Qujunxiang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He studied Cantonese yuequ from childhood and in the 1980s began to devote himself to nanyin, studying under the blind nanyin master Liu Jiu and learning the vocal methods and techniques of predecessors such as Yinjiao and Du Huan. Combining these with his own steady, deep voice and manner of interpretation, and infusing them with the hardships of earning a living and his personal feelings, he developed a desolate and sombre individual style. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nanyin Narrative Singing in Macao, China: Nanyin storytelling, also called simply "Nanyin", had formed no later than the mid-Qing dynasty. It circulates in the Pearl River Delta and in the Hong Kong and Macao area, where it is performed in Cantonese (Guangdong vernacular). It is a separate quyi genre that merely shares its name with the Nanyin popular in southern Fujian and is in fact entirely different from it. Around the 1950s, the spread of radio broadcasting carried Nanyin storytelling far and wide, and for a time it flourished. Since the 1960s it has steadily declined.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Born in October 1944 in the Macao Special Administrative Region, he is of Han ethnicity. He has recorded several nanyin albums, including Selected Nanyin (Nanyin Jingxuan) and his Ground-Water Nanyin Collection (Di Shui Nanyin Ji). He is skilled in playing the various instruments that accompany quyi, and he has adapted and composed nanyin lyrics and melodies. In 1995 he founded a Cantonese opera and quyi society under his own name, through which he has continued to teach and promote nanyin. He has long taken part in performances at educational institutions and has been invited many times to sing and lecture at the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau and other institutions. His artistic achievements are widely recognised and acclaimed in Hong Kong and Macao. Within the documented technical tradition of Nanyin Narrative Singing in Macao, China: In its traditional form, Nanyin storytelling is performed by a single singer, who plays a qinzeng, yohu, sanxian or qinhu himself while narrating and singing. The early repertoire consisted mainly of long works. Later, two performers singing in alternation also appeared, the pieces tended towards shorter sung segments, and accompaniment with yangqin, paiban wooden clappers and xiao flute was added. The lyrics are rhymed seven-syllable verse. The vocal styles are divided into "benchuang" (the local style), "Yangzhou style" and "Plum Blossom style"; and according to the vocal style adopted and the area of circulation, the form has further branches and alternative names such as "dishui Nanyin" (waterland Nanyin). Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Deoi Seoi Naam Jam (boat-people's naamyam)": The river-delta branch of naamyam sung among boat people, whose low, drawn-out melodies are the main line kept by Hong Kong and Macao music societies. "The three vocal modes": The three vocal modes of naamyam: the local Ben mode plus the Yangzhou and Meihua modes named after the tunes they absorbed. "Qinqin and yangqin accompaniment": Early singers accompanied themselves on zither, yehu or sanxian; later duets added yangqin, clappers and flute, with the qinqin shadowing the voice. "Recorded anthologies": The naamyam recordings left by the inheritor Au Kwan-cheung, who with Ng Wing-mui has taught and performed in Hong Kong and Macao for decades.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of Nanyin Narrative Singing, 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. Qujunxiang · National Representative Bearer Archive