Pei Yongjie

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Pei Yongjie, Male, Han, from Jingjuyuan, Hubei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Peking Opera (Ⅳ-28). The tradition is documented in Jingjuyuan, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Peking Opera in Jingjuyuan, Hubei: Peking opera centres on Wuhan in Hubei. After Peking opera came south and swept Wuhan at the end of the nineteenth century, Wuhan long remained one of its major centres; the Zhongnan Peking Opera Work Troupe founded in 1950 was later renamed the Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe, and bodies such as the Hubei Peking Opera Theatre have carried on the tradition, Hubei Peking opera attending to the creation of newly written historical plays while transmitting the schools. Owing to its distinctive geographical position Hubei became a birthplace of “pihuang” and went on to pioneer the “pihuang ensemble” that is Han opera (Han xi), known in the Qing as “Handiao”, “Chudiao” and “Chuqu”. In long performance practice the Handiao characterised by xipi and erhuang merged with the Huidiao characterised by chuiqiang and banzi, as well as Kunqu, Qinqiang (bangzi tunes), northern quyi and folk melodies, and finally evolved into Peking opera. At the end of the nineteenth century Peking opera came south and swept Wuhan, which has since remained one of its major centres; in 1950 the Zhongnan Peking Opera Work Troupe was founded and later renamed the Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Pei Yongjie is anchored in the documented technical standards of Peking Opera in Jingjuyuan, Hubei. Within the documented technical tradition of Peking Opera in Jingjuyuan, Hubei: Peking opera belongs to the pihuang genres and has a history of more than two hundred years. Later Handiao artists brought Han opera's music, performance and repertory into the Hui troupes, creating the performance arrangement summed up as “the troupe is Hui, the tunes are Han”. In Peking opera's early formation such Hubei artists as Mi Yingxian, Yu Sansheng and Tan Xinpei all made important contributions to its development. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Xu Jiujing Sheng Guan Ji (Xu Jiujing's Promotion)": A representative newly written historical play of the Hubei Peking Opera Theatre and one of the representative works of the inheritor Zhu Shihui. "Gao Yao Zhang (The Plaster Chapter)": One of the representative works of the Peking opera chou role, starred in by Zhu Shihui to much acclaim. "Famen Zhongsheng Xiang (Portraits of All Beings at Famen)": A newly written play of the Hubei Peking Opera Theatre and one of Zhu Shihui's representative works. "Yuzhou Feng (The Cosmic Sword)": A celebrated traditional Peking opera piece, the work with which the inheritor Yang Zhifang first came to notice.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Pei Yongjie was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Peking Opera, with Jingjuyuan, Hubei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Peking Opera in Jingjuyuan, Hubei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Jingjuyuan, Hubei as its declared area, and Hubei Jing Theatre 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. Peiyongjie (Jingjuyuan, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Peiyongjie · China ICH Official Archive