Ling Fengying

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Ling Fengying, Female, Han, from Quwo, Shanxi, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Nuo Opera (Ⅳ-89). The tradition is documented in Quwo, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nuo Opera in Quwo, Shanxi: Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera circulates around Ren Zhuang village, Quwo county, Shanxi, and is a deity-worshipping drama in which the local villagers observe the nuo rites to avert plague, drive out pestilence and pray for blessings and the removal of calamity in mid-spring each year; the Quwo county cultural centre is responsible for the project's protection. Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera is thought, on the basis of research, to have formed in the Tang and Song; wherever Quwo had a community altar it was established, and an altar required sacrifice and sacrifice required nuo opera. The manuscript Fan Gu Shen Pu by Xu Wenbing, discovered in 1986 and copied in the first year of Xuantong (1909), records in detail the sung content of twelve nuo opera scenes and is of important historical value. Drawing on the Fan Gu Shen Pu and Quwo local materials, it formed in the Tang and Song; the 1909 manuscript discovered in 1986 records twelve nuo scenes in detail.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han, born in May 1941 in Quwo County, Shanxi Province. Fond of folk art from childhood, she learned a good number of folk songs and popular tunes from the veteran performers of her village. After her marriage she could not take part in performances of fan-drum Nuo opera herself, for she was bound by the rule that Nuo opera is transmitted from men to men and not to women. Constant exposure nevertheless enabled her not only to master the rituals of worship in Nuo opera but also to learn the performance of its entire repertoire. Though now advanced in years, she retains a deep attachment to fan-drum Nuo opera; together with her husband Xu Shiwang she has preserved the Shan Gu Shen Pu (Divine Register of the Fan Drum) and such props as the ringing knife and the hemp whip, and supplied material for the scholarly monograph An Investigation Report on the Shan Gu Shen Pu of Renzhuang Village, Quwo County, Shanxi Province. She also makes use of the slack farming season and the Spring Festival to carry out fan-drum Nuo opera drills, teaching her children and fellow villagers. Within the documented technical tradition of Nuo Opera in Quwo, Shanxi: Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera is an ancient deity-worshipping drama in which the villagers of Ren Zhuang, Quwo county, Shanxi, “observe the nuo rites, avert plague and drive out pestilence, and pray for blessings and the removal of calamity”, performed in mid-spring each year. It circulates around Ren Zhuang village, Quwo county, Shanxi, performed by the villagers in mid-spring each year as a deity-worshipping drama, with the Quwo county cultural centre responsible for the project's protection. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Fan Gu Shen Pu (The Fan-Drum Divine Score, Twelve Nuo Scenes)": Xu Wenbing's manuscript Fan Gu Shen Pu of 1909 records in detail the sung content of the twelve scenes of Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a representative bearer of Nuo Opera (Renzhuang Fan-Drum Nuo 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. Ling Fengying · National Representative Bearer Archive