Du Zhenzhong
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Du Zhenzhong, Male, Han, from Baoding, Hebei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Laodiao (Ⅳ-93). The tradition is documented in Baoding, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Laodiao in Baoding, Hebei: Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops. Baoding laodiao bears clear regional features and an extremely distinctive artistic style. It is of important reference value for the study of the local history and culture, of folk customs, and of the origins, formation and development of Chinese local opera as a whole. Baoding laodiao is a local operatic genre transmitted in the Baoding region of Hebei Province. Also known as laodiao bangzi, it began as the folk tune hexitiao sung in the rural flower fairs around Baiyangdian, and by the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing dynasty it had begun to take on the shape of a staged drama.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Du Zhenzhong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Laodiao in Baoding, Hebei. Within the documented technical tradition of Laodiao in Baoding, Hebei: In its early period the role types of laodiao were mainly sheng and jing, and since both of these sang the same laosheng tune, the genre came to be called laodiao, the “old tune”. The vocal style of laodiao is strongly narrative in character; it is simple, impassioned, vigorous and broad, coarse and resonant, giving the audience a sense of depth, weight, majesty and grandeur. It displays the distinctive regional character of Yanzhao — loyal-hearted and fiery-tempered, with a heroic and sorrowful song. The vocal style of laodiao belongs to the banqiang (metrical) system. Its basic tune is made up of an upper phrase and a lower phrase that are structurally similar and share the same cadential tone; a number of such upper and lower phrases repeat in cycles to form a sung passage. The lyrics follow a narrative-singing format quite close to that of great-drum lyrics. Laodiao has a complete set of civil and martial roles, with many role types including laosheng, laowai, xiaosheng, wusheng, qingyi, huadan, daomadan, laodan, caidan, hualian and chou. Its performance is warm and unpretentious, natural and flowing, and every gesture, sung passage, sigh, spoken line and recitation is steeped in a strong local colour. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Yang Family Generals": Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops. "The Hu Family Generals": Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops. "The Battle at Qipan Street": Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops. "Shanhaiguan": Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops.
The Yang Family Generals
Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops.
The Hu Family Generals
Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops.
The Battle at Qipan Street
Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops.
Shanhaiguan
Baoding laodiao mostly depicts the legendary stories of emperors and ministers and of heroes of the wild, and its plays come from two sources: some were adapted from tunes of the wooden clapper great drum (mubandagu) popular in the locality, such as The Yang Family Generals and The Hu Family Generals; others were transplanted from gaoqiang plays, such as The Battle at Qipan Street, Shanhaiguan and Inviting the Qing Troops.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Du Zhenzhong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Laodiao, with Baoding, Hebei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Laodiao in Baoding, Hebei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Baoding, Hebei as its declared area, and Baoding Art 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
Historical origin
Baoding laodiao is a local operatic genre transmitted in the Baoding region of Hebei Province. Also known as laodiao bangzi, it began as the folk tune hexitiao sung in the rural flower fairs around Baiyangdian, and by the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing dynasty it had begun to take on the shape of a staged drama.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wang Guanying | Baoding, Hebei | 03-1093 | Same declared area |
| Xin Qiuhua | Baoding, Hebei | 03-1094 | Same declared area |
| Jia Junxia | Anguo, Hebei | 05-2424 | Other regional school |
| Du Zhenzhong | Baoding, Hebei | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。