Wang Jixian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Jixian, Male, Han, from Gaizhou, Liaoning, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Stilt Walking (Ⅲ-9). The tradition is documented in Gaizhou, Liaoning. Within the regional tradition and school record of Stilt Walking in Gaizhou, Liaoning: Gaizhou stilt yangge takes the urban district of Gaizhou City and the villages and towns in its outskirts, in the central part of the Liaodong Peninsula, as its principal area of transmission, and is performed mainly at Spring Festival, celebrations, temple fairs, sacrificial rites and other activities. Gaizhou was formerly the Ming-dynasty prefecture of Gaizhou Wei and the Qing-dynasty county of Gaiping, and stands on a transport artery of southern Liaoning, where temple fairs and shehuo communal festivities flourished; it provided fertile soil for stilt yangge. From the late Qing and early Republic era through the middle of the Republic of China era, local performers emerged generation after generation, with the “four great dan” such as Guo Xicheng celebrated in their day, and since the early 1980s this art has gradually been restored. Gaizhou stilt yangge rose in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, was extremely flourishing during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing dynasty, reached its height in the middle of the Republic of China era, and became even more prosperous in the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was damaged during the Cultural Revolution and its development was hindered; from the early 1980s to the present it has been restored, and under the attention of the government it has achieved some development. Gaizhou stilt yangge has historically had many famous performers; in the period from the middle of the Republic of China era to the founding of the People's Republic of China there appeared the “four great dan” such as Guo Xicheng, who were celebrated in their day.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wang Jixian is anchored in the documented technical standards of Stilt Walking in Gaizhou, Liaoning. Within the documented technical tradition of Stilt Walking in Gaizhou, Liaoning: Stilt walking is also called “stilt yangge”. It is a folk dance with a long history, widely transmitted throughout the country, and is named for the fact that the performers mostly tread on wooden stilts with both feet. Stilt walking is generally performed in the form of a troupe, with participants numbering from a dozen or so to several dozen. They mostly portray figures from ancient myths or historical stories, their costumes mostly imitate the role costumes of Chinese opera, and the props commonly used in performance include fans, handkerchiefs, wooden sticks, sabres and spears and the like. Stilt walking has two performance forms, “stilt parade” and “field performance”; the latter is in turn divided into the “large field” and the “small field”. The “large field” is performed collectively by the troupe, dancing while moving through various formations and patterns; the “small field” is performed by two or three people, mostly a man-and-woman duet, sometimes dancing while singing. The wooden stilts used in different places range from 30 centimetres to 300 centimetres; according to performance style they can be divided into “civil stilts” and “martial stilts”, the civil stilts stressing twisting, treading and plot-driven performance, while the martial stilts stress displays of virtuosity. Gaizhou stilt yangge is a form of folk dance by which the working people of the Gaizhou area of southern Liaoning amuse themselves. It developed and evolved on the basis of ancient folk acrobatics, stilt walking and the “hundred entertainments”, and is performed mainly at Spring Festival, celebrations, temple fairs, sacrificial rites and other activities. Gaizhou stilt yangge fuses singing, dancing, drama and acrobatics into one, and carries the artistic characteristics of twisting, steadiness, surging, sprightliness, comic patter, mutual mimicking, teasing, high spirits and stillness; it is lively and romantic, ardent and fiery, expansive and uninhibited, and rich in local flavour. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The nine qualities of Gaizhou stilts": Fusing song, dance, drama and acrobatics, the form is lively and romantic, fiery and unrestrained, rich in rustic flavour. "The four great female leads and Guo Xicheng": Many famous performers emerged, with Guo Xicheng and three others known as the four great female leads enjoying great popularity in the form's heyday. "Wang Xinhui's drumming with opera patterns": Born in 1937, Wang Xinhui mastered the full repertoire and became famous as a drummer, borrowing opera patterns and using light, heavy, slow and rapid beats to shape mood. "Fifteen appearances at the Longtan temple fair": Over sixty years Wang Xinhui worked on recovering and arranging the traditional routines, and his choreography appeared fifteen times at Beijing's Longtan temple fair.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wang Jixian was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Stilt Walking, with Gaizhou, Liaoning as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Stilt Walking in Gaizhou, Liaoning: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Gaizhou, Liaoning as its declared area, and Gaizhou Culture Tourism Shiye Development Service 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. Wangjixian (Gaizhou, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wangjixian · China ICH Official Archive