Gan Bolian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Gan Bolian, Male, Han, from Chongyang, Hubei, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Tiqin Opera (Ⅳ-126). The tradition is documented in Chongyang, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tiqin Opera in Chongyang, Hubei: Tiqin opera circulates in Chongyang County of Hubei Province and in the Xianning, Tongcheng and Tongshan area of south-eastern Hubei, and extends into northern Hunan and northern Jiangxi. It gradually took shape where the Liangshan tunes circulating in this region combined with the local small tunes and folk music of Chongyang, and it takes its name from the tiqin, its principal accompanying instrument; the tiqin is made of snake skin, nan bamboo tube and pear wood, resembles the erhu but has its two upper pegs mounted on the two sides of the neck, and the player clasps the neck in the web of the hand with the sound box held against the waist, so it can be played standing. Chongyang County has held six consecutive editions of the Tiqin opera art festival and has founded the Tiqin Opera Development Foundation. From 1994 to the present, Chongyang County has held six consecutive editions of the Tiqin opera art festival, which have won unanimous praise from provincial and municipal leaders and experts. On this basis the Tiqin Opera Development Foundation was founded, and in 2000 the county finance allocated a special sum of twenty thousand yuan for the training and protection of the performers and staff of the Tiqin opera troupe and for the development of Tiqin opera.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in December 1929, a native of Chongyang County, Hubei Province. From childhood he took the veteran artists Jiang Chuanyu, Xu Guonan and Zhou Yisheng as his teachers and learned to sing Tiqin Opera, chiefly playing xiaosheng (young scholar) and laosheng (older male) roles; he took the leading part in more than fifty traditional Tiqin Opera productions, including Denglong Ji (The Lantern), Xuemei Guan Hua (Xuemei Views a Painting), Yuanmen Zhan Zi (Beheading the Son at the Camp Gate), Sanbao Ji (The Tale of Three Treasures) and Liang Zhu Yinyuan (The Romance of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai). He has taught singing and transmitted technique, founded several amateur Tiqin Opera troupes and served as their artistic director, and rehearsed such plays as Shuanghe Lian (The Twin Lotus); in doing so he has trained a large number of core performers for the transmission and development of Tiqin Opera. Within the documented technical tradition of Tiqin Opera in Chongyang, Hubei: Tiqin opera is an operatic genre with distinctive local character in Chongyang County, Hubei Province. It gradually developed where the Liangshan tunes circulating in south-eastern Hubei, northern Hunan and northern Jiangxi combined with the local small tunes and folk music of Chongyang, and it takes its name from the tiqin, which is its principal accompanying instrument. The tiqin is a traditional instrument made of snake skin, nan bamboo tube and pear wood. It resembles the erhu, but the two pegs at the top are mounted on the two sides of the neck respectively, while the lower part is fixed to the sound box; the player clasps the neck in the web of the hand, holds the sound box against the waist, and can play it standing. The ban-style music of Tiqin opera is divided into the zhengqiang (main register) and xiaodiao (small tunes). The main register includes tune patterns such as “zhengdiao” (level tune), “yizidiao” (one-syllable tune), “yindiao” (soft tune), “tuozi” (drawn-out phrase), “xihudiao” (West Lake tune) and “fandiao” (reverse tune), all of which consist of an upper and a lower musical phrase. The accompanying band of Tiqin opera distinguishes the wenchang (civil) from the wuchang (martial). It was originally made up of four persons: the “shangshou”, the “jiashou”, the drummer and the small-gong player. The shangshou carries the main accompanying part, playing the first tiqin and also blowing the suona; the jiashou assists in the accompaniment, playing the second tiqin and also the gong and drum; the drummer handles the ban drum and plays all percussion instruments except the small gong; and the small-gong player, an apprentice, plays the small gong and clears the stage between items. In the early days of Tiqin opera performance, the role types mainly included laosheng, xiaosheng, naisheng, zhengdan, huadan, guimendan, podan and xiaochou, collectively called “three sheng, four dan and one chou”; the chou role also played yaodan and jing roles, and folk saying has it that “seven are tight, eight are loose”. Tiqin opera has a large repertoire, with full-length plays such as The Story of Wujin, The Story of the Lantern, The Story of the Three Treasures, The Breeze Pavilion and Liu Yi Descends to the Sea, as well as small plays such as Zhang Guangda Pays Birthday Respects and The Humpback Returns Home. Certain plays such as The Story of the Lantern, Drawing Water at the Flower Well and Patching the Back Apron are highly distinctive and rarely found in other genres. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Story of Wujin": Tiqin opera has a large repertoire, with full-length plays such as The Story of Wujin, The Story of the Lantern, The Story of the Three Treasures, The Breeze Pavilion and Liu Yi Descends to the Sea, as well as small plays such as Zhang Guangda Pays Birthday Respects and The Humpback Returns Home. Certain plays such as The Story of the Lantern, Drawing Water at the Flower Well and Patching the Back Apron are highly distinctive and rarely found in other genres. "": "The Story of the Three Treasures": Tiqin opera has a large repertoire, with full-length plays such as The Story of Wujin, The Story of the Lantern, The Story of the Three Treasures, The Breeze Pavilion and Liu Yi Descends to the Sea, as well as small plays such as Zhang Guangda Pays Birthday Respects and The Humpback Returns Home. Certain plays such as The Story of the Lantern, Drawing Water at the Flower Well and Patching the Back Apron are highly distinctive and rarely found in other genres. "The Breeze Pavilion": Tiqin opera has a large repertoire, with full-length plays such as The Story of Wujin, The Story of the Lantern, The Story of the Three Treasures, The Breeze Pavilion and Liu Yi Descends to the Sea, as well as small plays such as Zhang Guangda Pays Birthday Respects and The Humpback Returns Home. Certain plays such as The Story of the Lantern, Drawing Water at the Flower Well and Patching the Back Apron are highly distinctive and rarely found in other genres.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Tiqin Opera, 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. Gan Bolian · National Representative Bearer Archive