Wu Peiyi

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wu Peiyi, Male, Han, from Qianjiang, Hubei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Jingzhou Huagu Opera (Ⅳ-59). The tradition is documented in Qianjiang, Hubei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Jingzhou Huagu Opera in Qianjiang, Hubei: Jingzhou Huagu Opera takes the Tianmen, Mianyang (today Xiantao) and Qianjiang area of the Jianghan Plain as the core of its distribution. The Tianmian area is its birthplace, while Qianjiang has become a centre of transmission in our own time thanks to its professional troupes and its mechanisms for training talent. The Hubei Provincial Flower Drum Opera Art Research Institute (the Hubei Provincial Experimental Flower Drum Theatre) is located there, and together with the troupes of Tianmen, Jianli, Honghu and other places it forms the working network of the genre. Jingzhou Huagu Opera, formerly called Huaguzi or Tianmian Huagu Opera, is a local operatic form that developed gradually after the late Ming on the basis of folk singing forms of the Jianghan Plain such as the sanbang drum, stilt-walking and the lotus-gathering boat, continually absorbing the plays, vocal styles and performance of other operatic genres. It was popular in all the areas under the former Jingzhou jurisdiction and reached the neighbouring southern Hubei and northern Hunan.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wu Peiyi is anchored in the documented technical standards of Jingzhou Huagu Opera in Qianjiang, Hubei. Within the documented technical tradition of Jingzhou Huagu Opera in Qianjiang, Hubei: Jingzhou Huagu Opera is one of the main local operatic genres of Hubei Province, formerly called Huaguzi or Tianmian Huagu Opera. It is a local operatic form that grew gradually after the late Ming, building on the folk singing forms of the Jianghan Plain such as the sanbang drum, stilt-walking and the lotus-gathering boat and continually absorbing the plays, vocal styles and performance of other operatic genres. It was popular in all the areas under the former Jingzhou jurisdiction and reached the neighbouring southern Hubei and northern Hunan. Jingzhou Huagu Opera is recorded as having 197 plays, among them Drawing the Door Bolt, Pinching the Vegetable Stems, Complaining to the Lord, Standing on the Flower Wall, Twin Bamboo Shoots, Beating the Lotus Rats, Picture of the River and Han, Congratulations at the Dragon Boat Festival, Patching the Quilt with Darning, Teasing the Toad, the Three Officials Hall, Leaving the Shop, the Interrogation in the Underworld and Complaining to the Village Scribe. In its early period the role types of Jingzhou Huagu Opera were mainly xiaosheng, xiaochou and xiaodan. Later, as the repertory changed, five role types formed: xiaosheng, shengjiao, zhengdan, huadan and chou. Its performance is free and agile, light and lively, full of strong local colour and the breath of folk life, with special techniques such as "flower-picking", "colour-bearing" and "bowl-biting". The music of Jingzhou Huagu Opera belongs to the daluoqiang system. Its singing divides into two main categories, the principal vocal system and the small tunes. The principal vocal system belongs to the banqiang type and includes the gaoqiang, daluoqiang, sipingqiang and qishuiqiang styles; the small tunes fall into three classes, single labelled melodies, specially composed tunes and interpolations, and the pieces are short, the melodies beautiful, the rhythms light and lively, and the colouring rich. The traditional performing form of Jingzhou Huagu Opera is "one voice sings and all join in, with gong and drum accompaniment". Its vocal styles are high and plain, its tunes have a wide compass, and their melodies make many large leaps; the male and female vocal styles alike are sung in the natural register combined with falsetto, and singing, choral support and percussion interlock closely, forming a distinctive performing style. The main accompanying instruments include the bian drum, bamboo clappers, cymbals, large gong, horse gong, small gong and suona, and the percussion instruments have roughly twenty-odd labelled melodies of their own. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Drawing the Door Bolt": Jingzhou Huagu Opera is recorded as having 197 plays, among them Drawing the Door Bolt, Pinching the Vegetable Stems, Complaining to the Lord, Standing on the Flower Wall, Twin Bamboo Shoots, Beating the Lotus Rats, Picture of the River and Han, Congratulations at the Dragon Boat Festival, Patching the Quilt with Darning, Teasing the Toad, the Three Officials Hall, Leaving the Shop, the Interrogation in the Underworld and Complaining to the Village Scribe. "Pinching the Vegetable Stems": Jingzhou Huagu Opera is recorded as having 197 plays, among them Drawing the Door Bolt, Pinching the Vegetable Stems, Complaining to the Lord, Standing on the Flower Wall, Twin Bamboo Shoots, Beating the Lotus Rats, Picture of the River and Han, Congratulations at the Dragon Boat Festival, Patching the Quilt with Darning, Teasing the Toad, the Three Officials Hall, Leaving the Shop, the Interrogation in the Underworld and Complaining to the Village Scribe. "Complaining to the Lord": Jingzhou Huagu Opera is recorded as having 197 plays, among them Drawing the Door Bolt, Pinching the Vegetable Stems, Complaining to the Lord, Standing on the Flower Wall, Twin Bamboo Shoots, Beating the Lotus Rats, Picture of the River and Han, Congratulations at the Dragon Boat Festival, Patching the Quilt with Darning, Teasing the Toad, the Three Officials Hall, Leaving the Shop, the Interrogation in the Underworld and Complaining to the Village Scribe. "Standing on the Flower Wall": Jingzhou Huagu Opera is recorded as having 197 plays, among them Drawing the Door Bolt, Pinching the Vegetable Stems, Complaining to the Lord, Standing on the Flower Wall, Twin Bamboo Shoots, Beating the Lotus Rats, Picture of the River and Han, Congratulations at the Dragon Boat Festival, Patching the Quilt with Darning, Teasing the Toad, the Three Officials Hall, Leaving the Shop, the Interrogation in the Underworld and Complaining to the Village Scribe.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wu Peiyi was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Jingzhou Huagu Opera, with Qianjiang, Hubei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Jingzhou Huagu Opera in Qianjiang, Hubei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Qianjiang, Hubei as its declared area, and Hubei Hua GuXi Art Research Institute (Hubei Shiyanhuagu 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. Wupeiyi (Qianjiang, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wupeiyi · China ICH Official Archive