Wu Qinguo

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wu Qinguo, Male, Han, from Quzhou, Zhejiang, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Gaoqiang Opera (Ⅳ-7). The tradition is documented in Quzhou, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Gaoqiang Opera in Quzhou, Zhejiang: Centred on Quzhou in Zhejiang Province, Xi'an gaoqiang spread along both banks of the Qujiang River and around Changshan and Kaihua, reaching as far as Wenzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang Province and southeastern Jiangxi and northwestern Fujian. After the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty it performed jointly with Kunqiang and luantan troupes, and in the Jinhua area it was listed, alongside Kunqiang, luantan, Hui opera, tanhuang and shidiao, among the several vocal styles of Wuju. Gaoqiang troupes mostly used the stages of village ancestral halls as their performance places, and were closely bound to the Lantern Festival lantern-play and temple-fair performance seasons of Quzhou and Jinhua. Gaoqiang is the collective name for a group of operatic genres distinguished by several vocal styles, derived in the course of evolution from the Yiyang qiang of the Ming dynasty and the later Qingyang qiang. Xi'an gaoqiang took shape in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, and is named after the ancient name of Quzhou, which was Xi'an. It is a local drama formed under the influence of Yiyang qiang, taking shape no later than the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty; centred on Quzhou, it circulated in Wenzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang Province as well as in southeastern Jiangxi and northwestern Fujian. Xi'an gaoqiang originates among the people and flourishes among the people; it has a body of traditional plays such as Huaiyin Shu, Hezhu Ji and Luhua Xu.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wu Qinguo is anchored in the documented technical standards of Gaoqiang Opera in Quzhou, Zhejiang. Within the documented technical tradition of Gaoqiang Opera in Quzhou, Zhejiang: Over several centuries of evolution the branches of Yiyang qiang underwent great change, combining in varying degrees with local folk music, and so the gaoqiang of each locality came to have its own musical character. It was originally accompanied by gongs and drums alone; after the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty it began to perform jointly with Kunqiang and luantan troupes. Influenced by the Kunshan tune and the luantan tune, while keeping its original musical features, it added wind and string instruments such as the kun flute, banhu and jinghu, and also acquired simple interlinking passages. In the surviving Xi'an gaoqiang the singing shouts and bellows, the performance leaps and bounds, the stagecraft blazes in reds and greens, and the instrumentation thunders with big drums and large horns; it is strongly imbued with local flavour. In its repertoire, costume, vocal method, role-type system and performance procedure it basically preserves, in its original undiluted form, the character of ancient Nanju, which is of major significance and value for the study of Nanju. Since modern times, continual warfare has scattered Xi'an gaoqiang among the people. Yet as modernisation has accelerated, Xi'an gaoqiang has lost audiences severely, is short of talent and has fallen into a situation in which the old and the new fail to meet; it faces a fresh survival crisis, and this situation urgently calls for the attention of the relevant departments and a serious response. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Huaiyin Shu (The Shade Tree)": Xi'an gaoqiang originates among the people and flourishes among the people; it has a body of traditional plays such as Huaiyin Shu, Hezhu Ji and Luhua Xu. "Hezhu Ji (The Joined Pearls)": Xi'an gaoqiang originates among the people and flourishes among the people; it has a body of traditional plays such as Huaiyin Shu, Hezhu Ji and Luhua Xu. "Luhua Xu (Reed Catkins)": Xi'an gaoqiang originates among the people and flourishes among the people; it has a body of traditional plays such as Huaiyin Shu, Hezhu Ji and Luhua Xu.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wu Qinguo was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Gaoqiang Opera, with Quzhou, Zhejiang as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Gaoqiang Opera in Quzhou, Zhejiang: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Quzhou, Zhejiang as its declared area, and Quzhou Xian Gao Qiang Transmission Workshop 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. Wuqinguo (Quzhou, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wuqinguo · China ICH Official Archive