Yuan Xuefen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Yuan Xuefen's vocal melodies were plain and sincere, with varied rhythm, deep and genuine feeling, a mellow and lingering charm, and a full union of voice and emotion; the Yuan School she founded was one of the earliest schools to take shape within Yueju. Within the regional tradition and school record of Yueju (Shaoxing Opera) in Shanghai: Yue opera's role types fall into six great categories: xiao dan (young female), xiao sheng (young male), lao sheng (old male), xiao chou (young clown), lao dan (old female) and da mian (painted-face). Xiao dan divides into six kinds — bei dan (tragic female), hua dan (florid female), gui men dan (boudoir female), hua shan (flower-pattern female), zheng dan (main female) and wu dan (martial female); xiao sheng into four — shu sheng (scholar), qiong sheng (poor scholar), guan sheng (official) and wu sheng (martial); lao sheng into two — zheng sheng and lao wai; xiao chou into four — chang shan chou (long-gown clown), guan chou (official clown), duan shan chou (short-jacket clown) and nv chou (female clown). Yue opera is popular in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu and many other provinces, cities and regions. It originated in the Sheng County area of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and in the late Qing dynasty it first took shape on the basis of the quyi form of luodi changshu (story-singing performed on the ground), absorbing the repertoire, tunes and performance art of such genres and opera forms as Yuyao tanhuang and Shao opera; at that time it was called xiao ge ban (small song troupe) or di du ban. When it entered Shanghai in 1916 it was known as Shaoxing wenxi (Shaoxing literary play), and after 1930 it further developed into nüzi Shaoxing wenxi (women's Shaoxing wenxi), performed entirely by actresses. In 1938 it was renamed Yue opera. From the early 1930s onward Yue opera already began to use three-dimensional stage settings with the character of Chinese painting, coloured lighting, recorded sound and oil-based make-up; costume styles were designed in relation to the plot, drawing on ancient paintings of beauties and gentlewomen while inheriting tradition, with fresh and natural cuts and soft, restrained colours and materials — a notable development of traditional Chinese opera costume. After the beginning of the 21st century, as people's spiritual needs diversified and cultural and artistic forms multiplied, the survival and development of Yue opera came under threat.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Yuan Xuefen entered the Sijichun training class in Shengxian County in 1933 to study opera. In 1942, at the Dalai Theatre in Shanghai, she was the first to advocate the reform of Yueju, taking the lead in the Yueju world in establishing a formal system of playwright-directors and a new form of stage presentation; she also combined the realistic acting of spoken drama and film with the strengths of Kunqu, which unites song and dance and values the beauty of physical movement, to form a comprehensive performing art that joined realism with suggestion and integrated playwrighting, direction, music, design and acting. Her representative works include Xiang Fei (Consort Xiang), Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Xixiang Ji (Romance of the Western Chamber) and Xianglin Sao (Xianglin's Wife). Within the documented technical tradition of Yueju (Shaoxing Opera) in Shanghai: Later, in the course of development, it matured further and formed a beautiful, lyrical artistic style. Yue opera is a late-emerging genre; it is skilled at drawing on the strengths of many others and putting them to its own use. The vocal system of Yue opera belongs to the banqiang (set-metre) type; its early tunes were monotonous, but it later absorbed music from other opera genres and quyi forms and gradually grew richer. Yue opera's melodies are clear, leisurely and turning, beautiful to the ear and skilled in lyrical expression. There are three main vocal systems: chi diao (chi mode), si gong diao (four-gong mode) and xian xia diao (string-low mode); chi diao is in turn divided into manban (slow metre), zhongban (moderate metre), lianban (linked metre), sanban (free metre), xiao ban, er fan and liushui ban (flowing-water metre), among others. Early Yue opera performances were relatively simple; later it took over movement routines from other opera genres and also distilled from daily life a set of basic movements. In 1942, under the advocacy of Yuan Xuefen and others, Yue opera on the one hand absorbed the performance methods of spoken drama and film, portraying characters' personalities and mental activity truthfully and in detail, and on the other hand studied the graceful dancing carriage and performance routines of Kunqu and Peking opera, making external movement more finely articulated and more rhythmic. The organic combination of these two aspects produced the distinctive artistic style of Yue opera performance, which unites the freehand and the realistic. Yue opera has many excellent plays that are widely known; among the more representative are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Xiang Lin Sao, Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber), Zhui Yu (Chasing the Fish), Qing Tan (Probing the Heart), Pan Fu Sou Fu (Searching for the Husband), Liu Yi Chuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Bi Yu Zan (The Green Jade Hairpin), San Kan Yu Mei (Three Looks at the Imperial Sister), Da Jin Zhi (Beating the Golden Branch), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Hall in Spring), Pi Pa Ji (The Pipa Record) and Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast). Stage art is likewise a highly characteristic organic component of Yue opera. Within a mere century Yue opera matured into a rare flower in the hundred-blossom garden of Chinese opera. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yue opera spread rapidly to East China, Southwest China, North China, Northwest China, Central-South China and Northeast China, and, as foreign cultural exchange developed, won a measure of international acclaim for its typically Eastern artistic character. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers)": Yue opera has many excellent plays that are widely known; among the more representative are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Xiang Lin Sao, Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber), Zhui Yu (Chasing the Fish), Qing Tan (Probing the Heart), Pan Fu Sou Fu (Searching for the Husband), Liu Yi Chuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Bi Yu Zan (The Green Jade Hairpin), San Kan Yu Mei (Three Looks at the Imperial Sister), Da Jin Zhi (Beating the Golden Branch), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Hall in Spring), Pi Pa Ji (The Pipa Record) and Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast). "Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber)": Yue opera has many excellent plays that are widely known; among the more representative are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Xiang Lin Sao, Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber), Zhui Yu (Chasing the Fish), Qing Tan (Probing the Heart), Pan Fu Sou Fu (Searching for the Husband), Liu Yi Chuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Bi Yu Zan (The Green Jade Hairpin), San Kan Yu Mei (Three Looks at the Imperial Sister), Da Jin Zhi (Beating the Golden Branch), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Hall in Spring), Pi Pa Ji (The Pipa Record) and Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast). "Xiang Lin Sao": Yue opera has many excellent plays that are widely known; among the more representative are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Xiang Lin Sao, Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber), Zhui Yu (Chasing the Fish), Qing Tan (Probing the Heart), Pan Fu Sou Fu (Searching for the Husband), Liu Yi Chuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Bi Yu Zan (The Green Jade Hairpin), San Kan Yu Mei (Three Looks at the Imperial Sister), Da Jin Zhi (Beating the Golden Branch), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Hall in Spring), Pi Pa Ji (The Pipa Record) and Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast). "Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber)": Yue opera has many excellent plays that are widely known; among the more representative are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (The Butterfly Lovers), Hong Lou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Xiang Lin Sao, Xi Xiang Ji (The Romance of the Western Chamber), Zhui Yu (Chasing the Fish), Qing Tan (Probing the Heart), Pan Fu Sou Fu (Searching for the Husband), Liu Yi Chuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Bi Yu Zan (The Green Jade Hairpin), San Kan Yu Mei (Three Looks at the Imperial Sister), Da Jin Zhi (Beating the Golden Branch), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Hall in Spring), Pi Pa Ji (The Pipa Record) and Kong Que Dong Nan Fei (The Peacock Flies Southeast).

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Female, Han ethnicity, born in 1922 and deceased in 2011, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. A national representative bearer of Yueju, a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project; honorary president of the Shanghai Yueju 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. Yuan Xuefen · National Representative Bearer Archive