Zhan Xueyan
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Zhan Xueyan, Male, Han, from Anshun, Guizhou, is a second-batch national representative bearer of Anshun Di Opera (Ⅳ-90). The tradition is documented in Anshun, Guizhou. Within the regional tradition and school record of Anshun Di Opera in Anshun, Guizhou: Anshun dixi performs its thirty or so long books with the Xue, Yang, Yue and Di family generals, Three Kingdoms heroes and Wagang heroes as its protagonists, praising loyalty and righteousness and extolling loyal ministers and good generals who serve the country, all stirring war stories; the Anshun city cultural centre (Anshun City Culture and Art Training Centre) is responsible for the project's protection. The Ming army established twenty-four wei and twenty-six shouyu qianhu suo in Guizhou, of which Anshun had three wei and two shouyu qianhu suo; the histories call the garrison soldiers “tunpu people”, and with the tunpu people dixi appeared. Drawing on local materials, the Ming garrisons in Anshun gave rise to the tunpu people, and with them dixi.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Han ethnic group, born in 1952 in Xixiu, Guizhou. Within the documented technical tradition of Anshun Di Opera in Anshun, Guizhou: Dixi is a local opera popular in Anshun city, Guizhou; its emergence is bound up with the Anshun garrison troops who came from Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Henan in the early Ming. Anshun dixi is performed by village, the actors being genuine farmers. Generally one village has one dixi, with twenty or thirty actors, headed by a “spirit chief”. Performances are held each New Year festival and in the seventh lunar month when the rice flowers, and villagers also invite the “spirits” of the dixi team, such as Guan Yu and She Taijun, to conduct “opening the gate of wealth” and “delivering the crown prince” when building a house for wealth or praying for children. Anshun dixi is an ancient drama whose distinctive feature is that the performers wrap their heads in black cloth, wear battle skirts about the waist, place masks on the forehead, hold spears, halberds and swords, and sing at random and dance in response. Their singing is narrative verse of seven and ten characters, accompanied by one gong and one drum, one leading and the rest joining in, with an echo of the old Yiyang tune; their dance mainly represents the combat of battle, vigorous and rough, archaic and robust. The thirty or so long books performed by Anshun dixi take as their heroes the Xue, Yang, Yue and Di family generals, Three Kingdoms heroes and Wagang heroes much loved by the tunpu people, praising loyalty and righteousness and extolling loyal ministers and good generals who serve the country, all stirring stories of war. But under the impact of modern culture its performances have gradually shrunk, the actors are older and fewer each year, and many villages with dixi teams have fallen silent for years. Its performances are organised by village, generally one dixi to a village with twenty or thirty actors headed by a “spirit chief”; the Anshun city cultural centre (Anshun City Culture and Art Training Centre) is responsible for the project's protection, and in some villages the dixi team is still invited to conduct “opening the gate of wealth” and “delivering the crown prince” when building houses for wealth or praying for children. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Xue, Yang, Yue and Di Family Generals, Three Kingdoms Heroes and Wagang Heroes": The thirty or so long books performed by Anshun dixi take the above heroes, much loved by the tunpu people, as their protagonists, all stirring stories of war. "Si Ma Tou Tang (Four Horsemen Submit to Tang)": The principal play of the Anshun dixi inheritor Gu Zhiyan. "San Guo Zhi (The Three Kingdoms)": The principal play of the Anshun dixi inheritor Zhan Xueyan.
The Xue, Yang, Yue and Di Family Generals, Three Kingdoms Heroes and Wagang Heroes
The thirty or so long books performed by Anshun dixi take the above heroes, much loved by the tunpu people, as their protagonists, all stirring stories of war.
Si Ma Tou Tang (Four Horsemen Submit to Tang)
The principal play of the Anshun dixi inheritor Gu Zhiyan.
San Guo Zhi (The Three Kingdoms)
The principal play of the Anshun dixi inheritor Zhan Xueyan.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
A representative bearer of Anshun Di Opera, a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Zhan Xueyan began transmitting Di Opera in 1980. His performances centre on San Guo Zhi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) as his signature repertoire, and he brings out to the full both the primal beauty and the dramatic beauty of Di Opera. He is an important seventeenth-generation bearer of Anshun Di Opera and in 1989 won the special prize at the first Anshun County Di Opera Festival.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The Ming army established twenty-four wei and twenty-six shouyu qianhu suo in Guizhou, of which Anshun had three wei and two shouyu qianhu suo; the histories call the garrison soldiers “tunpu people”, and with the tunpu people dixi appeared. Drawing on local materials, the Ming garrisons in Anshun gave rise to the tunpu people, and with them dixi.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gu Zhiyan | Anshun, Guizhou | 02-0661 | Same declared area |
| Zhan Xueyan | Anshun, Guizhou | 02-0662 | This page |
| Chen Xiansong | Anshun, Guizhou | 05-2405 | Same declared area |
| Ye Shouxing | Anshun, Guizhou | — | Same declared area |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。