Huang Lingling

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Huang Lingling, Female, Han, from Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Nanjing Baiju (Ⅴ-81). The tradition is documented in Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nanjing Baiju in Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu: The content sung in Nanjing baiju is often connected with current affairs, the news and the life of ordinary people at the grassroots. Representative titles include "Da Yi Yuan" (Beating the Member of Parliament), "Ji Fang Ku" (The Hardship of the Weaving Room) and "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai" (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match); there are also titles such as "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing" (Scenery All over Jinling) and "Nanjing Feng Su Jing" (Nanjing Scenery and Customs), which chiefly depict the scenery and social character of Nanjing and are marked by a strong local flavour. Nanjing baiju took shape in the middle period of the Qing dynasty and was already widely current in Nanjing and its surroundings during the Guangxu reign. Local brocade-weaving workers and townspeople would often gather to amuse themselves in their spare hours, singing Ming-Qing popular tunes and Jiangnan minor tunes. After 1949, Nanjing baiju was performed not only in the seated-singing form but also as biaoxian chang (performance singing) and as cai chang (ornamented singing).

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Huang Lingling is anchored in the documented technical standards of Nanjing Baiju in Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu. Within the documented technical tradition of Nanjing Baiju in Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu: Nanjing baiju is current in the urban area of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and in its surroundings — Liuhe, Jiangpu and Jiangning — as well as in Lai'an and Tianchang in eastern Anhui. Whenever the Ullambana Festival or a marriage or other joyous occasion fell due, townspeople would often invite the most accomplished amateur singers among the workers to set up a show; the singers "accept the invitation but take no payment", performing free rather than selling their art, hence the name "white show" (baiju). The later commercial performances that did accept remuneration were called "red shows" (hongju). Nanjing baiqu is performed in the Nanjing dialect, singing named tune pieces (paiziqu); its basic performing form is that of a banquet-opening seated performance, that is, a long table is placed in the street, incense and candles are lit, seven or eight people sit around it, one person sings, and the other six or seven accompany on instruments such as the huqin, yueqin, sanxian, sheng, xiao, nao and cymbals. When a red-show troupe performs, it is furnished with embroidered hall-name chair-back drapes, and the staging is somewhat more sumptuous. When poor performers gave a baiju show, they would mostly sing while accompanying themselves in teahouses and taverns, then hold out a teacup to solicit money — commonly called "wiping the table". If a girl was taken along to sing in the streets it was called "yang hua" (scattering blossoms), and singing by blind artists was called "gu mu si xian" (blind-eye silk strings). Its vocal music uses [Shu Ban], a popular tune pattern built on paired upper-and-lower lines; the lines are joined by interlude passages (guomen), so that the pattern can be repeated indefinitely. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Da Yi Yuan (Beating the Member of Parliament)": The content sung in Nanjing baiju is often connected with current affairs, the news and the life of ordinary people at the grassroots. Representative titles include "Da Yi Yuan" (Beating the Member of Parliament), "Ji Fang Ku" (The Hardship of the Weaving Room) and "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai" (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match); there are also titles such as "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing" (Scenery All over Jinling) and "Nanjing Feng Su Jing" (Nanjing Scenery and Customs), which chiefly depict the scenery and social character of Nanjing and are marked by a strong local flavour. "Ji Fang Ku (The Hardship of the Weaving Room)": The content sung in Nanjing baiju is often connected with current affairs, the news and the life of ordinary people at the grassroots. Representative titles include "Da Yi Yuan" (Beating the Member of Parliament), "Ji Fang Ku" (The Hardship of the Weaving Room) and "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai" (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match); there are also titles such as "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing" (Scenery All over Jinling) and "Nanjing Feng Su Jing" (Nanjing Scenery and Customs), which chiefly depict the scenery and social character of Nanjing and are marked by a strong local flavour. "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match)": The content sung in Nanjing baiju is often connected with current affairs, the news and the life of ordinary people at the grassroots. Representative titles include "Da Yi Yuan" (Beating the Member of Parliament), "Ji Fang Ku" (The Hardship of the Weaving Room) and "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai" (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match); there are also titles such as "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing" (Scenery All over Jinling) and "Nanjing Feng Su Jing" (Nanjing Scenery and Customs), which chiefly depict the scenery and social character of Nanjing and are marked by a strong local flavour. "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing (Scenery All over Jinling)": The content sung in Nanjing baiju is often connected with current affairs, the news and the life of ordinary people at the grassroots. Representative titles include "Da Yi Yuan" (Beating the Member of Parliament), "Ji Fang Ku" (The Hardship of the Weaving Room) and "Wang Lao Tou Pei Cha Hu Gai" (Old Wang Gets a Teapot Lid to Match); there are also titles such as "Jin Ling Bian Di Jing" (Scenery All over Jinling) and "Nanjing Feng Su Jing" (Nanjing Scenery and Customs), which chiefly depict the scenery and social character of Nanjing and are marked by a strong local flavour.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Huang Lingling was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Nanjing Baiju, with Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Nanjing Baiju in Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu as its declared area, and Nanjing Qinhuai District Cultural 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. Huanglingling (Nanjingshiqinhuai, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Huanglingling · China ICH Official Archive