Liang Zihua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Steeped from childhood in Dianju and Huadeng art, he joined the Yuxi Dianju Troupe in 1959 to work in Dianju music, studying under the renowned Dianju artists Yin Zhitai, Zhang Youfu and Liu Yongyi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Dianju Opera in Yuxishidianjutuan, Yunnan: Through the ages, while staging traditional plays, the artists of every generation have been able to write and perform works reflecting the history and present life of the frontier minorities in the light of the times and local conditions in Yunnan, providing precious material for the study of local history and culture and of the art of the south-western frontier. Dian opera is the principal local genre of Yunnan, formed in the Daoguang reign of the Qing with a history of nearly two hundred years.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1941 in Yuxi County, Yunnan Province. He is a National First-Class Composer. He has a comprehensive command of traditional Dianju vocal music and of modern compositional technique; combining traditional vocal styles with contemporary subjects, he writes vocal music with precise diction and flowing melody, offsetting the traditional weakness of Dianju melody, and he has notated more than one hundred traditional vocal passages, wind pieces and tune types. He has published Collected Dianju Vocal Music of Liang Zihua (Liang Zi Hua Dian Ju Chang Qiang Ji) and taken part in compiling the Annals of Dianju in Yunnan Province (Yun Nan Sheng Dian Ju Zhi); many of his finest vocal passages have been broadcast on China Central Television, Beijing Television and Shanghai Television. He actively takes disciples and passes on his art. Within the documented technical tradition of Dianju Opera in Yuxishidianjutuan, Yunnan: In the Guangxu reign Dian opera performance was already very flourishing in Yuxi and elsewhere. It is popular throughout Yunnan and in parts of Guizhou and Sichuan, and there is also Dian opera singing in parts of Burma, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Its vocal styles are distinctive and expressive: its three great styles of sixian qiang, huqin qiang and Xiangyang qiang come respectively from such ancient vocal styles as Qin opera, Hui diao and Han diao, and are also nourished by Yunnan's ethnic folk music. Its ban styles are rich and varied and its tunes natural and fluent, able to perform plays of every subject, form, structure and mood, with a distinctive artistic personality and style, hence the praise “the cream of Yunnan”. It is recorded that its traditional repertory ran to as many as one thousand six hundred and fifty-one pieces. Yuxi has been an important Dian opera performing area since the Guangxu reign; inheriting the three vocal styles of sixian, huqin and Xiangyang, the local Dian opera troupe attends to improving singing design and band disposition, combining traditional singing with modern subjects. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Zhu De and Tang Huaiyuan": One of the representative works of the inheritor, winning the third “five-one project” award for spiritual civilisation construction. "Jingniang": One of the representative works of the inheritor. "The Dream of Xishi": One of the representative works of the inheritor.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Dianju, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His representative works include Zhu De and Tang Huaiyuan (Zhu De Yu Tang Huai Yuan), Jingniang and The Dream of Xi Shi (Xi Shi Meng); Zhu De and Tang Huaiyuan won the Third Five One Project Award for the building of spiritual civilization.

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. Liang Zihua · National Representative Bearer Archive