Chen Xiufen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

She studied under the renowned Wenchang master Wang Renhe and received oral instruction from the veteran Wenchang artist Liu Yuying. Within the regional tradition and school record of Guangxi Wenchang in Guilin, Guangxi: Guangxi wenchang takes Guilin as its centre and is especially flourishing in Liuzhou, Yishan, Pingle, Lipu and other places; it is sung in the Mandarin dialect of northern Guangxi. From the 1950s onward, the professional and amateur wenchang troupes of Guilin and Liuzhou became the main centres of activity for this genre. Guangxi wenchang is also called "wenchang", "wenwanzi", "wenchang", "xiaoqu", "zadiao", "yangqin xiaodiao", "yingge xiaodiao" and so on. It came into being in the middle of the Qing dynasty and already has a history of more than two hundred years.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in November 1945 in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. She is a National Second-Class Actor. She has a thorough command of all the major and minor modes, vocal qupai and the finest traditional repertoire of Guangxi Wenchang, in both singing and performance; she is skilled in the quyi technique of one performer assuming many roles and in the “four skills and five methods” of Chinese opera, handles props with ease, and has developed a distinctive performing style over decades of artistic practice. Within the documented technical tradition of Guangxi Wenchang in Guilin, Guangxi: It circulates in the Mandarin-speaking areas of northern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and is especially flourishing in Guilin, Liuzhou, Yishan, Pingle, Lipu and other places. Guangxi wenchang takes a great many performing forms: "zuochang" (seated singing) performed by several people, "lichang" (standing singing) performed by one person, "zouchang" (walking singing) that combines singing with acting, and the wenchang play "wenchang guayi", in which the performer's robes are hung on. In the course of its long development, Guangxi wenchang gradually formed two artistic schools, the "guangpai" and the "xiapai": the former is famous for its ornate and colourful vocal styles, while the latter pursues a plain and deep singing style. The music of Guangxi wenchang includes large-tune vocal styles, small-tune vocal styles, large and small interludes (guomen), introductions, endings and scene-transition music. The large-tune vocal styles comprise the "yuediao", "tanhuang", "sixian" and "nanci" collectively known as the "four great tunes"; the small-tune vocal styles that survive today include more than fifty tune patterns such as [jishicao], [daobanjiang], [matou diao], [yangzhou hong], [shuishui pipa] and [ma yulang]. The traditional accompanying instruments are headed by the yangqin, to which are added the pipa, xiaosanxian, huqin and dizi, collectively called the "five-piece set" (wujiantou); later the diaohu, erhu, zhongruan and other instruments were added as well. The instruments used to mark the beat include the ban, the drum, the saucer and the wine cup. In Guangxi wenchang the accompaniment and the vocal style are welded into one: a vocal style is preceded by a "guoban" (passing beat), also called the "yanzi" (introduction), and short passing beats are used between musical phrases; the short passing beats of the large and small tunes are basically the same. The tunes that accompany the spoken passages are commonly [yizhihua], [liuchunniang], [shuilongyin], [badaban], [jiejiegao], [lanshutou], [yexingchuan] and the like. Most of these tunes were transplanted from Guangxi folk music and from the scene-transition music of Guangxi opera; sounding in wenchang performance they come across as fresh and beautiful, supple and fluent. Guangxi wenchang has a body of fine traditional repertoire, which includes more than ten complete song-books such as Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji and Hong Lou Meng, more than sixty single-episode song-books such as Shuang Xia Shan and Wangpo Ma Ji, and close to a hundred short pieces such as Wu Er Tan Xiong and Gui Fei Zui Jiu. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Pipa Ji (The Lute)": Guangxi wenchang has a body of fine traditional repertoire, which includes more than ten complete song-books such as Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji and Hong Lou Meng, more than sixty single-episode song-books such as Shuang Xia Shan and Wangpo Ma Ji, and close to a hundred short pieces such as Wu Er Tan Xiong and Gui Fei Zui Jiu. "Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber)": Guangxi wenchang has a body of fine traditional repertoire, which includes more than ten complete song-books such as Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji and Hong Lou Meng, more than sixty single-episode song-books such as Shuang Xia Shan and Wangpo Ma Ji, and close to a hundred short pieces such as Wu Er Tan Xiong and Gui Fei Zui Jiu. "Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber)": Guangxi wenchang has a body of fine traditional repertoire, which includes more than ten complete song-books such as Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji and Hong Lou Meng, more than sixty single-episode song-books such as Shuang Xia Shan and Wangpo Ma Ji, and close to a hundred short pieces such as Wu Er Tan Xiong and Gui Fei Zui Jiu. "Shuang Xia Shan (Two Descend the Mountain)": Guangxi wenchang has a body of fine traditional repertoire, which includes more than ten complete song-books such as Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji and Hong Lou Meng, more than sixty single-episode song-books such as Shuang Xia Shan and Wangpo Ma Ji, and close to a hundred short pieces such as Wu Er Tan Xiong and Gui Fei Zui Jiu.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a national representative bearer of Guangxi Wenchang, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She has long persisted in transmission activities, training generation after generation of outstanding young performers.

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. Chen Xiufen · National Representative Bearer Archive