Yao Changsheng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1958 he was admitted to the training class of the Hanju troupe, and in 1959 he transferred to the Hanju department of the Wuhan Traditional Opera School, studying under the celebrated xiaosheng Li Sili. Within the regional tradition and school record of Hanju Opera in Wuhan, Hubei: Han opera is popular in Hubei Province, reaching parts of Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Shanxi provinces. Within Hubei it is centred on Wuhan and has several different lines of transmission, namely the Xianghe, Jinghe, Fuhe and Hanhe lines; the schools differ slightly in their vocal styles, speech delivery and repertoire preferences, and among them the Wu school and the Chen school of performance art of the Wuhan line have the greatest influence. Han opera was formerly called chudiao or handiao and is also known as chuqiang or chuqu; it first took shape during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing dynasty, moved towards further maturity in the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns, and to the present has a history of more than three hundred years. In the history of the development of Chinese xiqu, Han opera made a special contribution to the formation of Beijing opera, and has also influenced, to varying degrees, local operatic genres such as Sichuan opera, Dian opera, Gui opera, Xiang opera, Yue opera and Gan opera; it is important historical material for studying the banqiang system of xiqu and the evolution of the musical structure of xiqu, and a resource for artistic innovation.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1948 in Hanyang County, Hubei Province. He is a National First-Class Actor. After graduating he was assigned to the experimental troupe attached to the Wuhan Hanju Theatre, where he gradually formed a graceful, free and elegant performing style equally at home in civil and martial roles, and became known as the foremost xiaosheng of Hanju. In 1965 he appeared at the Central-South China Modern Opera Festival in Shuang Jiao Zi (Two Mothers Teaching Their Sons) and in the modern operas Shajiabang and Zhi Qu Weihu Shan (Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy). His representative productions include Cong Tai Bie (Parting at the Cong Terrace), Yuan Men She Ji (Shooting the Halberd at the Camp Gate), Bai Men Lou (The White Gate Tower), Yanmen Guan Zhai Yin (Seizing the Seal at Yanmen Pass), Duan Qiao (The Broken Bridge), Xie Zhuang San La (Writing the Petition, Three Pulls), Feng Yi Ting (The Phoenix Pavilion) and Bi Zhi Fu Ke (Driving the Nephew to the Examinations); the classical mythological opera Hu Tan (The Fox Spirit's Investigation), in which he played the leading role, was filmed as a television opera by Hubei Television and circulated widely in Hubei. After retiring he has worked actively in Hanju teaching, and most of his disciples have become a mainstay of Hanju performance. Within the documented technical tradition of Hanju Opera in Wuhan, Hubei: Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Shuang Jin Zhong (The Twin Proof of Loyalty)": Han opera has a rich repertoire, said to number eight hundred plays; more than six hundred and fifty survive today and about three hundred more are fairly popular. They draw mainly on historical romances and legendary stories, and the representative repertoire includes Shuang Jin Zhong (The Twin Proof of Loyalty), Liang Lang Shan (Two Wolves at the Mountain), Sheng Si Ban (The Board of Life and Death), Da Hua Gu (Beating the Flower Drum), Shen Tao Da (The Trial of Tao Da), He Yin Pai (The United Silver Token), Zhan Li Hu (The Beheading of Li Hu), Yuzhou Feng (The Cosmic Sword), Nao Jin Jie (Making a Scene on the Golden Steps), Ku Zu Miao (Weeping at the Ancestral Temple) and others. "Liang Lang Shan (Two Wolves at the Mountain)": Han opera has a rich repertoire, said to number eight hundred plays; more than six hundred and fifty survive today and about three hundred more are fairly popular. They draw mainly on historical romances and legendary stories, and the representative repertoire includes Shuang Jin Zhong (The Twin Proof of Loyalty), Liang Lang Shan (Two Wolves at the Mountain), Sheng Si Ban (The Board of Life and Death), Da Hua Gu (Beating the Flower Drum), Shen Tao Da (The Trial of Tao Da), He Yin Pai (The United Silver Token), Zhan Li Hu (The Beheading of Li Hu), Yuzhou Feng (The Cosmic Sword), Nao Jin Jie (Making a Scene on the Golden Steps), Ku Zu Miao (Weeping at the Ancestral Temple) and others. "Sheng Si Ban (The Board of Life and Death)": Han opera has a rich repertoire, said to number eight hundred plays; more than six hundred and fifty survive today and about three hundred more are fairly popular. They draw mainly on historical romances and legendary stories, and the representative repertoire includes Shuang Jin Zhong (The Twin Proof of Loyalty), Liang Lang Shan (Two Wolves at the Mountain), Sheng Si Ban (The Board of Life and Death), Da Hua Gu (Beating the Flower Drum), Shen Tao Da (The Trial of Tao Da), He Yin Pai (The United Silver Token), Zhan Li Hu (The Beheading of Li Hu), Yuzhou Feng (The Cosmic Sword), Nao Jin Jie (Making a Scene on the Golden Steps), Ku Zu Miao (Weeping at the Ancestral Temple) and others. "Da Hua Gu (Beating the Flower Drum)": Han opera has a rich repertoire, said to number eight hundred plays; more than six hundred and fifty survive today and about three hundred more are fairly popular. They draw mainly on historical romances and legendary stories, and the representative repertoire includes Shuang Jin Zhong (The Twin Proof of Loyalty), Liang Lang Shan (Two Wolves at the Mountain), Sheng Si Ban (The Board of Life and Death), Da Hua Gu (Beating the Flower Drum), Shen Tao Da (The Trial of Tao Da), He Yin Pai (The United Silver Token), Zhan Li Hu (The Beheading of Li Hu), Yuzhou Feng (The Cosmic Sword), Nao Jin Jie (Making a Scene on the Golden Steps), Ku Zu Miao (Weeping at the Ancestral Temple) and others.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Hanju Opera, 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. Yao Changsheng · National Representative Bearer Archive