Kun Qu Opera

01 · Historical Records

The 'Kunshan tune' (Kunshanqiang) took shape in the Kunshan area in the early Ming dynasty. During the Jiajing reign it was reformed by Wei Liangfu and others, drawing on northern tunes as well as on the strengths of the Haiyan and Yiyang styles, and it developed a gentle, delicate, flowing and drawn-out style known as the 'water-mill tune' (shuimo diao); kunqu had by then essentially taken shape. The hundred years or more from the early Tianqi reign of the Ming dynasty to the end of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty were the period in which kunqu flourished and prospered. After the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, kunqu gradually declined. Kunqu is a highly literati art form; many dramatists of the Ming and Qing dynasties who wrote kunqu repertoire achieved very high literary results. After the middle of the Qing dynasty kunqu was performed mainly in the form of excerpt plays (zhezixi); more than four hundred kunqu excerpt plays have survived to the present day. Because of the distinctive cultural value of kunqu, it was inscribed in 2001 in the first batch of UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. By the end of the Qing dynasty kunqu had already fallen into decline.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Liang Chenyu placed the chuanqi play The Story of Xi Shi (Wansha Ji) on the stage in kunqu form, so that kunqu, previously used mainly for unaccompanied singing, formally entered the sphere of dramatic performance and its influence was further enlarged. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China the art of kunqu has seen a turn for the better, and the state has successively established seven professional kunqu troupes with independent institutional status. The Lute (Pipa Ji), The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting), The Palace of Eternal Life (Changsheng Dian), The Song of the Singing Phoenix (Mingfeng Ji), The Jade Hairpin (Yuzan Ji), The Red Pear (Hongli Ji), The Water Margin (Shuihu Ji), Lanke Mountain (Lanke Shan) and Fifteen Strings of Cash (Shiwu Guan) are all representative repertoire works of kunqu, of which the first three survive in complete or nearly complete gongche notation scores. Newly written kunqu repertoire works include The Story of the Southern Tang (Nantang Yishi), The Puppet Tale (Ouren Ji), Sima Xiangru and Ban Zhao. Through long practice on the stage kunqu reached a very high achievement in the art of performance, with singing, dancing, gesture-work (jie) and spoken delivery (bai) highly integrated. Alongside the comprehensive development of performance art, the division of labour among kunqu role types has grown ever finer; the principal role types include laosheng, xiaosheng, dan, tie, laodan, wai, mo, jing, fu and chou. Each role type has formed its own performance conventions and techniques, which exerted an important influence on the formation and development of Beijing opera and other local operatic genres. The melodies of kunqu music are beautiful and elegant, and its singing techniques are standardized and thoroughly polished. The wide application of the added-board (zengban) form, the way syllables are articulated with head, belly and tail sounds, and the flowing and far-reaching artistic style give kunqu music the artistic effect described as 'graceful and charming, one phrase sighed over three times'. With its long history and its wide and far-reaching influence, kunqu is the crystallization of traditional culture and a model of operatic performance. The artistic form of kunqu is refined and its content is deep. After the founding of the People's Republic of China it was revitalized for a period. For kunqu to survive and develop, many pressing problems urgently await solution.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Kunqu, also called Kunqiang, Kunshanqiang or Kunju, is a new vocal operatic genre that came into being in the late Yuan and early Ming, when southern drama (nanxi) reached the Kunshan area and combined with the local music, song-and-dance and speech. During the Wanli reign kunqu gradually spread from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang region to all parts of the country.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Kun Qu Opera · Kun Qu Opera · Kun Qu Opera · Kun Qu Opera · Kun Qu Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present kunqu is performed mainly by professional kunqu troupes, and performance activity is concentrated in such places as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing and Hunan. In recent years, as traditional operatic performance has declined in the cities, kunqu faces a survival dilemma, and the ranks of both performers and audiences keep shrinking. Cai Zhengren (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnic group, born in 1941, native of Suzhou, Jiangsu. Cai Zhengren entered the kunqu class of the Shanghai Opera School in 1954 and was taught personally by venerable kunqu artists of the 'Chuan' generation and by Yu Zhenfei, the master of kunqu. He specialised in the young-male (xiaosheng) role, and was skilled in portraying different characters of the guan, jin and qiong types of young male, earning him the reputation of the 'Little Yu Zhenfei'. His voice is broad, rich and bright, and his singing is deeply sincere. His representative works include Striking the Bell and Dividing the Palace, Shock and Transformation with the Buried Jade, The Horse Dealer's Tale and Ban Zhao. He is a representative inheritor of kunqu in the second batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage programme, a Class I performer, and a winner of the fourth China Theatre Plum Blossom Award. Ji Zhenhua (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnic group, born in 1943, native of Wujiang, Jiangsu. His voice is full and resonant with lasting flavour, and his performance draws on life and on the character, creating each stage role in a highly individual way; he enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad. His representative works include Lanke Mountain, Fifteen Strings of Cash and The Butterfly Dream. He is a representative inheritor of kunqu in the second batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage programme, a Class I performer, and a winner of the fourth China Theatre Plum Blossom Award.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Zhang Jiqing 02-0403
• Wang Fang 02-0404
• Lin Tianwen 02-0405
• Wang Shiyu 02-0406
• Lin Weilin 02-0407
• Cai Zhengren 02-0408
• Ji Zhenhua 02-0409
• Ni Chuanyue 02-0410
• Liang Guyin 02-0411
• Zhang Xunpeng 02-0412
• Liu Yilong 02-0413
• Yue Meiti 02-0414
• Zhang Jingxian 02-0415
• Hou Shaokui 02-0416
• Yang Fengyi 02-0417
• Fu Yiping 02-0418
• Zhang Fuguang 02-0419
• Zhang Jidie 03-0955
• Huang Xiaowu 03-0956
• Shi Xiaomei 03-0957
• Hu Jinfang 03-0958
• Lin Jifan 03-0959
• Liu Jiyan 03-0960
• Lin Meimei 03-0961
• Xin Qinghua 03-0962
• Wang Zhiquan 03-0963
• Han Jiancheng 03-0964
• Congzhaohuan 03-0965
• Lei Ziwen 03-0966
• Shen Shihua 04-1589
• Wang Dayuan 04-1590
• Zhang Mingrong 04-1591
• Gu Zhaolin 04-1592
• Zhou Xuehua 04-1593
• Zhang Yuwen 05-2303
• Gu Haohao 05-2304
• Fang Yang 05-2305
• Wang Shiyao 05-2306
• Zhou Zhigang
• Kong Aiping
• Wang Fengmei
• Ma Yusen
• Qiao Yanhe

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Kun Qu Opera (Shanghai) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Cai Zhengren · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Ji Zhenhua · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