Yao Xina
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Yao Xina, Male, Han, from Tanghai, Hebei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Suona Art (Ⅱ-37). The tradition is documented in Caofeidian, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Suona Art in Caofeidian, Hebei: The Tangshan flower blowing circulates mainly in the coastal and plain townships of Caofeidian, Fengnan and Luannan in the Tangshan area of Hebei, mostly moving from village to village in the form of troupes, and its area of performance extends also to the Tianjin and Qinhuangdao areas. Suona is a transliteration of the Arabic “surna” (zurna), called in antiquity “suoliao” or “su'ernai”, and widely current in many countries of Asia, Africa and Europe; it came into China at the latest in the Jin and Yuan periods. In addition, the small suona used in the performance of Fujian nanqu is called the “aizi” or “nan'ai”; the suona used to accompany Puxian opera is called the “meihua” or “chuibian”, and a larger kind is called the “dalong” or “dahaidi”; the all-wood suona of the Uyghur is called the “su'ernai”; and the Tibetan, Miao, Mongol and Korean peoples each have suona of different form.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Yao Xina is anchored in the documented technical standards of Suona Art in Caofeidian, Hebei. Within the documented technical tradition of Suona Art in Caofeidian, Hebei: In Chinese folk usage it also has the names of bronze flute, tin flute, pear blossom and sea flute. The suona is made up of the reed, the staple, the air disc, the body and the bronze bell; its finger-holes are arranged in order according to the heptatonic scale, the distances between them being basically equal, it can turn through seven modes, and its range is generally two octaves and a major second. It has such blowing techniques as portamento, tonguing, arched-breath tone, top-breath tone, the rolling “du-lu” and circular breathing (blowing without a break for a long time), and is a solo instrument of very strong expressiveness. Its volume is great and its tone high and ringing, making it one of the indispensable instruments of the wind-and-percussion band; in antiquity, besides playing military music, it was used for the drum-and-wind music of the yamen and as accompaniment to opera, song and dance, and in the daily life of the people it is mostly used for festivals, weddings and funerals and theatrical scenes. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "All Red": Representative pieces of the Tangshan flower blowing include All Red, The Young Girl's Love, The Peep-Show and Xiudele. "The Young Girl's Love": A representative piece of the Tangshan flower blowing, a kind of drum-and-wind music of the Tangshan area of Hebei. "The Peep-Show": A representative piece of the Tangshan flower blowing, performed in folk activities of weddings and funerals, shop openings, festivals and temple fairs. "Xiudele": A representative piece of the Tangshan flower blowing, played on two large trumpets with hall drum and small cymbals.
Ode to My Homeland
New representative pieces created by folk artists on the basis of tradition, alongside Words of Love at Jiufeng and Spring in Qinyang.
Words of Love at Jiufeng
A new representative piece composed by folk artists of Qinyang on the basis of inherited tradition.
Spring in Qinyang
A new representative piece created in the present-day folk and artistic life of Qinyang.
Collected Folk Instrumental Music of the Qingyang Region
Of more than twelve hundred traditional pieces collected and recorded by general survey, as many as 496 were included in this collection.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Yao Xina was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Suona Art, with Caofeidian, Hebei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Suona Art in Caofeidian, Hebei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Caofeidian, Hebei as its declared area, and Tangshan Caofeidian District Cultural Center as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Suona is a transliteration of the Arabic “surna” (zurna), called in antiquity “suoliao” or “su'ernai”, and widely current in many countries of Asia, Africa and Europe; it came into China at the latest in the Jin and Yuan periods. In addition, the small suona used in the performance of Fujian nanqu is called the “aizi” or “nan'ai”; the suona used to accompany Puxian opera is called the “meihua” or “chuibian”, and a larger kind is called the “dalong” or “dahaidi”; the all-wood suona of the Uyghur is called the “su'ernai”; and the Tibetan, Miao, Mongol and Korean peoples each have suona of different form. It is said that a prince of the Ming imperial house developed the “eye pipe” on the basis of the suona's eight finger-holes, making a great contribution to the development of Chinese national wind music. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing there were the “Tongle Hui” and the “Jia family troupe”; from the Qing to the Republican period there were such suona performing organizations as the “Majin troupe”, the “Maodan troupe” and the “Yinhe troupe”, of great local influence. From the founding of New China to the 1980s the suona troupes of Qinyang grew to more than thirty, with more than four hundred people engaged in suona playing, so that every township had its suona and every village its music. In December 1997 Qinyang city was granted the honorary title of “home of folk art of Henan province” by the Henan provincial department of culture and was afterwards named by the Ministry of Culture a “home of Chinese folk art”.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| He Deyi | Qinyang, Henan | 02-0276 | Other regional school |
| Li Jinhai | Qinyang, Henan | 02-0277 | Other regional school |
| Yao Shaolin | Tanghai, Hebei | 03-0837 | Same declared area |
| Lu Buliang | Xinzhou, Shanxi | 03-0838 | Other regional school |
| Niuqiyun | Huguan, Shanxi | 03-0839 | Other regional school |
| Liu Yousheng | Yudou, Jiangxi | 03-0840 | Other regional school |
| Mo Baihuai | Xiangtan, Hunan | 04-1520 | Other regional school |
| Li Qishan | Mizhi, Shaanxi | 04-1521 | Other regional school |
| Wang Shifa | Suide, Shaanxi | 04-1522 | Other regional school |
| Ma Zigang | Qingyang, Gansu | 04-1523 | Other regional school |
| Liu Fushou | Xinzhou, Shanxi | 05-2062 | Other regional school |
| Cui Qingyun | Zhangzi, Shanxi | 05-2063 | Other regional school |
| Liu Xiaohong | Lin, Shanxi | 05-2064 | Other regional school |
| Tang Haifeng | Dandong, Liaoning | 05-2065 | Other regional school |
| Yang Chengwei | Zhaozhou, Heilongjiang | 05-2066 | Other regional school |
| Li Shupeng | Xuzhou, Jiangsu | 05-2067 | Other regional school |
| Jiang Fajie | Suzhou, Anhui | 05-2068 | Other regional school |
| Liu Qiulin | Changting, Fujian | 05-2069 | Other regional school |
| Ding Qinghua | Zoucheng, Shandong | 05-2070 | Other regional school |
| Wang Shuyin | Baokang, Hubei | 05-2071 | Other regional school |
| Liu Guofu | Nanzhang, Hubei | 05-2072 | Other regional school |
| Chen Dewang | Yuanan, Hubei | 05-2073 | Other regional school |
| Liu Daorong | Qijiang, Chongqing | 05-2074 | Other regional school |
| Zhou Benxiang | Lingbi, Anhui | — | Other regional school |
| Xiehaiming | Yudou, Jiangxi | — | Other regional school |
| Sun Huayang | Zoucheng, Shandong | — | Other regional school |
| Yao Xina | Tanghai, Hebei | — | This page |
| Suo Zhongxiu | Zhangzi, Shanxi | — | Other regional school |
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。