Ou Xiaohu

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of thirteen he entered the Cantonese opera class of Hepu Normal School in Guangxi; he later studied under the great Cantonese opera master Hongxiannv (Hung Sin-nui), then took refresher courses at the Guangxi Art School and went on to advanced study at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, where he obtained a master's degree. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Guangzhou, Guangdong: Cantonese opera is mainly popular in the towns and countryside of Guangdong Province as a whole, of southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and of the Macao Special Administrative Region — in short, wherever Cantonese is spoken. During the Xianfeng and Daoguang reigns of the Qing dynasty, Guangdong's local troupes used banghuang (xipi and erhuang) as their basic melodic mode in performance, while also taking in the gaoqiang and kunqiang styles together with Guangdong folk pieces and contemporary popular tunes; they took "theatre-tent Mandarin" (xipengguanhua) as the basic language, interspersed with Cantonese, and Cantonese opera gradually took shape. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Yiyang and Kun tune styles were introduced into Guangdong. Around 1912, Cantonese opera performance had basically switched to the Guangzhou dialect; the performance system grew steadily more complete, folk songs and minor tunes began to be inserted into the banghuang (bangzi and erhuang) passages, and falsetto singing was replaced by natural-voice singing known as "pinghou".

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1964 in Hepu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He is a National First-Class Actor and an expert entitled to the special government allowance of the State Council. He has a solid grounding in basic skills and all-round technique, a powerful and resonant voice full of tension, mellow vocal flavor, a martial and handsome stage appearance and clean, crisp stage images, together with a finely detailed and vivid performing style and a broad range. He actively takes disciples and transmits his art; his students Li Zhanping, Lu Wenbin and others have all achieved distinction. Within the documented technical tradition of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Guangzhou, Guangdong: The early traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera mainly included Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow), Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice), Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials), Sijinshi (Four Jinshi) and Wudengke (Five Times Passing the Imperial Examination), known as the so-called "Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (jianghu shiba ben). Later there appeared the "New Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (xin jianghu shiba ben), including Huanghuashan (Yellow Flower Mountain), Xihe Hui (Meeting at the Western River), Shuangjie Yuan (Two Knotted Marriages) and Xuezhong Yuan (Heavy Injustice Under Snow), as well as the "Grand Eighteen Works of Full Staging" (da paichang shiba ben), such as Suwu Muyang (Su Wu Herding Sheep) and Daiyu Zanghua (Daiyu Burying Flowers). Other representative repertoire works include Bai Jinlong (The White Golden Dragon), Huoshao Epanggong (Burning the Epang Palace), Pinggui Bieyao (Pinggui Parting from the Kiln), Baolian Deng (The Lotus Lantern), Luocheng Xieshu (Luo Cheng Writing the Letter) and Fengyi Ting (Phoenix Pageantry Pavilion). The basic vocal styles of Cantonese opera are bangzi (bang) and erhuang; it also incorporates the gaoqiang (high tune) and kunqiang (Kun tune) styles together with Guangdong folk narrative singing and miscellaneous minor tunes. The Cantonese opera ensemble was originally made up of the "five-piece head" (wujiatou) of erxian (two-string fiddle), yueqin (moon lute), sanxian (three-string lute), zhutiqin (bamboo fiddle) and xiao (flute); other newer instruments were gradually taken in later. Cantonese opera originally had ten role types — mo, sheng, dan, jing, chou, wai, xiao, fu, tie and za — which were later streamlined to six: wenwu sheng, xiaosheng, zhengyin huadan, erbang huadan, chou sheng and wu sheng. Cantonese opera performance carries a plain, unadorned and bold character, with virtuoso techniques such as one-legged stomping, rope-sliding (huasuo), darting of the eyes, small leaps and back-twisting. Its martial combat is based on the southern school of kung fu; target-striking, hand-bridge, Shaolin boxing and the highly difficult chair skills and high-platform skills are all exceptionally accomplished. Cantonese opera make-up is spare and simple, its colours are rich and brilliant, and its costumes are made largely with Guangdong embroidery (Guangxiu) — exquisite and gorgeous, with a strong local flavour. Cantonese opera broadly absorbs local art forms such as Guangdong music, Guangxiu embroidery, ivory carving, pottery and grey sculpture (huisu); it fully embodies the regional cultural traditions of the Guangfu cultural group, its reach extends to every part of the globe, and it holds extremely strong cultural cohesion among Chinese communities worldwide. