Xincheng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Xincheng, Male, Han, from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Buddhist Music (Ⅱ-138). The tradition is documented in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Buddhist Music in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu: Jinshan Temple of Zhenjiang is a famous monastery of the Jiangnan region, and since the Land-and-Water Assembly was first established there in the fourth year of the Tianjian era of Liang of the Southern Dynasties (505) the rite has continued there without interruption. Its manual divides into the halls of the inner altar and the outer altar, lasts seven days and seven nights, and each hall is matched with the corresponding vocal style and instrumental music. The chanted vocal styles and tunes number around a hundred; each tune pattern generally takes the first one or two characters of its opening line as an introduction, and the forms include solo, leading solo, unison and antiphonal singing. The rhythm is generally in free-beat form, and in some pieces the singing begins on the second-strong beat or on a weak beat. According to the Song Record of the Orthodox Lineage of the Buddhist Order, Emperor Wu of Liang of the Southern Dynasties dreamt at night that a divine monk revealed the truth to him, and afterwards, on the persuasion of the Jinshan monk Baozhi, he issued an edit to summon nine eminent monks from all over the country to gather at Jinshan, to peruse the Buddhist canon and to compile the Shuilu yigui. In the fourth year of the Tianjian era (505) the Land-and-Water Assembly was established and its rite performed in the Zexin Monastery at Jinshan; Emperor Wu attended in person to preside over it and ordered Chan master Sengyou to read the ritual texts, delivering all sentient beings, and it lasted seven days and seven nights. The ritual music of the Jinshan Temple Land-and-Water Assembly draws together musical elements from the dynasties since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and expresses the fine wishes of monks and lay people to purify the mind, to accumulate good deeds and to bring peace to the realm; its reach in moral instruction is broad, its social influence considerable, and it possesses historical, artistic, religious, folk-custom and social-cultural value that cannot be ignored.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Xincheng is anchored in the documented technical standards of Buddhist Music in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. Within the documented technical tradition of Buddhist Music in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu: The Land-and-Water Assembly of Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, is a solemn Buddhist scripture and repentance rite. This is the first Land-and-Water Assembly in the history of Chinese Buddhism. The ritual music of the Jinshan Temple Land-and-Water Assembly is an important component of the Land-and-Water rite; it takes two forms, chanted singing and instrumental music, and most of it is chanted singing. Chanted singing in turn divides into two kinds, the “ritual music” sung for the Buddha and the “folk Buddhist tunes” sung for lay listeners. The “ritual music” comprises Buddhist pieces such as zan praises and ji gathas; the tunes are archaic, solemn and placid, and the melody moves mostly by step without wide undulations. Zan come in a six-line and an eight-line form, with the same tune in each case; the melodic joins between phrases and between sections are mostly of the overlapping kind, and the closing note of an upper line is often the opening note of the line that follows. The sung words of the ji are the scripture text itself and are composed of a fixed number of characters; there are the “Buddha-praising ji”, the “transfer-of-merit ji”, the “bell-striking ji” and others, and further such forms as “dharani”, “bowing vows” and “the three refuges”. The “folk Buddhist tunes” are used to spread the Dharma, to encourage goodness and to escort souls across; the tune patterns sung differ in musical colour, style, flavour and the form of singing and chanting, and some of the tunes are similar in style to folk operatic music. The chanted vocal styles and tunes of the Jinshan Temple Land-and-Water Assembly number around a hundred, and their modes are rich, chiefly the gong, shang, jue, zhi and yu. The scales take the pentatonic scale as the main melody and carry rather few altered tones; in some tunes the pitch-stable qingjue or the biangong often appears and modulates to a gong system a fifth above or below, while in others the upper and lower lines are transposed in parallel, creating a contrast of melodic colour. The rhythm is generally in free-beat form, and in some pieces the singing begins on the second-strong beat or on a weak beat. Each tune pattern generally takes the first one or two characters of its opening line as an introduction, and the forms include solo, leading solo, unison and antiphonal singing. The melodies are some solemn, some lively, some plaintive and some ardent, changing as the rite proceeds. Jinshan Jiangtian Chan Monastery strictly follows the tradition of the ritual services, never interrupting the morning and evening devotions, and holds the Land-and-Water Assembly every year for believers from China and abroad. The monks in the monastery are able to handle fluently the ritual texts and cadences of every section of the Shuilu yigui, and to master zan praises, sutra chanting, Sanskrit, Taoist recitation, spoken parts, chanted eulogies and recitation. In addition, Jinshan Temple has continually collected and archived the various editions of the imperially composed Precious Repentance of Emperor Liang of Jinshan, the Shuilu yigui, the Huashan Heaven-Fasting Ritual and the Yoga Feeding of the Hungry Ghost. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Ritual music (zan and ji)": One kind of chanted singing, sung for the Buddha; it comprises Buddhist pieces such as zan praises and ji gathas, the tunes archaic, solemn and placid, the melody moving mostly by step with no wide undulations. Zan come in a six-line and an eight-line form with the same tune in each case, and the melodic joins between phrases and between sections are mostly of the overlapping kind; there are further forms such as “dharani”, “bowing vows” and “the three refuges”. "Folk Buddhist tunes": One kind of chanted singing, sung for lay listeners and used to spread the Dharma, to encourage goodness and to escort souls across; the tune patterns sung differ in musical colour, style, flavour and the form of singing and chanting, and some of the tunes are similar in style to folk operatic music. "Shuilu ritual text and first rite": According to the Song Record of the Orthodox Lineage of the Buddhist Order, Emperor Wu of Liang of the Southern Dynasties dreamt at night that a divine monk revealed the truth to him, and afterwards, on the persuasion of the Jinshan monk Baozhi, he issued an edit to summon nine eminent monks from all over the country to gather at Jinshan, to peruse the Buddhist canon and to compile the Shuilu yigui; in the fourth year of the Tianjian era (505) the Land-and-Water Assembly was established in the Zexin Monastery at Jinshan and lasted seven days and seven nights, and this was the first Land-and-Water Assembly in the history of Chinese Buddhism. "Inner and outer altars": The manual of the Land-and-Water Assembly divides into the halls of the inner altar and the outer altar, lasts seven days and seven nights, and each hall is matched with the corresponding vocal style and instrumental music; the ritual music is an important component of the Land-and-Water rite.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Xincheng was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Buddhist Music, with Zhenjiang, Jiangsu as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Buddhist Music in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Zhenjiang, Jiangsu as its declared area, and Zhenjiangjinshanjiangtianchansi 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

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. Xincheng (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xincheng · China ICH Official Archive