Yang Renhe

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He began learning the craft at the age of twelve, joining the Chuanli troupe and studying under Zeng Qiuxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Gong and Drum Art in Fengcheng, Jiangxi: Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums are current in Fengcheng city and the neighbouring counties and cities of Jiangxi Province and over the greater area of central Jiangxi; they took their beginnings at the Longguang Academy in Rongtang town, Fengcheng, during the Southern Song, have a history of more than eight hundred years, and took shape in the late Ming and early Qing. The traditional band consists of seven players and ten instruments: two suonas taking the high and low parts, together with small hall drum, wood block, ban ruler, two pairs of cymbals, gong, small gong and yunluo, the drummer doubling as the conductor. Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums took their beginnings at the Longguang Academy in Rongtang town, Fengcheng, during the Southern Song, and have a history of more than eight hundred years. This heritage item took shape in the late Ming and early Qing, became widespread in the 1980s, and is current in Fengcheng city and the neighbouring counties and cities of Jiangxi Province and over the greater area of central Jiangxi; it is a folk instrumental art of which the local people are fond and which has been transmitted without interruption for a long time.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in December 1953 in Fengcheng City, Jiangxi Province. After graduating from senior high school he returned to his home village to farm, and served as leader of the Chuanli Hua Cha gong and drum team. Since 2006 he has taken part many times in provincial and municipal intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, performances and practical exchange activities. He donated his complete set of traditional Hua Cha gong and drum instruments, together with his handwritten folk scores in gongche notation, to the city's intangible cultural heritage exhibition hall. Over more than fifty years in the art he has taught over one hundred disciples, who formed folk Hua Cha gong and drum teams in more than ten villages, including Chuanli, Rongjia, Jiaohu, Xiabian, Jiaomei, Jianghutou, Jiaohu Street, Yuanxi and Rongfang, and these teams have remained active in rural areas over the long term. In 2008 he led the Hua Cha gong and drum performance team onto the stage of China Central Television's programme "Happy China Tour" (Huanle Zhongguo Xing). Within the documented technical tradition of Gong and Drum Art in Fengcheng, Jiangxi: This small folk instrumental ensemble form, in which the suona, gongs and cymbals all count as percussion alike, is commonly called “chuida” by the people. Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums have more than a hundred traditional tune patterns; classified by source they fall into four large groups, folk-song tune patterns, operatic tune patterns, traditional tune patterns and adapted tune patterns; classified by the way the drumstick is used they fall into single drumstick and double drumstick; classified by genre form they fall into long pieces and short pieces. Its musical forms are mainly the single-tune form, the variation form, the cyclic form and the linked-tune form; the scale is mostly the Chinese pentatonic scale, that is 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; its modal colour is rich, with the Chinese gong mode and the zhi mode predominating, and modal change within the same gong system is common. The traditional band consists of seven players and ten instruments: two suonas (played by two players, one taking the high part and one the low part); small hall drum, wood block and ban ruler (one player); two pairs of cymbals (two players, cymbal one and cymbal two); gong (one player); small gong and yunluo (one player), the drummer doubling as the conductor. The art of huacha gongs and drums has profound content. Between phrase and phrase, section and section and tune pattern and tune pattern, modal changes of every kind, within the same gong system and between different gong systems, are found everywhere. The dialect melodic figures of the folk-song tune patterns, the instrumental melodic figures of the traditional tune patterns and the vocal melodic figures of the operatic tune patterns all gather in the tune patterns of huacha gongs and drums, making the melodic figures of these tune patterns complex and varied. The tune patterns of huacha gongs and drums blend many musical features of the folk songs, opera and narrative singing of Fengcheng and the neighbouring counties and cities, together with those of the traditional tune patterns. Each tune pattern shows both individuality and commonality, and thematic music runs through it throughout. Huacha gongs and drums have fixed performing societies, traditional categories of instrument, strict band establishment and a vast system of tune patterns; they are an ancient, classical and weighty genre of folk instrumental music. Huacha gongs and drums are transmitted mainly from master to apprentice and are closely bound to the everyday life of the people; whether it be the various rituals in which the people welcome gods and worship the community deity, the marriage and funeral customs of the people, or celebrations, performances and entertainments in modern social life, they are an indispensable art form for the expression of people's thoughts and feelings. They are rich in folk cultural content, they enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the people, and they promote social and economic development and the progress of spiritual civilisation. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Folk-song tunes": One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with dialect melodic figures. "Operatic tunes": One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with vocal melodic figures. "Traditional tunes": One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source, with instrumental melodic figures. "Adapted tunes": One of the four large groups of tune patterns of Fengcheng huacha gongs and drums as classified by source.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Gong and Drum Art (Hua Cha Luogu), a fifth-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. Yang Renhe · National Representative Bearer Archive