Jiang Xiangao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Jiang Xiangao, Male, Han, from Wuyuan, Jiangxi, is a second-batch national representative bearer of Huiju Opera (Ⅳ-29). The tradition is documented in Wuyuan, Jiangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huiju Opera in Wuyuan, Jiangxi: Within Jiangxi Province, Hui opera circulates mainly around Wuyuan. Wuyuan formerly belonged to Huizhou; after the Hui troupes moved south along the old Huizhou-Raozhou road they stayed and performed there for a long time, and the Wuyuan County Hui Opera Troupe inherited from this one local line of Hui opera. Its performers for the most part sing in the Huizhou dialect, and its repertoire and tune patterns preserve a large number of old Hui troupe texts, forming a pattern of common origin but divergent branches with the troupes inside Anhui Province. Hui opera (Hui Ju) took shape at the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing. After the luandan vocal system was brought into Anhui, it combined with local vocal styles and folk music and produced the bozi style in Shipai, Zongyang, Tongcheng and other places under Anqing Prefecture; during the Qianlong reign the bozi gradually merged with the chuiqiang style, which had itself emerged from the Siping style, forming the erhuang style; the erhuang style in turn joined with the Xipi of Hubei as a pihuang ensemble, laying the foundation of Hui opera.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1943, a native of Wuyuan, Jiangxi. In 1956 Jiang Xiangao joined the Wuyuan Huiju Opera Troupe, and in 1958 he studied instrumental performance under Chen Panhua. He gradually became thoroughly familiar with Wuyuan Huiju music and its instrumental techniques and established himself as a principal musician of the troupe. Over several decades in the art Jiang Xiangao not only inherited and mastered a large and rich repertory of Huiju scores and qupai (named tune patterns) but also took up the composition of Huiju music. The play On the Stormy Road (Feng Yu Lu Shang), for which he served as composer, was entered in the Shangrao Prefecture theatrical festival and won first prize for composition. Within the documented technical tradition of Huiju Opera in Wuyuan, Jiangxi: Hui opera is an important local operatic vocal system, circulating mainly within Anhui Province and around Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province. At the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing, the luandan vocal system was brought into Anhui, where it combined with local vocal styles and folk music to form the bozi style in Shipai, Zongyang, Tongcheng and other places under Anqing Prefecture. During the Qianlong reign the bozi gradually merged with the chuiqiang style, which had developed out of the Siping style, forming the erhuang style. The erhuang style in turn joined with the Xipi of Hubei as a pihuang ensemble, laying the foundation of Hui opera. The music and vocal styles of Hui opera fall into such categories as huikun, chuiqiang, bozi, erhuang, Xipi and huachang xiaodiao (ornamental folk ditties). Huikun devotes itself above all to martial plays and makes liberal use of the suona, gongs and drums for a grand, sweeping manner; chuiqiang exists both in the qupai (tune-pattern) form and in the banqiang (metrical) form, and takes the flute and the small suona as its principal instruments; bozi marks the beat with jujube-wood clappers and is accompanied by the suona, the flute and the huihu; erhuang takes the huihu as its principal instrument and has such ban patterns as daoban, yuanban, huilong and liushui; Xipi likewise has such ban patterns as the literary and martial daoban, sanban, yaoban and erliu, again with the huihu as its principal instrument; huachang xiaodiao consists for the most part of popular folk tunes, rich in the flavour of everyday life. The role types (jiaodang) of Hui opera include mo (elder male), sheng (male), xiaosheng (young male), wai (elder male with painted face), dan (female), tie (young female), jing (painted face) and chou (clown). Its performance is fiery and ardent, its manner bold and heroic, its movements rough and vigorous, and it is especially accomplished in martial plays, with such techniques as flipping over the stage table, jumping through the ring, darting through fire, flying tridents, rolling a lamp and quick face changes. Hui opera has an abundant traditional repertoire. Its huikun plays are chiefly martial ones, including Seven Captures of Meng Huo, Eight Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, The Overturned Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its kunyi-style plays include Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Drunken Imperial Consort and Reed Catkins; its chuiqiang and bozi plays include A Thousand-Li Colt, The Twin Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its Xipi plays include Battle at Fan City and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Dragon and Tiger Fight, Reversing Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and A Mistake in the Flower Field; and its huachang xiaxi include Li Da Keeping the Night Watch and Visiting Kin and Quarreling. Hui opera has a history of more than three hundred years and once played an important role in the history of Chinese opera; it not only gave birth to Peking opera, but dozens of local operatic genres in northern and southern China stand in an inseparable blood relationship with it. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Qi Qin Meng Huo (Meng Huo Captured Seven Times)": Hui opera has an abundant traditional repertoire. Its huikun plays are chiefly martial ones, including Seven Captures of Meng Huo, Eight Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, The Overturned Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its kunyi-style plays include Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Drunken Imperial Consort and Reed Catkins; its chuiqiang and bozi plays include A Thousand-Li Colt, The Twin Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its Xipi plays include Battle at Fan City and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Dragon and Tiger Fight, Reversing Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and A Mistake in the Flower Field; and its huachang xiaxi include Li Da Keeping the Night Watch and Visiting Kin and Quarreling. "Ba Zhen Tu (Eight Formation Diagram)": Hui opera has an abundant traditional repertoire. Its huikun plays are chiefly martial ones, including Seven Captures of Meng Huo, Eight Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, The Overturned Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its kunyi-style plays include Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Drunken Imperial Consort and Reed Catkins; its chuiqiang and bozi plays include A Thousand-Li Colt, The Twin Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its Xipi plays include Battle at Fan City and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Dragon and Tiger Fight, Reversing Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and A Mistake in the Flower Field; and its huachang xiaxi include Li Da Keeping the Night Watch and Visiting Kin and Quarreling. "Ba Da Ling (Badaling)": Hui opera has an abundant traditional repertoire. Its huikun plays are chiefly martial ones, including Seven Captures of Meng Huo, Eight Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, The Overturned Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its kunyi-style plays include Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Drunken Imperial Consort and Reed Catkins; its chuiqiang and bozi plays include A Thousand-Li Colt, The Twin Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its Xipi plays include Battle at Fan City and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Dragon and Tiger Fight, Reversing Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and A Mistake in the Flower Field; and its huachang xiaxi include Li Da Keeping the Night Watch and Visiting Kin and Quarreling. "Ying Xiong Yi (Heroic Righteousness)": Hui opera has an abundant traditional repertoire. Its huikun plays are chiefly martial ones, including Seven Captures of Meng Huo, Eight Formation Diagram, Badaling, Heroic Righteousness, The Overturned Bronze Banner and White Deer Blood; its kunyi-style plays include Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Drunken Imperial Consort and Reed Catkins; its chuiqiang and bozi plays include A Thousand-Li Colt, The Twin Seals, Phoenix Mountain and The Muddy River; its Xipi plays include Battle at Fan City and Ceding Chengdu; its pihuang plays include Dragon and Tiger Fight, Reversing Zhaoguan, The Cosmic Dagger and A Mistake in the Flower Field; and its huachang xiaxi include Li Da Keeping the Night Watch and Visiting Kin and Quarreling.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Huiju Opera, a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project, and musician of the Wuyuan Huiju Opera Troupe of Jiangxi Province.

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. Jiang Xiangao · National Representative Bearer Archive