differs markedly from the many widely circulated genres, showing a rich local character and clear folk features. Erguxian is an ancient genre newly rediscovered in recent years, originating in Dasima village, Wuzhi county, Henan, and circulating only there. It formed in the late Ming and early Qing and reached maturity in the early nineteenth century, enjoying a period of splendour before the Daoguang reign. In the twenty-first year of Daoguang (1841) the Yellow River changed course and Dasima village ceased to be the water-and-land wharf it had been, trade fell sharply and, under this impact, erguxian steadily declined; during the Cultural Revolution the only five erguxian troupes there closed and this distinctive local genre almost disappeared, until the Dasima village erguxian troupe was revived in 1993.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1935, a native of Wuzhi County, Henan Province. His singing is beautiful, and his representative role is the child role (washeng) in Jifang Jiaozi (Teaching the Child in the Weaving Room). He is thoroughly versed in all the role types, sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou, as well as in both the soft-string (wenchang) and percussion (wuchang) ensembles of operatic music, and more than fifty play scripts have been compiled from his oral recitation. For several decades, in order to pass on and develop Erguxian, he has organized and taken part in provincial showcase performances and in city- and county-level joint performances, and has appeared and exchanged ideas many times at Henan Normal University, Jiaozuo Teachers College and other institutions of higher learning and research. He has not only devoted himself to study and steadily raised his own artistic level but has always made transmission his central concern; his disciples Luo Li, Kang E and Xing Ji have all become principal actors of the troupe. Within the documented technical tradition of Erguxian in Wuzhi, Henan: Erguxian's roles are complete and its singing pentatonic, with eighteen ban styles and qupai, among them survivals of northern-qu xuansuo and such ban styles as “wuban”, “baban” and “sanban” formed under the influence of banqiang opera. Its performing plays number more than a hundred, mostly on folk-life subjects, among which Wild Geese Carry the Letter, Young Master Lei Seeks His Fiancée, An'an Delivers the Rice and Meng Jiangnü are representative works. Having long rehearsed and performed on its own in the countryside, erguxian differs markedly from the many widely circulated genres, showing a rich local character and clear folk features. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Wild Geese Carry the Letter": One of the representative plays of erguxian. "Young Master Lei Seeks His Fiancée": One of the representative plays of erguxian. "An'an Delivers the Rice": One of the representative plays of erguxian. "Meng Jiangnü": One of the representative plays of erguxian.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Erguxian, a fourth-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. Ding Ruikui · National Representative Bearer Archive