Jin Youying

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1955 she went to the Da Sanxing Lei Opera Troupe of Haikang County to learn the art, studying waist and leg work and basic body movement under the veteran artist Wu Nai'ai. In 1957 she was selected for the Xin Zhonghua Troupe, where she studied bazigong (weapon combat) and swordplay under Xu Fengyang, and knife-and-spear work and martial skills under the Cantonese opera actor Chen Yaosi and others. Within the regional tradition and school record of Leiju Opera in Leizhou, Guangdong: Lei opera centres on Leizhou city, Guangdong, and is popular in the Leizhou-dialect area of the five counties and cities of Leizhou, Suixi, Xuwen, Lianjiang and Dianbai and in Zhanjiang, spreading with Leizhou emigrants to South-East Asia. Lei opera originated in Leizhou city, Guangdong (formerly Haikang county) and circulates in the Leizhou peninsula and the Leizhou-dialect area, centred on Leizhou city and performed mainly in the five counties and cities of Leizhou, Suixi, Xuwen, Lianjiang and Dianbai and in Zhanjiang. It originated in the Leizhou song, a folk ballad of self-song and self-expression; an older passage of Leizhou song is Breaking the Loom to Teach the Son, written by Chen Changqi, a jinshi of the Qianlong reign and a native of Haikang. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s the Zhanjiang area set up bodies to reform Leizhou opera and train new Lei opera talents and renamed Leizhou opera as Lei opera.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in June 1939, a native of Leizhou City, Guangdong Province. Her performing style is bold and uninhibited yet composed; she specializes in the daomadan (sword-and-horse female warrior) and laodan (old woman) roles, is highly skilled in bazigong and body movement, and has a pretty and dignified stage appearance, while her somewhat husky voice is rich in flavor. On stage her singing, speech, movement and combat are all exquisite and assured; she is adept at capturing character, attends to the union of performing technique and inner experience, and renders the inner world of her roles with fine accuracy, acting with perfect verisimilitude. She has personally trained more than eighty disciples, among them Lin Fen, many of whom have become outstanding Leiju actors. Within the documented technical tradition of Leiju Opera in Leizhou, Guangdong: Lei opera is a local genre developed on the basis of the traditional Leizhou folk song of Leizhou city, Guangdong; because it early used Leizhou song tunes as its vocal style it was once called “Leizhou opera” and later renamed “Lei opera”. The troupes singing Leizhou song were called song troupes, and because women took part they were called “girl songs”; girl songs had song texts mostly of exhortatory songs such as Persuading the World to Quit Opium and Persuading People to Loyalty and Righteousness. Lei opera was formed on the basis of girl songs by imitating Cantonese opera's “chongtou” and “dijin” drum-and-gong patterns and its “great opening” and “small opening” pieces, its facial designs, costume, props and performance forms all learning from and drawing close to Cantonese opera. Its workers actively reformed Leizhou opera, focusing on solving the singing problem and comprehensively innovating stage art and music, so that Lei opera acquired a complete musical system and distinctive local character. Its recitation uses the Leizhou dialect, its performance carries a rich flavour of life, its arias have both banqiang and qupai features and divide into the three great systems of lei'ou, gaotai and mixed form, with the five ban styles of sanban, slow ban, middle ban, kuaiban and fuban. Its accompanying instruments are mainly the leihu, flute, suona, saxophone, gong, cymbals and drum. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Breaking the Loom to Teach the Son": One of the older passages of Leizhou song, written by Chen Changqi, a jinshi of the Qianlong reign and a native of Haikang. "Persuading the World to Quit Opium": One of the common contents of girl songs, an exhortatory song. "Persuading People to Loyalty and Righteousness": One of the common contents of girl songs, an exhortatory song. "Lei'ou, Gaotai and Mixed Form (The Three Great Vocal Systems)": Lei opera's arias have both banqiang and qupai features and divide into the three great systems of lei'ou, gaotai and mixed form, with the five ban styles of sanban, slow ban, middle ban, kuaiban and fuban.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Leiju 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. Jin Youying · National Representative Bearer Archive