Du Meishuang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

She studied under Yang Jian'e, a bearer of Huagu Opera. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huagu Opera in Changde, Hunan: Yueyang huaguxi in Hunan is sung in the northern Hunan dialect and has one hundred and twenty-three traditional plays in all. Changde huaguxi circulates in the Changde, Taoyuan and Hanshou area of northern Hunan and along the western shore of Dongting Lake, and belongs to the Changde branch of Hunan huaguxi. Flower-drum singing arose out of folk song, later developed into the “two-small play” of one dan and one chou, and then into an independent genre. The Changde branch is dominated by three vocal categories, chuan-diao, da luo qiang and xiaodiao; its performance is close to rural life and its traditional repertory often intermixes with sixian and Han opera troupes; the huaguxi protection centre of Dingcheng district is the main professional support for the project, and the locality holds huaguxi showcase performances and “sending opera to the countryside” public-benefit shows every year.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

She is a woman of Han ethnicity, born in March 1965 in Taoyuan County, Hunan Province. She is a National Second-Grade Actor. She assisted her teacher in transmitting and restaging traditional Huagu Opera, and later directed full-length traditional Huagu Opera herself. In 2014 she compiled and published the Changde Huagu Opera Compendium in two volumes, providing a rich resource of scripts and research materials for Changde Huagu Opera. In 2015 she formally accepted disciples, nine in all. In 2017 she presented a solo showcase of Huagu Opera and sixian (silk-string) music. Within the documented technical tradition of Huagu Opera in Changde, Hunan: Huaguxi is the general name for the “flower-drum” local short operas of various places in China, circulating mainly in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Zhejiang. The Ming-dynasty chuanqi of Fan Wenruo already depicts a scene of flower-drum singing, showing the earliest aspect of this art form. Flower-drum singing came out of folk song and gradually developed into the “two-small play” performed by one dan and one chou. In practice it drew on the performing modes of local grand opera and absorbed various artistic elements, finally becoming an independent local operatic genre. Its music belongs basically to the qupai-linking form, aided by some ban-style variation. Its performing means are rich and varied, lively and vivid, with a distinctive local character and folk song-and-dance style. Its traditional repertory mainly reflects productive labour, love between men and women and family conflict, and later development also produced new works on modern life. Its vocal music divides into the two great categories of “gong-qiang” and “qin-qiang”: gong-qiang has southern-road, northern-road and special gong-qiang sanqu, and qin-qiang has zhengdiao qin-qiang and qin-qiang xiaodiao. Shaoyang huaguxi has rich singing and many qupai, forming a musical system fusing the chuan-diao, paizi and xiaodiao categories, its performance and music divided into eastern, southern and western roads according to basic artistic style. The main tunes of Huaibei huaguxi include “Suzhou diao”, “Huibei diao”, “kouzi diao pingban” and “hanban”, the “han diao” being especially individual. Its performance is also distinctive, the “flower-drum great procession” being its most characteristic feature, regarded as the “consummate skill” of Huaibei huaguxi. Wannan huaguxi has the four main arias of “tao qiang”, “beiniuzi”, “siping” and “bei qiang”, with flower arias made up of lantern tunes and folk ditties besides. Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan and Dabuding. Suizhou huaguxi's singing divides into the four modes of “man diao”, “tai diao”, “Liangshan diao” and “cai diao”. Macheng huaguxi, also called “eastern road”, has such singing as “dong qiang”, “er gaoqiang”, “erhang”, “dui qiang”, “tan qiang” and “xiaodiao”, and such plays as Maihua Ji, The Pearl Tower, Suing the Dyke Tyrant and Storming the Court. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Saohua Tang": Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan, Dabuding and others. "Daguayuan": Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan, Dabuding and others. "Jiabaoxi (False Good News)": Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan, Dabuding and others. "Dangchayuan": Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan, Dabuding and others.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a representative bearer of Huagu Opera, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She was admitted to the Taoyuan County Huagu Opera Troupe in 1979 and joined the Dingcheng District Huagu Opera Safeguarding Centre in Changde in 1986, where she works to this day. She has played nearly a hundred roles in traditional and newly written Huagu Opera works and has won numerous national, provincial and municipal awards. She has served as a singing instructor at the Dingcheng District Huagu Opera Safeguarding Centre and takes part each year in the 'Bringing Opera to the Countryside' benefit performances.

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. Du Meishuang · National Representative Bearer Archive