Li Mei

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Mei, Female, Han, from Shaanxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Qinqiang Opera (Ⅳ-16). The tradition is documented in Shaanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Qinqiang Opera in Shaanxi: Qinqiang is an operatic vocal genre formed by combining the exhorting-to-goodness tunes that circulated in the Guanzhong area around the Yuan-Ming period with local folk music and the Guanzhong dialect; it is current mainly in the north-western regions of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. In historical times it also spread to the Central Plains and to the coastal areas, and it has influenced and given rise to dozens of local genres. Around the transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties, Qinqiang was brought by merchants from Shaanxi into the Central Plains and into eastern, central and southern China, and in the early Qing dynasty it became an operatic genre of major national influence. From the 1980s onward, Qinqiang, like the other operatic genres, has been subject to enormous impact from modern culture: professional performing troupes find it hard to survive, outstanding performing talent is scarce, and traditional performance techniques are in danger of being lost, so effective protective measures are urgently needed.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Mei is anchored in the documented technical standards of Qinqiang Opera in Shaanxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Qinqiang Opera in Shaanxi: More than three thousand traditional Qinqiang plays have been discovered to date, most of them drawn from historical stories and from myths and folk legends of all kinds. Among them are such representative plays as The Spring and Autumn Brush, The Heshi Bi, The Jade Tiger Pendant, The Purple Cloud Palace, The Qilin Bone Bed, The Changban Slope, Selling Mount Hua, Mount Lintong, Beheading Shan Tong, Taking Luoyang, The Third Lady Teaches Her Son, Affinity in the Cabinet, The Revolt at Yan'an, Breaking Hongzhou, The Third Audience in the Hall and Presenting Xichuan. Qinqiang music is divided into two kinds, huanyin (joyful tone) and kuyin (bitter tone); the former mainly expresses happy and joyful emotion, the latter mainly expresses grief, anger and desolation. In Qinqiang singing there are such ban-form variants as manban, erliuban, daiban, qiban, jianban and gunban. The accompanying band is divided into the wuchang (martial section) and the wenchang (civil section); the civil section is led by the banhu, supported by the flute, sanxian, yueqin, suona and so on, while the martial section basically uses percussion instruments, including finger clappers, dry drums, roaring drums, war drums, hook gongs, small gongs and water cymbals. The role types of Qinqiang are traditionally divided into four sheng, six dan, two jing and one chou, each with its own complete vocal style and performance procedure. The sheng and jing roles of Qinqiang sing in a style that is high and stirring, impassioned and mournful, heroic and unrestrained; the dan roles sing in a style that is gentle and delicate, supple and flowing, refined and elegant. Qinqiang performers also lay great store on posture work and special techniques; in long stage practice they have formed distinctive performance patterns such as tangma (riding the horse), lajiazi (pulling the frame), danchai (carrying firewood), fire-spitting, sash-and-staff work and tumbling falls. In addition, the facial makeup of Qinqiang is distinctive in its own way. Qinqiang is a spiritual treasure possessed in common by the people of the loess plateau of north-west China, and a typical representative form of the Sanqin culture, enjoying a broad popular base. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Chunqiu Bi (The Spring and Autumn Brush)": More than three thousand traditional Qinqiang plays have been discovered to date, most of them drawn from historical stories and from myths and folk legends of all kinds. Among them are such representative plays as The Spring and Autumn Brush, The Heshi Bi, The Jade Tiger Pendant, The Purple Cloud Palace, The Qilin Bone Bed, The Changban Slope, Selling Mount Hua, Mount Lintong, Beheading Shan Tong, Taking Luoyang, The Third Lady Teaches Her Son, Affinity in the Cabinet, The Revolt at Yan'an, Breaking Hongzhou, The Third Audience in the Hall and Presenting Xichuan. "Heshi Bi (The Heshi Jade)": More than three thousand traditional Qinqiang plays have been discovered to date, most of them drawn from historical stories and from myths and folk legends of all kinds. Among them are such representative plays as The Spring and Autumn Brush, The Heshi Bi, The Jade Tiger Pendant, The Purple Cloud Palace, The Qilin Bone Bed, The Changban Slope, Selling Mount Hua, Mount Lintong, Beheading Shan Tong, Taking Luoyang, The Third Lady Teaches Her Son, Affinity in the Cabinet, The Revolt at Yan'an, Breaking Hongzhou, The Third Audience in the Hall and Presenting Xichuan. "Yuhu Zhui (The Jade Tiger Pendant)": More than three thousand traditional Qinqiang plays have been discovered to date, most of them drawn from historical stories and from myths and folk legends of all kinds. Among them are such representative plays as The Spring and Autumn Brush, The Heshi Bi, The Jade Tiger Pendant, The Purple Cloud Palace, The Qilin Bone Bed, The Changban Slope, Selling Mount Hua, Mount Lintong, Beheading Shan Tong, Taking Luoyang, The Third Lady Teaches Her Son, Affinity in the Cabinet, The Revolt at Yan'an, Breaking Hongzhou, The Third Audience in the Hall and Presenting Xichuan. "Zixia Gong (The Purple Cloud Palace)": More than three thousand traditional Qinqiang plays have been discovered to date, most of them drawn from historical stories and from myths and folk legends of all kinds. Among them are such representative plays as The Spring and Autumn Brush, The Heshi Bi, The Jade Tiger Pendant, The Purple Cloud Palace, The Qilin Bone Bed, The Changban Slope, Selling Mount Hua, Mount Lintong, Beheading Shan Tong, Taking Luoyang, The Third Lady Teaches Her Son, Affinity in the Cabinet, The Revolt at Yan'an, Breaking Hongzhou, The Third Audience in the Hall and Presenting Xichuan.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Mei was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Qinqiang Opera, with Shaanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Qinqiang Opera in Shaanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Shaanxi as its declared area, and Xian Yi Su Society Culture Research Institute 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. Limei (Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Limei · China ICH Official Archive