Zhao Dengshan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

A first-class performer and an expert receiving the special allowance of the State Council, he studied the guzheng under predecessors including Fan Xiyu, Zhang Yingyi, Li Dabang, Wang Banggui, and Zhao Yuzhai. Within the regional tradition and school record of Guzheng Art in Heze, Shandong: The zheng is an ancient plucked-string instrument widely circulated among the people; in the course of its spread in different localities it combined with local folk songs, narrative singing, opera and other folk music, producing a variety of regional schools with different timbral features and performance techniques. In modern times several representative schools of zheng performance emerged, of which the Henan, Shandong, Chaozhou, Hakka and Zhejiang schools are the more famous. The performance art of Shandong zheng music is one of the more influential zheng schools in China; it is mainly transmitted in Mudan District, Yuncheng County and Juancheng County of Heze City in Shandong Province and the surrounding areas, as well as in Linqing City of Liaocheng and its surrounding areas. Shandong zheng music has a long history; according to tradition, zheng pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and The Lament of Duke Yin were already played by local folk musicians in the Western Han period. By form and style it falls into two categories. The first is classical pieces, commonly called 'daban zheng pieces', which use the eight-section (baban) form; their tones are elegant, their structures rigorous, their rhythms marked, and most have a distinct theme and profound ideological content, with representative pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and High Mountains, Flowing Water. The second is xiaoban zheng pieces, adapted in modern times from local narrative singing and folk tunes; they are concise in structure, varied in rhythm and have beautiful, gentle melodies, and are mainly current in the Heze area, with representative pieces such as Song of the Phoenix and All Under Heaven Are One. By the Ming dynasty the zheng was widely popular in southwestern Shandong, and its performance techniques also developed considerably.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

In his performing technique he both carries on the tradition of the Shandong school and boldly breaks through and innovates, his style being archaic and elegant yet passionate and unrestrained. In an artistic career of more than sixty years he not only inherited the folk artists' tradition of being able both to play and to perform, but also composed and arranged many works steeped in local flavour, such as the solos Spring Comes to the Fields, Celebrating the Festival, Liuyang River, Echoes in the Valley, Feng Qiu Huang (The Phoenix Seeks Its Mate), and Guangling Xing, and the guzheng ensemble piece Luoyang Spring; his works have been published and released at home and abroad. Within the documented technical tradition of Guzheng Art in Heze, Shandong: After the entry of the Qing dynasty, zheng music had already become part of the everyday life of the people of places such as Heze; for a time the saying circulated among the people that 'every wealthy household inside the city walls owns a se, and every village outside the city walls owns a zheng.' In the course of its long transmission, Shandong zheng music gradually formed artistic characteristics of gorgeous and gentle beauty combined with vigour and brightness. In Heze there circulate ten suites of classical zheng pieces and more than two hundred xiaoban pieces. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Autumn Moon over the Han Palace": By form and style the Shandong zheng repertoire falls into two categories. The first is classical pieces, commonly called 'daban zheng pieces', which use the eight-section (baban) form; their tones are elegant, their structures rigorous, their rhythms marked, and most have a distinct theme and profound ideological content, with representative pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and High Mountains, Flowing Water. The second is xiaoban zheng pieces, adapted in modern times from local narrative singing and folk tunes; they are concise in structure, varied in rhythm and have beautiful, gentle melodies, and are mainly current in the Heze area, with representative pieces such as Song of the Phoenix and All Under Heaven Are One. "High Mountains, Flowing Water": By form and style the Shandong zheng repertoire falls into two categories. The first is classical pieces, commonly called 'daban zheng pieces', which use the eight-section (baban) form; their tones are elegant, their structures rigorous, their rhythms marked, and most have a distinct theme and profound ideological content, with representative pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and High Mountains, Flowing Water. The second is xiaoban zheng pieces, adapted in modern times from local narrative singing and folk tunes; they are concise in structure, varied in rhythm and have beautiful, gentle melodies, and are mainly current in the Heze area, with representative pieces such as Song of the Phoenix and All Under Heaven Are One. "Song of the Phoenix": By form and style the Shandong zheng repertoire falls into two categories. The first is classical pieces, commonly called 'daban zheng pieces', which use the eight-section (baban) form; their tones are elegant, their structures rigorous, their rhythms marked, and most have a distinct theme and profound ideological content, with representative pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and High Mountains, Flowing Water. The second is xiaoban zheng pieces, adapted in modern times from local narrative singing and folk tunes; they are concise in structure, varied in rhythm and have beautiful, gentle melodies, and are mainly current in the Heze area, with representative pieces such as Song of the Phoenix and All Under Heaven Are One. "All Under Heaven Are One": By form and style the Shandong zheng repertoire falls into two categories. The first is classical pieces, commonly called 'daban zheng pieces', which use the eight-section (baban) form; their tones are elegant, their structures rigorous, their rhythms marked, and most have a distinct theme and profound ideological content, with representative pieces such as Autumn Moon over the Han Palace and High Mountains, Flowing Water. The second is xiaoban zheng pieces, adapted in modern times from local narrative singing and folk tunes; they are concise in structure, varied in rhythm and have beautiful, gentle melodies, and are mainly current in the Heze area, with representative pieces such as Song of the Phoenix and All Under Heaven Are One.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1933, died in February 2021, a native of Yuncheng County, Shandong Province. National representative bearer of Guzheng Art (Shandong Guzheng Music), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He devoted himself to teaching, and the students he trained have repeatedly won prizes in international and domestic competitions.

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. Zhao Dengshan · National Representative Bearer Archive