Jin Lisheng
Lineage & School of Heritage
Jin Lisheng is the bearer who preserves the Li Zhongkang tune most completely, and the only transmitter able to inherit in full the Li school's Yang Naiwu repertoire and technique.
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Male, of the Hui ethnic group, born in 1944 in Xiantao, Hubei. In 1962 Jin Lisheng became a disciple of Li Zhongkang, a renowned tanci master and the second son of Li Wenbin, founder of the Runyu Society, one of the three great trade organisations of the tanci world. The celebrated classic long tanci Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai (Yang Naiwu yu Xiao Baicai), in one hundred chapters, was created by Li Wenbin in the early twentieth century. Li Zhongkang is acknowledged by the pingtan world as the man best able to inherit his father's repertoire and technique in full. Under the impact of the market economy, pingtan once fell into decline: storytelling houses dwindled and students turned to other trades. Jin Lisheng has passed on his art by serving as a guest professor at the Suzhou Pingtan School, giving courses, holding solo performance showcases and publishing solo recordings. His narration is crisp and clean and his enunciation forceful, his voice high and bright; in traditional works he can draw on operatic performance methods, while in modern works he borrows from the theatre of spoken drama. His representative works include the long tanci Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai and Moon over the Qin Palace (Qin Gong Yue).
Honors & Recognition
National representative bearer of Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Tanci), a second-batch national intangible cultural heritage project; deputy head of the Suzhou Pingtan Troupe; a first-class actor; and a recipient of the special government allowance of the State Council. Jin Lisheng now has only three disciples, and the task of transmission is pressing.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
- Suzhou Pingtan Ⅴ-1
- Suzhou Pingtan Ⅴ-1
- Suzhou Pingtan Ⅴ-1
- Suzhou Pingtan Ⅴ-1
Profile
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, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。