Wang Shulong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Shulong, Male, Han, from Yancheng, Jiangsu, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Huaiju Opera (Ⅳ-102). The tradition is documented in Yancheng, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huaiju Opera in Yancheng, Jiangsu: Yancheng Huai opera centres on Yancheng city, Jiangsu, and is one of the important birthplaces of Huai opera; because Jianghuai incense-fire opera, work chants and tongzi opera meet here, its vocal music takes Huai diao and La diao as its basis, with complete roles and notable martial plays, and it has accumulated traditional plays known as the “nine lian”, “thirteen ying” and “seventy-two ji”. Huai opera, also called “Jianghuai opera”, “Yancheng opera” and “Jiangbei small opera”, originated in the incense-fire opera of northern Jiangsu and spreads widely through Huaiyin, Yancheng and Yangzhou between the Huai and the Yangzi and through Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou on the Shanghai-Nanjing line as well as Chuzhou in Anhui and Changxing in Zhejiang. In the late Qing and early Republic the Jianghuai small opera pushed into Shanghai, passing through its early stages of mounted platforms, ground stalls and curtained booths, and gradually moved from teahouses and theatres onto the professional stage.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wang Shulong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Huaiju Opera in Yancheng, Jiangsu. Within the documented technical tradition of Huaiju Opera in Yancheng, Jiangsu: Shanghai's Huai opera troupes took in some Peking opera actors and formed the feature of “Peking mingled with Huai” in performance, making great progress. After the founding of New China the genre was uniformly named “Huai opera”. Huai opera's singing music originated in folk storytelling and work chants and is known for its ringing vigour and beautiful plainness; its main tunes include “Huai diao”, “La diao” and “Ziyou diao”, with a distinctive regional character. Through several generations of artists it has complete sheng, dan, jing and chou roles and full conventions of singing, recitation, acting and combat, and has accumulated a great body of traditional plays known as the “nine lian”, “thirteen ying” and “seventy-two ji”. Martial plays are a great feature of Huai opera, its martial technique deeply influenced by Hui opera, with such feats as the split, the handstand and the “black dragon stir” counted unsurpassed. Praised as “a lingering resonance of ancient nuo, a rare flower of the pear garden”, Huai opera “blooms in Shanghai with its roots in Jiangsu”, a flower of operatic art nurtured by both Jiangsu and Shanghai. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Golden Water Bridge": One of the representative plays of Huai opera, listed as a teaching play of the opera school. "Beating the Princess": One of the representative plays of Huai opera, listed as a teaching play of the opera school. "Praising Diao Chan": One of the representative plays of Huai opera's laosheng and red-face roles. "Guan Yu Takes Leave of Cao Cao": One of the representative plays of Huai opera's red-face role.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wang Shulong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Huaiju Opera, with Yancheng, Jiangsu as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Huaiju Opera in Yancheng, Jiangsu: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Yancheng, Jiangsu as its declared area, and Jiangsu Huai Troupe Co., Ltd. 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. Wangshulong (Yancheng, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wangshulong · China ICH Official Archive