Yang Cuie

01 · Lineage & Regional School

She studied under the veteran nanyin musicians Chen Yonghui and Zhuang Yongqi and under the nanyin master Zhuang Bulian. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nanyin in Quanzhou, Fujian: Nanyin is sung in the archaic speech of standard Quanzhou dialect, and its pronunciation preserves the phonological character of ancient Central Plains Chinese. Migrants from the Central Plains carried their musical culture into the Minnan region centred on Quanzhou during the Former Han, Later Han, Jin, Tang and Northern and Southern Song dynasties, and fused it with local folk music, giving rise to Nanyin, a cultural performing form that preserves the legacy of ancient Central Plains music. In Quanzhou Nanyin performance the pipa and sanxian are placed on the right and the dongxiao flute and the erxian on the left, while the person holding the clappers sits in the middle and sings; this performing format descends in a single line from the Han-dynasty xianghe song format described as “silk and bamboo answering each other, the one holding the beat-plate sings”. The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

She is a woman of the Han ethnic group, born in January 1972 in Hui'an County, Fujian Province. In her singing she attends closely to articulation and enunciation, keeping every word distinct. Her technique is refined; she makes skilled use of breath support from the lower abdomen, so that her singing flows naturally and with subtle turns. Her vocal style is smooth and rounded, her timbre soft and lovely, and her handling of feeling delicate, giving her a distinctive charm. Within the documented technical tradition of Nanyin in Quanzhou, Fujian: Nanyin, also called xiangguan or Quanzhou Nanyin, is one of the oldest surviving musical genres in China. Its gongche notation forms a self-contained system and is a survival of the notational forms of ancient Chinese music. The bent-neck pipa held horizontally, the ten-hole nine-section dongxiao flute, the erxian, the sanxian and the clappers struck to keep the beat all follow the surviving designs of ancient instruments. The Nanyin repertory numbers more than 2,000 instrumental and vocal pieces, and embodies material from the qingshang music of the Jin, the great suites and faqu of the Tang, yanyue and Buddhist music, and the ci and qu music and operatic music of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties onward. Singing insists on clear articulation of the words and on carrying the rhymes home to a proper close. Nanyin melodies are beautiful, the tempo slow, the manner archaic, deep and refined, the feeling restrained and heartfelt. Quanzhou Nanyin forms a complete musical system made up of three main parts, dapu (great scores), sanqu (free pieces) and zhitao (finger suites), popularly called zhi, pu and qu. The zhi, that is the zhitao, also called a taoqu (suite), is a relatively complete suite that has lyrics, a score and fingering indications (that is, pipa fingering). Each suite consists of two to seven free pieces grouped by the musical categories guanmen and gunmen, making up 50 major suites in all; the principal ones are Zilai, Yizhixiang, Chenshanghuadeng, Xingangbosui and Weijunchu. The pu is a titled instrumental suite to which pipa fingering is attached; that is, a titled instrumental suite with no sung text, played chiefly on the pipa, the dongxiao flute, the erxian and the sanxian. Each suite comprises three to more than ten tune patterns, 16 major suites in all. Their subject matter is mostly the scenery of the four seasons, flowers, birds and insects, or galloping steeds; the best known are the four suites Si (Sishijing, Four Seasons of Scenery), Mei (Meihuacao, Plum Blossom Exercise), Zou (Bajunma, Eight Steeds) and Gui (Bainiaoguichao, A Hundred Birds Returning to the Nest). The qu, that is the free piece, also called cao qu (rough piece), is sung only and never spoken. It has both score and lyrics, and is normally accompanied by four main instruments: the pipa, the dongxiao flute, the erxian and the sanxian. Its content falls roughly into three classes: expression of feeling, description of scenery and narration. Quanzhou Nanyin has a deep popular base. As a cultural form that cultivates the mind and provides self-amusement, it is closely bound to the life of the Minnan people, and almost every place where Minnan people live has a folk Nanyin society. Besides Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Xiamen in the Minnan area and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Quanzhou Nanyin has spread to the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and other countries, becoming a spiritual tie that maintains the sense of homeland among overseas Chinese and Taiwan compatriots, and it has also played a positive part in strengthening national identity. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Shanxianjun": The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated. "Chuhanguan": The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated. "Gongjundunyue": The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated. "Yinsonggesao": The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Nanyin, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Her piece Si Xiang Qing Ren (Longing for a Lover) won first prize at the invitational competition of the Fifth China Quanzhou International Nanyin Grand Gathering in 1994. She has taught nanyin skills and served as music adviser to several dozen nanyin groups in Quanzhou, bringing up a group of successors to the tradition.

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. Yang Cuie · National Representative Bearer Archive