Li Saijian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Saijian, Female, Han, from Shaoyang, Hunan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Huagu Opera (Ⅳ-112). The tradition is documented in Shaoyang, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huagu Opera in Shaoyang, Hunan: Shaoyang huaguxi centres on Shaoyang city, Hunan, and is popular in Shaoyang, Longhui, Dongkou and Xinning in central Hunan, sung in the Shaoyang dialect; because of differing lineages and areas the troupes form three co-existing roads, eastern, southern and western. Drawing on the Hunan volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Shaoyang materials, Shaoyang huaguxi developed out of local lantern song, mountain song and folk ditties, forming the “two-small play” in the mid-Qing; it later absorbed the performing conventions of Qi opera and lantern play, forming a musical system fusing the chuan-diao, paizi and xiaodiao categories, and is divided into eastern, southern and western roads according to basic artistic style.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Saijian is anchored in the documented technical standards of Huagu Opera in Shaoyang, Hunan. Within the documented technical tradition of Huagu Opera in Shaoyang, Hunan: Huaguxi is the general name for the “flower-drum” local short operas of various places in China, circulating mainly in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Zhejiang. The Ming-dynasty chuanqi of Fan Wenruo already depicts a scene of flower-drum singing, showing the earliest aspect of this art form. Flower-drum singing came out of folk song and gradually developed into the “two-small play” performed by one dan and one chou; in practice it drew on the performing modes of local grand opera and absorbed various artistic elements, finally becoming an independent local operatic genre. Its music belongs basically to the qupai-linking form, aided by some ban-style variation. Its performing means are rich and varied, lively and vivid, with a distinctive local character and folk song-and-dance style. Its traditional repertory mainly reflects productive labour, love between men and women and family conflict, and later development also produced new works on modern life. Its vocal music divides into the two great categories of “gong-qiang” and “qin-qiang”: gong-qiang has southern-road, northern-road and special gong-qiang sanqu, and qin-qiang has zhengdiao qin-qiang and qin-qiang xiaodiao. Shaoyang huaguxi has rich singing and many qupai, forming a musical system fusing the chuan-diao, paizi and xiaodiao categories, its performance and music divided into eastern, southern and western roads according to basic artistic style. The main tunes of Huaibei huaguxi include “Suzhou diao”, “Huibei diao”, “kouzi diao pingban” and “hanban”, the “han diao” being especially individual; its performance is also distinctive, the “flower-drum great procession” being its most characteristic feature, regarded as the “consummate skill” of Huaibei huaguxi. Wannan huaguxi has the four main arias of “tao qiang”, “beiniuzi”, “siping” and “bei qiang”, with flower arias made up of lantern tunes and folk ditties besides, and its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan and Dabuding. Suizhou huaguxi's singing divides into the four modes of “man diao”, “tai diao”, “Liangshan diao” and “cai diao”. Macheng huaguxi, also called “eastern road”, has such singing as “dong qiang”, “er gaoqiang”, “erhang”, “dui qiang”, “tan qiang” and “xiaodiao”, and such plays as Maihua Ji, The Pearl Tower, Suing the Dyke Tyrant and Storming the Court. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Saohua Tang": One of the traditional plays of huaguxi, listed among the repertory in the source archive. "Daguayuan": One of the traditional plays of huaguxi, listed among the repertory in the source archive. "Jiabaoxi (False Good News)": One of the traditional plays of huaguxi, listed among the repertory in the source archive. "Dangchayuan": One of the traditional plays of huaguxi, listed among the repertory in the source archive.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Saijian was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Huagu Opera, with Shaoyang, Hunan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Huagu Opera in Shaoyang, Hunan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Shaoyang, Hunan as its declared area, and Shaoyang Hua GuXi Safeguarding and Transmission 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. Lisaijian (Shaoyang, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lisaijian · China ICH Official Archive