Li Fuxian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He later took Li Shengying, ninth-generation transmitter of the Qianhuying gaotai, as his teacher. Within the regional tradition and school record of Taige in Huangzhong, Qinghai: The heart of Qianhuying Gaotai lies in Qianhuying Village, Huangzhong County: the skill of a single village supports the gaotai of the entire county's first-month shehuo festivities. When a platform is bound and lashed together, the embroidery, fabric flowers, paper-cuts, and woodcarving, together with the outlining and blending of the performers' facial make-up, must all be carried out at once beside the platform; without any one of them, the piece would not take shape. The representative inheritor Li Fuxian is from Qianhuying Village; from his youth he watched the masters binding the platforms every first lunar month and studied them attentively for more than a decade; his binding skill has surpassed that of his masters, and the gaotai he has made have won awards in folk performances across the country. Taige originated in god-welcoming temple-fair processions in the Central Plains region and later spread gradually to the southeastern coast and the northwest. It enjoyed a period of popularity in the Qing dynasty; as it spread, it combined with local conditions in each place, giving rise to different characteristics. The origins of Qianhuying Gaotai can be traced back to the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, giving it a history of more than five hundred years.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in March 1963 in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province. He was born in Qianhuying Village, the heartland of the Qianhuying gaotai in Huangzhong County. Immersed in the tradition from childhood, he loved the painted and powdered gaotai dolls and was especially fond of constructing gaotai. From his youth, whenever the masters bound and erected gaotai during the first lunar month each year, he watched attentively at their side and pondered the craft with full concentration. After more than ten years of diligent study his binding and construction skills surpassed those of his teachers. He is thoroughly proficient in all the crafts involved in making Qianhuying gaotai, including embroidery, flower binding, paper cutting and wood carving, as well as the outlining and shading of performers' facial makeup. The gaotai he has made have won awards at folk performance events of various kinds across the country. Within the documented technical tradition of Taige in Huangzhong, Qinghai: Taige (lifted pavilions) is also known by such names as taijiao, taige, gaotai, naoge, naoge, and gaozhuang, and is a form of folk procession performance in traditional festival activities. In taige performances, several children dress as figures in traditional opera costume and, following the plot, form splendid tableaux, which are fixed to iron pillars and supports on a square pavilion platform and carried along by bearers. Traditional taige tableaux are mostly drawn from such repertoire works as The Butterfly Lovers (Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai), The Marriage of the Fairy (Tianxian Pei), Legend of the White Snake (Baishe Zhuan), Journey to the West (Xiyouji), Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier (Zhaojun Chusai), Meeting at the Blue Bridge (Lanqiao Hui), Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou), and The Fisherman's Revenge (Dayu Shajia). The tableaux stand roughly three to five meters high; the pavilions have three to five tiers, generally one performer per tier, though some have four performers on the bottom tier, five or six in the middle, and one on top. In a taige procession, four pavilions are generally used, and at most six or even eight; each pavilion is carried forward by four or eight bearers. Taige fuses painting, opera, colored paper-work, and paper sculpture into a single art; its tableaux are graceful and its scenes spectacular. It has long been loved by the broad masses and has flourished in folk tradition without decline. Qianhuying Gaotai is an art form transmitted in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province, performed mainly during the Spring Festival; at the literary and artistic shehuo (folk festivity) review held each Spring Festival in Huangzhong County town, Qianhuying Gaotai has the largest scale of performance and the highest artistry. Qianhuying Gaotai gathers local folk arts such as painting, embroidery, and woodcarving onto a single platform, giving it a strong local color. Its construction is superb: not only can it portray traditional opera figures, but it is continually innovated to depict modern figures and real life. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The platform at the Spring Festival social fire": Performed at Spring Festival, its scale and artistry lead the county's annual social-fire show. "Many crafts on one platform": Painting, embroidery and woodcarving of the region are gathered onto a single frame. "From opera figures to modern life": It shapes traditional opera figures while remaining able to portray modern people and contemporary life. "Many skills at the binding bench": Embroidery, flower-binding, paper-cutting, woodcarving and the painting of faces are all handled with skill.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Taige (the Qianhuying Gaotai of Huangzhong County), 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. Li Fuxian · National Representative Bearer Archive