Zhao Chenghai

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhao Chenghai, Male, Manchu, from Jilin, Jilin, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Yangge Dance (Ⅲ-2). The tradition is documented in Jilin, Jilin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yangge Dance in Jilin, Jilin: Ula Manchu yangge is transmitted in Ula Street Manchu Town, Longtan District, Jilin City, and in the Manchu villages along the banks of the Songhua River. Its performing troupes are divided into two lines, folk yangge and shamanic yangge, and the members are organized mainly through ties of family and neighbourhood; apart from New Year festivals they also often appear at river-releasing, the opening of the river, and other fishing, hunting and sacrificial occasions, bearing the distinctive marks of the production and life of Dasheng Wula. Ula Street Manchu Town is a national-level historical and cultural town of the first batch. It was the capital of the Ula department, one of the four Hulun divisions of the Jurchen of the Haixi region, and the seat of the Qing dynasty's Dasheng Wula General Hunting Office; it has a profound cultural foundation, is one of the areas where Manchu culture is relatively well preserved, and abounds in Manchu character. Its bodily performance and its physical language derive partly from the typical movements of the Manchu traditional mangshi dance in its "Nine Folds, Eighteen Forms" of the late Ming and early Qing periods. "Chaotianzi" is the principal accompanying tune pattern of Ula Manchu yangge, and is also the ceremonial music with which the Qing dynasty's Dasheng Wula General Hunting Office paid tribute to the Qing court. Ula Manchu yangge has a long history, traceable back to Makqin Mani (Manchu for "god of dance"), whom the Manchu people universally worshipped; its dance is also called the "mangshi dance", renamed in the Qing dynasty as "qinglong dance", "yanglie dance" and "xiqi dance". It bears the typical features of the culture and art of Manchu shamanism.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Zhao Chenghai is anchored in the documented technical standards of Yangge Dance in Jilin, Jilin. Within the documented technical tradition of Yangge Dance in Jilin, Jilin: Ula Manchu yangge is a traditional Manchu dance transmitted in Ula Street Manchu Town, Longtan District, Jilin City, Jilin Province. Ula Manchu yangge is both the combination and the continuation of the traditional Manchu song-and-dance and the shamanic sacrificial song-and-dance. It comprises mainly two forms of yangge: first, the folk yangge, which carries the genetic element of the northeastern ethnic taichui (hammer-stamping) dance and has local Ula characteristics and folk symbols; second, the shamanic yangge, which has the typical elements of Ula shaman culture. In performance, one leader is placed at the head of the procession, waving a trident up and down to direct the performance of the yangge troupe; this is the typical song-and-dance form of the taichuo of the Bohai Kingdom. The numerous variations reflect the improvisational character of traditional Chinese wind-percussion ensemble performance. Every section of the Ula Manchu yangge performance carries obvious features of the production and life customs of Dasheng Wula. The flag robes, flag headdresses and flag shoes worn by women, and the robes, boots and official hats worn by men, are all long-transmitted iconic costumes of Dasheng Wula. Since modern times, under the impact of the great migration into Manchuria, the relatively closed Ula Manchu yangge began to collide and merge with the aesthetic ideas and the musical and dance forms of yangge in the interior, gradually forming a yangge form that both retains traditional Manchu character and is influenced by modern culture. At present two troupes with more than 100 members between them have been formed locally. Through everyday performance practice and participation in major cultural and sporting events and related displays, such as the China · Jilin International Rime Ice and Snow Festival, the Jilin Manchu river-releasing ceremony and the Jilin City open-river fish food festival, the transmission and spread of the project are being advanced. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Chao Tianzi": The principal accompanying tune of Ula Manchu Yangge and the ceremonial music of tribute from the Dasheng Ula office to the Qing court, its variations showing the improvisatory character of Chinese wind-and-percussion music. "The nine-fold eighteen-posture Mangshi dance": A source of the bodily idiom of Ula Manchu Yangge, drawn from the typical movements of the traditional Manchu Mangshi dance of the late Ming and early Qing. "The trident-bearing leader": A single leader at the front of the troupe waves a trident up and down to direct the performance, a typical survival of the Bohai-era stamping dance. "Banner dress and official costume": The signature costume of Ula Manchu Yangge: banner robes, headdress and shoes for women; long gowns, boots and officials' hats for men, all long preserved in the Dasheng Ula region.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Zhao Chenghai was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Yangge Dance, with Jilin, Jilin as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Yangge Dance in Jilin, Jilin: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Jilin, Jilin as its declared area, and Jilin Art Research Institute (Jilin Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Research 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

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. Zhaochenghai (Jilin, Jilin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhaochenghai · China ICH Official Archive