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow)": The early traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera mainly included Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow), Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice), Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials), Sijinshi (Four Jinshi) and Wudengke (Five Times Passing the Imperial Examination), known as the so-called "Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (jianghu shiba ben). Later there appeared the "New Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (xin jianghu shiba ben), including Huanghuashan (Yellow Flower Mountain), Xihe Hui (Meeting at the Western River), Shuangjie Yuan (Two Knotted Marriages) and Xuezhong Yuan (Heavy Injustice Under Snow), as well as the "Grand Eighteen Works of Full Staging" (da paichang shiba ben), such as Suwu Muyang (Su Wu Herding Sheep) and Daiyu Zanghua (Daiyu Burying Flowers). "Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice)": The early traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera mainly included Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow), Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice), Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials), Sijinshi (Four Jinshi) and Wudengke (Five Times Passing the Imperial Examination), known as the so-called "Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (jianghu shiba ben). Later there appeared the "New Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (xin jianghu shiba ben), including Huanghuashan (Yellow Flower Mountain), Xihe Hui (Meeting at the Western River), Shuangjie Yuan (Two Knotted Marriages) and Xuezhong Yuan (Heavy Injustice Under Snow), as well as the "Grand Eighteen Works of Full Staging" (da paichang shiba ben), such as Suwu Muyang (Su Wu Herding Sheep) and Daiyu Zanghua (Daiyu Burying Flowers). "Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials)": The early traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera mainly included Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow), Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice), Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials), Sijinshi (Four Jinshi) and Wudengke (Five Times Passing the Imperial Examination), known as the so-called "Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (jianghu shiba ben). Later there appeared the "New Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (xin jianghu shiba ben), including Huanghuashan (Yellow Flower Mountain), Xihe Hui (Meeting at the Western River), Shuangjie Yuan (Two Knotted Marriages) and Xuezhong Yuan (Heavy Injustice Under Snow), as well as the "Grand Eighteen Works of Full Staging" (da paichang shiba ben), such as Suwu Muyang (Su Wu Herding Sheep) and Daiyu Zanghua (Daiyu Burying Flowers). "Sijinshi (Four Jinshi)": The early traditional repertoire of Cantonese opera mainly included Yibao Xue (One Handful of Snow), Erdu Mei (Plum Blossoming Twice), Sanguantang (Hall of the Three Officials), Sijinshi (Four Jinshi) and Wudengke (Five Times Passing the Imperial Examination), known as the so-called "Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (jianghu shiba ben). Later there appeared the "New Eighteen Works of the Rivers and Lakes" (xin jianghu shiba ben), including Huanghuashan (Yellow Flower Mountain), Xihe Hui (Meeting at the Western River), Shuangjie Yuan (Two Knotted Marriages) and Xuezhong Yuan (Heavy Injustice Under Snow), as well as the "Grand Eighteen Works of Full Staging" (da paichang shiba ben), such as Suwu Muyang (Su Wu Herding Sheep) and Daiyu Zanghua (Daiyu Burying Flowers).

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Cantonese opera, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Over the years he has successfully created many vivid and lively characters and has won the 12th China Drama Plum Blossom Award, the Wenhua Performance Award of the Ministry of Culture and the leading-role award of the Shanghai Magnolia Drama Performing Arts Awards; a celebrated civil-and-martial xiaosheng of Cantonese opera, he has performed in Hong Kong, Macao and other regions and in the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries, with wide influence at home and abroad.

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. Ou Xiaohu · National Representative Bearer Archive