Jiwei
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Jiwei, Female, Han, from Tianjin, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Meihua Dagu Drum Balladry (Ⅴ-116). The tradition is documented in Tianjin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Meihua Dagu Drum Balladry in Tianjin: Meihua dagu originated in Beijing, flourished in Tianjin, and spread to Hebei and parts of Northeast China; Beijing and Tianjin each have their own line of transmission, with slight differences in singing method and in the choice of repertoire. Meihua dagu is a form of quyi performance circulating in Tianjin municipality, Beijing municipality, Hebei Province and other places. It originated in Beijing, flourished in Tianjin, and emerged in the middle of the Qing dynasty, when it was called "meihua diao". It was first sung by amateur enthusiasts (piaoyou) as a "qingke chuan" (an amateur gentleman's performance), so it was also known as "qingkou dagu". In the early twentieth century the singing of "qingke chuan" spilled into the streets and became a means of earning a living, and well-known performers emerged such as Jin Wanchang, Han Yongzhong, Han Yonglu and Su Qiyuan. The "meihua diao" they reformed and used for street performance was called, according to the region in which it circulated, "nanban meihua diao" or "meihua dagu"; the "meihua diao" originally performed as "qingke chuan" was instead called "beiban dagu". In the early twentieth century Jin Wanchang went to Tianjin to perform, bringing Meihua dagu into the city and singing there for many years. He formed a style of his own, popularly called the "Jin school".
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Female, Han ethnicity, born in May 1956 in Renqiu City, Hebei Province. She is a National First-Class Performer and an expert receiving the special government allowance of the State Council. In 1987 she took the renowned Meihua Dagu master Hua Wubao as her teacher and received comprehensive and systematic professional training. She has a fine voice and strong perceptiveness, and has inherited in a very solid way the aesthetic style of Meihua Dagu singing, with its qualities of sorrow, charm and crispness. Her stage appearance is lovely and her stage presence dignified and elegant; her singing is restrained and profound, gentle yet firm, mellow and expansive, and highly infectious. She is thoroughly familiar with a large number of traditional Meihua Dagu classics and is also adept at innovation. Her representative works include Erquan Yingyue (Moon Reflected in the Second Spring), Banping Shan (Half-Screen Mountain) and Shui Meiren (The Sleeping Beauty). She remains active on the stage to this day and is deeply loved by audiences. Within the documented technical tradition of Meihua Dagu Drum Balladry in Tianjin: Lu Chengke, a noted string-player from Tianjin who had accompanied Jin Wanchang, further improved and enriched the vocal styles, melodies, singing methods and accompaniment of Meihua dagu around 1930. He enriched the accompaniment with many fresh and lively guomen (interludes), and in particular added the "sanfan" interlude, making the singing fiery and animated as well as mellow and pleasing, and forming a new style known as the "Lu school" or the "Hua school". Meihua dagu pieces are all short drum ballads. It belongs to the banqiang (metrical) system; each short sung section generally runs to no more than one hundred lines. Each set of lyrics is generally divided into four or five sections, each of which is musically called a "luo". The lyrics take the form of corresponding upper and lower lines. In the upper lines, apart from the opening line which takes a level tone (the starting rhyme), the final character of each line is an oblique tone. The final character of each lower line is a level tone and rhymes; except in "Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband", the same rhyme runs all the way through. The lyrics consist mainly of seven-syllable and ten-syllable lines. It has three metrical forms — "manban", "erliuban" and "shangban" — and three basic vocal styles, each of the three taking its name from its own metrical form. Its principal accompanying instruments are the sanxian, sihu and pipa; the yangqin and cello were added later. Meihua dagu has two kinds of interlude: the small guomen between musical phrases, and the large guomen between one luo and the next, composed in the "manban" vocal style. The melody of the first two bars of the small guomen often varies somewhat. There are two large guomen, the "upper sanfan" and the "lower sanfan"; normally, at the end of a luo the upper line of the "manban" vocal style is followed by the upper sanfan and the lower line by the lower sanfan. In accompanying, the performers not only "support the vocal line and preserve its melody"; interlude passages such as the "five-tone (hand-changing) linked plucking" also have their own corresponding independent performing effect. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The sanfan interludes": Lu Chengke's reforms added lively interludes, notably the sanfan; the upper and lower sanfan follow the slow-mode lines ending a stanza. "Three metres": The three metres double as the three basic tunes, each named after its metre; a text divides into four or five musical stanzas. "Wang Erjie Pines for Her Husband": A traditional item; the genre's short pieces run under a hundred lines and keep one rhyme throughout, with this piece the exception. "Five-tone hand-changing ensemble": An interlude passage with its own concert effect, joining the small links between phrases and the large links between stanzas.
The sanfan interludes
Lu Chengke's reforms added lively interludes, notably the sanfan; the upper and lower sanfan follow the slow-mode lines ending a stanza.
Three metres
The three metres double as the three basic tunes, each named after its metre; a text divides into four or five musical stanzas.
Wang Erjie Pines for Her Husband
A traditional item; the genre's short pieces run under a hundred lines and keep one rhyme throughout, with this piece the exception.
Five-tone hand-changing ensemble
An interlude passage with its own concert effect, joining the small links between phrases and the large links between stanzas.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Meihua Dagu Drum Balladry, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In the 1980s she won the first prize for performance three times at national drum balladry competitions.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Meihua dagu is a form of quyi performance circulating in Tianjin municipality, Beijing municipality, Hebei Province and other places. It originated in Beijing, flourished in Tianjin, and emerged in the middle of the Qing dynasty, when it was called "meihua diao". It was first sung by amateur enthusiasts (piaoyou) as a "qingke chuan" (an amateur gentleman's performance), so it was also known as "qingkou dagu". In the early twentieth century the singing of "qingke chuan" spilled into the streets and became a means of earning a living, and well-known performers emerged such as Jin Wanchang, Han Yongzhong, Han Yonglu and Su Qiyuan. The "meihua diao" they reformed and used for street performance was called, according to the region in which it circulated, "nanban meihua diao" or "meihua dagu"; the "meihua diao" originally performed as "qingke chuan" was instead called "beiban dagu".
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jiwei | Tianjin | 05-2527 | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。