Zhang Zhongxian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Influenced by his parents, he loved stilt art from childhood; from the age of eighteen he studied stilt techniques under veteran artists including Du Xianwen, Xiao Hongxun, Qi Shouzhong and Zhang Zhenhe, and gradually grew into the sixth-generation transmitter of Shangkouzi stilts. Within the regional tradition and school record of Stilt Walking in Dawa, Liaoning: Shangangkou stilt yangge is a form of folk dance performance with strong local characteristics, and to this day it has a history of more than three hundred years. According to legend, during the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty a young man named Lan Xiaoer from inside the Shanhai Pass brought stilt yangge to Dawa County. In the Republic of China era, Shangangkou stilt yangge was influenced by Liao River culture, several generations of well-known performers appeared, and it grew increasingly flourishing. By the 1980s and 1990s the stilt yangge troupes of Dawa were further improved. In the 1990s the techniques of stilt yangge had recovered their former splendour. By the early years of the 20th century, “luozi qiang” was further added to the small-field performances of two or three people, elements of acrobatic difficulty were added to the movements, and the stilts were heightened. Shangangkou stilt walking has been transmitted for more than three hundred years; as early as the Qing dynasty the ancient art of stilt walking was already current on both banks of the Liao River.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

He was born in May 1955 into a Han family in Dawa County, Liaoning Province. In his youth he specialized in the junsheng (handsome young man) role, with a handsome and auspicious appearance; he was skilled at using body language to express the ardent and uninhibited character of the men of Northeast China, and possessed a strong ability to control the live performance. Within the documented technical tradition of Stilt Walking in Dawa, Liaoning: Stilt walking is also called “stilt yangge”. It is a folk dance with a long history, widely transmitted throughout the country, and is named for the fact that the performers mostly tread on wooden stilts with both feet. Stilt walking is generally performed in the form of a troupe, with participants numbering from a dozen or so to several dozen. They mostly portray figures from ancient myths or historical stories, their costumes mostly imitate the role costumes of Chinese opera, and the props commonly used in performance include fans, handkerchiefs, wooden sticks, sabres and spears and the like. Stilt walking has two performance forms, “stilt parade” and “field performance”; the latter is in turn divided into the “large field” and the “small field”. The “large field” is performed collectively by the troupe, dancing while moving through various formations and patterns; the “small field” is performed by two or three people, mostly a man-and-woman duet, sometimes dancing while singing. The wooden stilts used in different places range from 30 centimetres to 300 centimetres; according to performance style they can be divided into “civil stilts” and “martial stilts”, the civil stilts stressing twisting, treading and plot-driven performance, while the martial stilts stress displays of virtuosity. Shangkou Village of Xi'an Town in the eastern part of Dawa County, Liaoning Province, adjoins the Liao River on the east, borders the Bohai Sea on the west, adjoins Dashi City of Yingkou to the south and is joined to Tai'an County to the north, facing Haicheng across the river. Dalianhe Shangangkou stilt yangge originates from this area and is renowned far and wide for its uniquely distinctive performance style, being long known as “the finest flower of southern Liaoning”. Stilt yangge has since been transmitted for a long time in the southern Liaoning region. During the Guangxu reign, elements of folk art such as shuhaier, gege qiang, laba xi and erren zhuan were folded into it, producing a group of folk stilt performers headed by Gao Zhenfeng as guild leader, and Shangangkou stilt yangge entered a new stage of development. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, stilt guilds in Dawa County grew ever more numerous, with basically one in every village. Shangangkou stilt yangge has nimble movements and exquisite skills, organically combines the “twisting, surging, teasing and mutual mimicking” of stilt walking, and adds some complex shaping movements in the upper-figure work and the opening large field. The performance of Shangangkou stilt yangge is lively and ardent, festive and joyous in style, and is deeply loved and enjoyed by the broad masses of local people. In Shangkou Village of Xi'an Town on the west bank of the Dalianhe River there once appeared famous stilt performers such as Lan Xiaoer, Dashou (stage name) and Gao Zhenfeng. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Lan Xiaoer and the arrival of the stilt yangge": Tradition holds that the youth Lan Xiaoer brought the stilt yangge from inside the pass in the Kangxi era; Shangkouzi village later produced the famous Lan Xiaoyi, Dashou and Gao Zhenfeng. "Gao Zhenfeng and the absorbed local genres": In the Guangxu era the form absorbed shua hair, gege tunes, horn plays and errenzhuan, and a group of performers under the troupe head Gao Zhenfeng opened a new stage. "The one flower of southern Liaoning": The Shangkouzi stilt yangge by the great Liao river is famed for its distinctive style and popularly called the one flower of southern Liaoning. "The mounted figures and grand-field poses": Complex sculpted poses were added to the mounted figures and grand field, along with harder acrobatics and taller stilts, making the show fiery and festive.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Stilt Walking (Shangkouzi Stilts), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. After succeeding to the leadership of the Shangkouzi stilt society, he gradually shifted his focus to transmitting the art and cultivating the troupe; he not only registered and established a cultural arts ensemble but also raised funds himself to build a training centre, regularly carrying out the restoration, transmission and training of traditional stilt conventions and routines, and has trained more than fifty young and middle-aged stilt artists in the locality.

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. Zhang Zhongxian · National Representative Bearer Archive