Liang Sumei

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Liang Sumei, Female, Zhuang, from Nanning, Guangxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) (Ⅳ-36). The tradition is documented in Nanning, Guangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Nanning, Guangxi: By region it is further divided into the Upper Six Prefectures and the Lower Four Prefectures. In the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Yueju circulates in 40 Yue-speaking prefectures, counties and cities, including Nanning City; it is a cultural treasure nurtured jointly by Lingnan culture and Bagui culture, and its stage performance and subject matter have a marked local character. Because the area in which it is popular is geographically close to the ancient Lower Four Prefectures, it is also called “Lower Four Prefectures Yueju” or “southern-school Yueju”. The Yue dialect used in the two Guangs is the basic element that distinguishes Yueju from the other operatic genres. Yueju as it circulates in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is the crystallisation of the collective wisdom and creativity of the ethnic groups of the locality, and it has played an important part in promoting ethnic unity and cultural exchange. Yueju (Cantonese opera) is a local traditional drama performed in the Cantonese dialect of Guangdong Province. It began at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, is popular throughout the two Guangs (Guangdong and Guangxi), in Hong Kong and Macao and in Southeast Asia, and is commonly called “Guangban xi”, or “Hongchuan ban” (the Red Boat troupe), or “Guangfu daxi”. From the late Qing to the 1940s, Yueju performance flourished in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Its martial fighting derives from the routines of southern boxing, is practical and concise, and stresses hard bridge and solid horse; many of its movements, stylisations and hand attacks come from the folk dances, martial skills and stylisations loved in common by the Zhuang and Han peoples of south-western Guangxi. Its martial feats and special skills include face-changing, baring the teeth, leaping onto the platform and scooping the chair, hanging the braid, crossing the mountain, spitting blood, the three hangings, stamping the stilts and flinging the hair.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Liang Sumei is anchored in the documented technical standards of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Nanning, Guangxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Nanning, Guangxi: The plays performed, the vocal styles, the qupai and the gong-and-drum instruments are basically the same in every locality, but the performance conventions, the staged displays and the martial techniques each have their own character: the Upper Six Prefectures excel in the civil stage of singing and acting, while the Lower Four Prefectures are skilled in martial combat. In the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty, opera troupes were already performing in Wuzhou City in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The main wharves along the Xijiang River became important venues for Yueju performance. Guangxi Yueju has an ancient, plain and robust performance style: at once fiery and passionate, lingering and sentimentally charged, yet also full-throated in high song and low, gentle singing. Guangxi Yueju divides its roles into ten types — mo, jing, sheng, dan, chou, wai, xiao, tie, fu and za — of which wenwusheng, huadan and chousheng are the most commonly seen. Its music belongs to the pihuang system, but in the early period it was influenced by Kunqiang and by Ge yang qiang (Yiyang qiang), and it also preserves a number of labelled plays of the gaoqiang type; its vocal styles are strongly lyrical, melodious and ornate, which makes it a major genre rich in qupai and beautiful in its singing. The accompaniment stresses the large gong, the large cymbals and the suona, with a sound that is high, resonant and stirring. Its stage art is plain and simple, with a flavour of minority style. The plays and staged displays commonly performed include Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River), Mulian Rescues His Mother, Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions), Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River), Yang Bajie Moves Troops, Lan Ma Passes the Barrier, Lihuai Maijian (Li Huai Selling Arrows), Da Bimen (Striking the Closed Door), Da Guoshan (Crossing the Great Mountain) and The Five Terraces Meeting of Brothers. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River)": The plays and staged displays commonly performed include Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River), Mulian Rescues His Mother, Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions), Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River), Yang Bajie Moves Troops, Lan Ma Passes the Barrier, Lihuai Maijian (Li Huai Selling Arrows), Da Bimen (Striking the Closed Door), Da Guoshan (Crossing the Great Mountain) and The Five Terraces Meeting of Brothers. "Mulian Rescues His Mother": The plays and staged displays commonly performed include Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River), Mulian Rescues His Mother, Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions), Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River), Yang Bajie Moves Troops, Lan Ma Passes the Barrier, Lihuai Maijian (Li Huai Selling Arrows), Da Bimen (Striking the Closed Door), Da Guoshan (Crossing the Great Mountain) and The Five Terraces Meeting of Brothers. "Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions)": The plays and staged displays commonly performed include Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River), Mulian Rescues His Mother, Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions), Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River), Yang Bajie Moves Troops, Lan Ma Passes the Barrier, Lihuai Maijian (Li Huai Selling Arrows), Da Bimen (Striking the Closed Door), Da Guoshan (Crossing the Great Mountain) and The Five Terraces Meeting of Brothers. "Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River)": The plays and staged displays commonly performed include Xihe Huiqi (Reuniting the Wife at the West River), Mulian Rescues His Mother, Qizhuang Zhi (The Seven Written Petitions), Luhua He (The Reed-Flower River), Yang Bajie Moves Troops, Lan Ma Passes the Barrier, Lihuai Maijian (Li Huai Selling Arrows), Da Bimen (Striking the Closed Door), Da Guoshan (Crossing the Great Mountain) and The Five Terraces Meeting of Brothers.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Liang Sumei was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Yueju (Cantonese Opera), with Nanning, Guangxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Yueju (Cantonese Opera) in Nanning, Guangxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Nanning, Guangxi as its declared area, and Nanning Ethnic Culture Art Research Institute (Nanning Xi Theatre, Nanning Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding 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. Liangsumei (Nanning, Guangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liangsumei · China ICH Official Archive