Wang Aiai

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From childhood, Wang Aiai trained under her maternal grandmother Xiao Guihua, and she later studied under the Jinju performing artist Niuguiying, specializing in the qingyi (virtuous female) role. Within the regional tradition and school record of Jinju (Shanxi Opera) in Shanxi: Jinju circulates mainly in central and northern Shanxi and in parts of Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei. Because it arose in central Shanxi it is also called middle-road bangzi, and other provinces call it Shanxi bangzi. The late Qing and early Republic of China was its period of development, with many troupes and a constant flow of talent; after the first generation of female actresses, represented by Ding Guoxian, appeared, Jinju's art was lifted to a new stage. Afterwards Jinju followed the Shanxi merchants' trade routes north to Guihua and Baotou in Inner Mongolia, and circulated in parallel with northern-road bangzi and Puzhou bangzi in northern Shanxi and beyond the Great Wall. In the early Qing period Puzhou bangzi flowed into Jinzhong, where it combined with the Qitai Yangge and the Jinzhong folk tunes; through the participation of Shanxi merchants and local literati, Jinju took shape. The nearly one hundred years from the late Qing to the early Republic of China were Jinju's period of development. Troupes were many and talent emerged in great numbers, and especially after the appearance of the first generation of female actresses represented by Ding Guoxian, Jinju's art was raised to a new stage.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1940 in Yuci, Shanxi. Over decades of performing Jinju, Wang Aiai built on the art of the Niu school, continually innovating and developing it until she had formed the “Aiai style” of singing, with its distinctive vocal character. Her performance is high and powerful, full and rounded. Her representative works include Da Jin Zhi (Striking the Golden Bough), Ming Gong Duan (The Wise Judge), Suan Liang (Counting the Grain), San Shang Tao Feng (Three Visits to Peach Peak), and Zou Shan (Crossing the Mountains). Within the documented technical tradition of Jinju (Shanxi Opera) in Shanxi: Jinju is one of the four bangzi genres of Shanxi Province. Because it arose in central Shanxi it is also called middle-road bangzi, and other provinces call it Shanxi bangzi. It circulates mainly in central and northern Shanxi and in parts of Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei. In later periods it changed several times and spread through Jinzhong and northern Shanxi to parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei and northern Shaanxi. Jinju has a rich traditional repertoire, with more than two hundred plays performed regularly, including The Wei River, Beating the Golden Branch, Mount Lintong, The Cosmos Sash, The Kingdom of Shatuo, Battle at Wancheng, White Water Shoal, Golden Water Bridge, The Flame Colts, The Brahma King's Palace and Twin Locks Mountain. In the course of its development Jinju preserved the impassioned and stirring artistic character of Puzhou bangzi while at the same time forming a mellow, delicate lyrical style. Jinju's vocal styles are rich, including luantan (free-rhythm singing), qiang'er and quzi. Its ban styles (metre) are many and varied and its expressive power is strong: the luantan alone is divided into seven metrical types, namely pingban, jiaban, erxing, liushui, jieban, daoban and gunbai. The traditional Jinju orchestra consists of nine musicians and is divided into a civil section and a martial section. The civil section's accompanying instruments are the huhu, the erxian, the sanxian and the sixian, the 'four major items'; the martial section uses the drum and clappers, nao cymbals, small gong, horse gong, bangzi clapper and so on. The principal role types of Jinju are the xusheng (bearded male), the zhengdan (main woman) and the dahualian (great painted face) of the 'three great families', and the xiaosheng (young male), the xiaodan (young woman) and the xiaohualian (small painted face) of the 'three minor families'. Its performance is bold and unrestrained and rich in passion; it not only inherits the virtuoso techniques of bangzi opera performance but has also advanced further in such skills as lingzi gong (pheasant-feather technique) and maochi gong (hat-wing technique). Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Weishui He: The Wei River": Jinju has a rich traditional repertoire, with more than two hundred plays performed regularly, including The Wei River, Beating the Golden Branch, Mount Lintong, The Cosmos Sash, The Kingdom of Shatuo, Battle at Wancheng, White Water Shoal, Golden Water Bridge, The Flame Colts, The Brahma King's Palace and Twin Locks Mountain. "Da Jinzhi: Beating the Golden Branch": Jinju has a rich traditional repertoire, with more than two hundred plays performed regularly, including The Wei River, Beating the Golden Branch, Mount Lintong, The Cosmos Sash, The Kingdom of Shatuo, Battle at Wancheng, White Water Shoal, Golden Water Bridge, The Flame Colts, The Brahma King's Palace and Twin Locks Mountain. "Lintong Shan: Mount Lintong": Jinju has a rich traditional repertoire, with more than two hundred plays performed regularly, including The Wei River, Beating the Golden Branch, Mount Lintong, The Cosmos Sash, The Kingdom of Shatuo, Battle at Wancheng, White Water Shoal, Golden Water Bridge, The Flame Colts, The Brahma King's Palace and Twin Locks Mountain. "Qiankun Dai: The Cosmos Sash": Jinju has a rich traditional repertoire, with more than two hundred plays performed regularly, including The Wei River, Beating the Golden Branch, Mount Lintong, The Cosmos Sash, The Kingdom of Shatuo, Battle at Wancheng, White Water Shoal, Golden Water Bridge, The Flame Colts, The Brahma King's Palace and Twin Locks Mountain.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A national representative bearer of Jinju (Shanxi opera), a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project; a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice-chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, vice-chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Dramatists Association, honorary president of the Shanxi Provincial Jinju Theatre, and a first-class actor.

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. Wang Aiai · National Representative Bearer Archive