Liuzhangke

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He is the ninth-generation transmitter of Luojuan Opera in Fan County. Within the regional tradition and school record of Luojuan Opera in Fan, Henan: Fan county luojuanxi centres on Fan county, Henan, and is popular in Fan county and Taiqian and the north-eastern Henan-western Shandong border area; because it lies in the Yellow River floodplain, its troupes mostly perform at temple fairs and festivals and are transmitted through family and master-disciple lines. Luo opera came to Runan in the early Qing, its music made up of singing music, wind music and percussion. Juan opera originated in the late Ming at Yantingdian, Chupu and Daitang village in Runan county, evolved from the temple music “juan diao”. After the Republican period the people around Runan habitually called it “luojuanxi” or “juanluoxi”.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1965 in Fan County, Henan Province. He has a deep grounding in technique and rich stage experience; his voice is resonant and full, his characterizations vivid, and his style bold and uninhibited. With powerful projection and precise diction, he is much loved by audiences and enjoys the reputation of Living Zhang Fei and King of the Painted-Face Roles, making him a leader of contemporary Luojuan Opera. His representative works include Li Cunxiao Crosses the River (Li Cun Xiao Guo Jiang) and Rescuing the Emperor at the Muddy River (Yu Ni He Jiu Jia). For decades he has actively formed troupes, trained successors, and recovered and organized a large number of tunes, scripts and facial designs on the brink of disappearance. Within the documented technical tradition of Luojuan Opera in Fan, Henan: Luojuanxi, popularly called “horn opera”, was formed by the fusion of the two genres “luo opera” and “juan opera”. Its singing music is a composite system in which the qupai and banqiang forms coexist; its wind music is led by the great suona popularly called the “big flute”, and its percussion, besides the small five pieces common to opera bands—great gong, second gong, hand cymbals, bangzi and drum-clapper—also disposes two pairs of great nao and two pairs of great cymbals, popularly the “four great fans”. Luo opera's singing is rough and bold, vehement and ringing, suiting mythological plays, court plays and martial plays of war, and its music is made up of singing, wind and percussion music led by the small suona popularly called the “small flute”, mostly performing folk legend, rustic custom and love subjects. Juan opera excels in civil-scene plays and luo opera in martial-scene plays; to attract audiences and achieve completeness in both civil and martial and mutual complement, the two genres often performed together and gradually fused into one. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Li Cunxiao Crosses the River": One of the representative plays of luojuanxi and a representative work of the inheritor. "Rescuing the Emperor at the Muddy River": One of the representative plays of luojuanxi and a representative work of the inheritor. "Civil and Martial Division (Luo Opera in Martial Scenes, Juan Opera in Civil Scenes)": Luo opera excels in martial-scene plays and juan opera in civil-scene plays; the two performed on one stage and divided roles according to plot, gradually fusing into one.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Luojuan 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. Liuzhangke · National Representative Bearer Archive