Jin Zonghuai

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of 16 he began studying Nianbadu puppetry with his granduncle Wang Jiahuai, his father Jin Chungen and his uncle Jin Qingting. Within the regional tradition and school record of Puppetry in Jiangshan, Zhejiang: Nianbadu puppetry centres on Nianbadu town in Jiangshan city, Zhejiang, and circulates in the counties of the Xianxia mountains on the Zhejiang-Fujian-Jiangxi border; because it stands at a three-province crossroads, its repertory and vocal music embrace both the lingering resonance of Yiyang high-pitched tunes and elements of Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi folk opera, transmitted generation by generation through master-disciple teaching. According to handwritten scripts and local oral tradition, the puppetry here is marionette puppetry, introduced from Jiangxi in the Ming and transmitted through eighteen generations of master-disciple teaching; the troupes long remained active along the Xianxia ancient road in the border mountains of Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi, and were locally called the “ancestor of opera”.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1969 in Jiangshan County, Zhejiang Province. At the age of 19 he further took the famous veteran puppeteer Zhou Lianxing of Fuling, Pucheng, as his teacher and studied Nianbadu puppetry in a more systematic way. From 1992 he ran a puppet troupe jointly with Tang Wenyuan and Liu Wenhan, performing for more than ten years in the border area where Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi meet. He has collected more than a hundred scripts and more than forty puppets and items of equipment, covering a complete range of role types. In 2010 he joined the Nianbadu Folk Art Troupe, performing puppetry regularly in the square of the Guandi Temple at Nianbadu, and established the Nianbadu puppet theatre transmission and education base, where he has taught puppetry to Cheng Bingxian, Xie Peiwang and more than ten others; he also frequently travels to Pucheng in Fujian and elsewhere to coach puppeteers. Within the documented technical tradition of Puppetry in Jiangshan, Zhejiang: Nianbadu is a famous town in western Zhejiang, long known as the “throat of Fujian” and the “key of the Feng creek”. Before liberation Nianbadu puppet troupes were active in the Xianxia mountains on the Zhejiang-Fujian-Jiangxi border, called the “ancestor of opera”. Nianbadu puppetry is of long standing and preserves some Ming and Qing puppet heads and props, handwritten traditional scripts and the lingering resonance of Yiyang high-pitched tunes, of great significance and value for studying ancient dramatic forms, performance art, vocal music, theatrical custom and the history of drama. Its popular plays include Qingguan Ce, Jiulong Gukou and Po Hong. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Qingguan Ce (The Register of Upright Officials)": A popular play of Nianbadu puppetry. "Jiulong Gukou (Nine Dragons Pass)": A popular play of Nianbadu puppetry. "Po Hong (Breaking Through Hongzhou)": A popular play of Nianbadu puppetry. "The Lingering Resonance of Yiyang High-Pitched Tunes": Nianbadu puppetry preserves Ming-Qing puppet heads and props, handwritten traditional scripts and the lingering resonance of Yiyang high-pitched tunes, of great value for studying ancient dramatic forms and vocal music.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Representative bearer of Puppetry (Nianbadu Puppetry), 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. Jin Zonghuai · National Representative Bearer Archive