He Mantang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1981 he was admitted to the Wanwanqiang training class in Dali County to study the art. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tongzhoubangzi in Dali, Shaanxi: Tongzhou bangzi centres on Dali county, Shaanxi, and is popular in eastern Guanzhong in Weinan, Huaxian and Heyang and also in southern Shanxi and western Henan; because Tongzhou was anciently the land of the left Fengyi and its singing carries the fierce temper of the Qin region, it is ranked with the Xi'an line of Qin opera as “eastern-road Qin opera” and “old Qin opera”. Tongzhou bangzi is one of the ancient operatic genres of Shaanxi, originating in Dali, Shaanxi, anciently called “Tongzhou”, and also called “eastern-road Qin opera” or “old Qin opera”.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1963 in Dali County, Shaanxi Province. He is a composer for Tongzhou Bangzi. He entered the Dali County Troupe in 1986 and has worked there ever since. Eager to learn and assiduous in study, he has mastered the playing techniques of the banhu (bowed fiddle), erhu, yingxian (hard-stringed fiddle), yueqin (moon lute) and other instruments. In 2009 the Tongzhou Bangzi pieces The Wei River (Wei Shui He) and Beheading the Son at the Camp Gate (Yuan Men Zhan Zi), which he organized and staged, were presented at the Weinan Folk Art Showcase and at the Weinan intangible cultural heritage showcase themed Greeting the New Spring and Celebrating the Lantern Festival. Within the documented technical tradition of Tongzhoubangzi in Dali, Shaanxi: It has a long history, and professional troupes had already appeared by the late Ming. Its singing music belongs to the banqiang system, its main ban styles including the “erliu ban”, “slow ban”, “erdao ban”, “liushui ban”, “dianban” and “gunban”, its singing divided into joyful and bitter tones according to melodic difference. Its accompanying band is divided into civil and martial sections: the civil section is led by the erguxian with the amber (yueqin), banhu, erhu, suona, sanxian, pipa, flute, guanzi, haidi and sheng besides; the martial section uses percussion, including the yazi, board drum, hall drum, bangzi, hand gong, cloud gong, great gong, naobo and jiaozi. Its roles are complete, with zhengdan, laodan, laosheng (xusheng), painted face and wusheng, each performing differently. It deeply influenced other Shaanxi genres and the other bangzi-family genres that arose later, playing a positive role in promoting their formation. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Huang Bi Gong": One of the classic traditional plays of Tongzhou bangzi, both civil and martial. "Breaking Ningguo": One of the classic traditional plays of Tongzhou bangzi, both civil and martial. "Rebelling at Five Passes": One of the classic traditional plays of Tongzhou bangzi, both civil and martial.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Tongzhou Bangzi, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has composed for numerous productions, and his score for The Soul of Heroines (Jin Guo Hun) won the music design award for productions at the Shaanxi Province Yifa Cup Young Performers Competition. To transmit Tongzhou Bangzi he has enthusiastically passed on his skills to young performers, cultivating a group of musicians and instrumentalists for the genre.

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. He Mantang · National Representative Bearer Archive