Niuyuliang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Niuyuliang, Male, Han, from Xicheng, Beijing, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Vocal Mimicry (Ⅵ-70). The tradition is documented in Xicheng, Beijing. Within the regional tradition and school record of Vocal Mimicry in Xicheng, Beijing: Beijing kouji is divided into two branches, "mingchun" and "anchun": mingchun is performed in the open before an audience, centering on imitating bird calls; anchun simulates scenes of everyday life from behind a screen and is also called the "next-door play." During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, the Tianqiao performer "Hundred Birds Zhang" was famous for his bird calls and was hailed as "a matchless wonder of Tianqiao"; later figures such as Yin Shilin (stage name "Laughing Aloud"), Zhou Zhiliang and Zhou Zhicheng combined the two branches, bringing kouji out from behind the eight-foot screen and onto the stage. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing kouji (vocal mimicry) developed considerably: both "mingchun" — performing bird calls in front of an audience — and "anchun" — simulating scenes of everyday life from behind a screen in the "next-door play" form — produced celebrated pieces that have been handed down. He won a gold medal at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957, prompting a renewed upsurge of interest in practicing kouji in Beijing.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1938, a native of Beijing. A vocal mimicry performer. In 1953 he became a pupil of the celebrated vocal mimicry artist Liu Wanchun. In 1960 he joined the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. In 1988 he was transferred to the China Acrobatic Troupe. He inherited outstanding pieces from such masters as Huamei Yang, Bainiao Zhang, Yin Shilin, Sun Tai and Zhou Zhicheng. His vocal production is accurate and his imitation of sounds faithful, and his performances are refined and full of both sound and feeling. He developed new sources of breath and sound and reformed and innovated the circular vocalization and circular breathing methods, so that he could imitate several sounds at the same time. He created the vocal mimicry plays A Day in the Military Camp and Joyful Gongs and Drums, and published the book Chinese Vocal Mimicry together with the audio-visual disc Vocal Mimicry Teaching and Appreciation. His disciples include Liu Yong, Fang Haoran, Zhao Guangzhen, Zhang Kui, Zhao Limin, Jiang Lianying, Li Lei and Li Xianbi. Within the documented technical tradition of Vocal Mimicry in Xicheng, Beijing: Kouji falls within the impersonation category of acrobatics. Kouji is an art in which performers skillfully use the movements of the lips, teeth, throat and tongue to produce sounds, together with resonance from the nasal and chest cavities, to imitate the calls of birds and the roars of beasts — indeed, the sounds of all things in the world. Kouji has a long history stretching far back into the past. According to the "Biography of Lord Mengchang" in the Records of the Grand Historian, Lord Mengchang escaped danger in Qin thanks to the help of men who could crow like a rooster and steal like a dog — evidence that more than 2,300 years ago kouji performers already possessed the skill of imitating a rooster's crow to announce the dawn, and had reached a level of realism indistinguishable from the real thing. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, "Hundred Birds Zhang," known as "a matchless wonder of Tianqiao (Beijing)," performed a rich variety of bird calls: small birds such as yellow birds, red birds, pearl finches, crested finches and sparrows; large birds such as larks, hwamei (Chinese thrushes), cuckoos, woodpeckers, magpies, black-naped orioles, white storks, egrets and red-crowned cranes. His imitations were so true to life that real birds would answer with their own calls. He could also imitate sounds such as a golden rooster announcing the dawn, a hen brooding her chicks, pigeons cooing in their cote, and ducks sporting in cold water — every imitation remarkably lifelike, demonstrating consummate skill. Over the past hundred years, with the development of the times and changes in the environment, Yin Shilin (stage name "Kai Kou Xiao," or "Laughing Aloud") and his successors Zhou Zhiliang (stage name "Sun Tai") and Zhou Zhicheng carried out sweeping reforms of kouji, integrating mingchun, anchun and the next-door play, stepping out from behind the traditional eight-foot screen and onto the stage to perform face to face with the audience. While imitating sounds with exquisite fidelity, they added facial expression and body language, turning kouji into a performing art that is "vivid in both voice and feeling." Sun Tai's performances of catching cicadas, felling trees, pushing a handcart and the like were delicate and true to life, humorous and moving. Niu Yuliang, Niu Yuming and others, while carrying on the fine traditions of Beijing kouji, took the Zhou brothers as their teachers; through study and practice they continually explored the scientific laws of vocal production and breath control in kouji, developing the "cyclic breathing method" and the "cyclic phonation method," which opened up a broader range of breath support and vocal register for kouji, further enriching its performing techniques and giving audiences an artistic experience excellent to both ear and eye. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Ming chun: bird calls in public": One of the two traditional modes, imitating birds openly before the audience, the speciality of the Qing-era Tianqiao master. "An chun and the next-door play": The hidden mode, in which the performer behind a screen evokes a whole domestic scene by sound alone. "The hundred-birds Zhang": The late-Qing Tianqiao master whose bird calls were so true that real birds answered, extending to hens, pigeons and winter ducks. "Cyclic breath and cyclic voicing": The breath and voicing methods worked out by Niu Yuliang and others, widening the performer's sound range and allowing several sounds at once.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A representative bearer of vocal mimicry, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1958 he became a pupil of the celebrated vocal mimicry artist Zhou Zhicheng and also received training from his senior fellow disciple Sun Tai.

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. Niuyuliang · National Representative Bearer Archive