Gao Fenglian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From childhood she studied Peking Opera with her father Gao Yunfeng and her mother Gao Lianfang. At the age of eleven she changed to Sichuan Opera, first taking the renowned Sichuan Opera artist Li Yanqing as her teacher and later studying under the Sichuan Opera master Zhou Mulian. Within the regional tradition and school record of Chuanju (Sichuan Opera) in Chongqing: Chuanju is centred on Chongqing and Chengdu and is popular in parts of Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei; it is the most influential local operatic genre in the south-west region, and the troupes of the two cities each have their own favoured vocal styles and repertoire lines. Chuanju was gradually formed by the fusion of the Kunqu, Yiyang qiang, Qingyang qiang, Shaanxi bangzi, Hubei Handiao and Hui diao vocal styles, which entered Sichuan at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, with the haoyang diao (rice-transplanting tune), the Chuanjiang work songs and the local ditties of Sichuan.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in February 1929 in Chongqing. She is a National First-Class Actor. At thirteen she appeared on stage at the Huayin Grand Stage in Chengdu and soon took the leading roles in such productions as Xi Shi, Hong Niang (The Matchmaker) and Fei Xian Da Dao (The Great Road to Immortality). Through many years of stage practice she accumulated extensive experience in the vocal music and performance art of Sichuan Opera and gradually developed performing characteristics of her own. Her representative productions include Fen Xiang Ji (The Record of Burning Incense), Liu Yin Ji (The Record of the Willow Shade) and Shuang Bai Yue (Worshipping the Moon Together). Within the documented technical tradition of Chuanju (Sichuan Opera) in Chongqing: Chuanju is popular in Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and parts of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei Province; it is the most influential local operatic genre in south-west China. It has five principal vocal styles — gaoqiang, huqin, tanxi, Kunqu and dengdiao — and is a microcosm of the historical evolution of the vocal styles and genres of Chinese opera since the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, Kunqu, Yiyang qiang, Qingyang qiang, Shaanxi bangzi, Hubei Handiao, Hui diao and other vocal styles flowed into Sichuan, and during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns they were gradually fused with the local haoyang diao (rice-transplanting tune), the Chuanjiang work songs, the local ditties, religious music and other traditions, so that the process by which the imported vocal styles became “Sichuanised” was essentially completed. Around the 1911 Revolution, gaoqiang, Kunqu, huqin and tanxi together with the native Sichuan dengxi were fused into one another in performance on the same stage, forming the Chuanju of “the republic of the five vocal styles”, which has continued down to the present day. Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value. The plays collected and adapted after the founding of New China — Liuyin Ji (Record of the Willow Shade), The Brocade Tower, Xiuru Ji (The Embroidered Tunic Record), The White Snake, Lalang Pei (The Forced Match) and Dahongtai (The Red Terrace) — together with those adapted and created during the reform and opening-up period, such as Bashan Xiucai (The Scholar of Bashan), Face-Changing and Si Shui Wei Lan (Small Ripples on Dead Water), have all produced considerable social influence and reveal the deep traditional cultural foundation of Chuanju. Chuanju is divided into five role types — xiaosheng, dan, sheng, hualian and chou — each of which has its own self-contained system of performance skills and procedures. The performance of the wenwusheng, the xiaochou and the dan roles is the most distinctive of all. Chuanju has made many excellent inventions in the means of dramatic expression and in performance technique, and it fully embodies the aesthetic character of Chinese opera, in which the real and the imagined give birth to one another and the spirit is conveyed through the form. Chuanju performance is full of the flavour of everyday life, lively and vivacious, witty and humorous. In order to portray characters better, Chuanju artists have created many unique skills such as face-changing, the hidden knife, running through the fire hoop and opening the wisdom eye. The stage is boisterous and noisy, full of novelty and interest, which has become one of the great characteristics of Chuanju. Of the five vocal styles of Chuanju, the gaoqiang music, which belongs to the qupai system, is the most original; its structural form combining chorus, percussion and singing brought the union of drama and music to an unprecedented height, making it an outstanding representative of the development of gaoqiang music in Chinese opera. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record)": Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value. "Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar)": Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value. "Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber)": Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value. "Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage)": Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Chuanju (Sichuan Opera), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. While inheriting the art of the master Zhou Mulian, she has also trained numerous successors, so that the art of the Zhou school has those who carry it forward.

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. Gao Fenglian · National Representative Bearer Archive