Qingyangqiang
01 · Historical Records
Qingyangqiang took shape in Qingyang County of Chizhou City, Anhui Province. Because Qingyang belonged to Chizhou Prefecture, it is also known as Chizhou Diao or as Huichi Yadia.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
This newly risen vocal style broke through the musical structure of the linked qupai suite, developed the technique of 'rolling tune' (gundiao), and created a singing form in which aria and gundiao are combined, pushing the evolution of Chinese opera vocal styles to a new height. In Qingyangqiang performance the accompaniment generally consists only of the large drum, the large nao cymbals and the large gong, with no wind or string instruments. Solo singing is combined with chorus backing, one voice leading and many joining in; at the same time the gundiao method is applied while singing, inserting 'rolling speech' (gunbai) and 'rolling singing' (gunchang) into the arias, which gives the style its particular strength in narration. Its arias are flexible and varied and its language is plain and readily understood, greatly increasing the plasticity and expressiveness of Chinese opera vocal styles. Qingyangqiang inherits the role system of ancient southern drama (nanxi), with seven role types - sheng, dan, jing, mo, chou, wai and tie - and later added two further role types, xiao and fu. Its performance stresses 'singing literary drama in a martial manner'; it is strongly entertaining and amusing, lively and noisy, and it often interleaves such feats as leaping through the sword gate (chuandaomen), swinging on the hanging pole (pandiaogan), turning somersaults off the high platform (fangaotai) and jumping through the fire ring (tiaohuoquan). Qingyangqiang also uses a variety of paper masks, which give its stage design a highly distinctive character. Qingyangqiang spread from southern Anhui to Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, Henan, Shanxi, Shandong and elsewhere, becoming 'the fashion of the realm'; it influenced, directly or indirectly, the formation and development of such genres as Hui opera, Gan opera, Sichuan opera and Huangmei opera, and it occupies a distinguished place in the history of Chinese opera.
Cilin Yizhi (A Branch of the Forest of Poetry)
The repertoire of Qingyangqiang reaches from the southern drama of the Yuan and Ming dynasties down to the literary legends of later ages, and the number of plays is large. A body of printed editions of Qingyangqiang plays once appeared in history, including Cilin Yizhi, Zhaijin Qiyin, Yugu Xinhuang and Huichi Yadia; today 94 Qingyangqiang plays large and small can be collected.
Zhaijin Qiyin (Gathering of Splendid Sounds)
The repertoire of Qingyangqiang reaches from the southern drama of the Yuan and Ming dynasties down to the literary legends of later ages, and the number of plays is large. A body of printed editions of Qingyangqiang plays once appeared in history, including Cilin Yizhi, Zhaijin Qiyin, Yugu Xinhuang and Huichi Yadia; today 94 Qingyangqiang plays large and small can be collected.
Yugu Xinhuang (New Reeds of the Jade Valley)
The repertoire of Qingyangqiang reaches from the southern drama of the Yuan and Ming dynasties down to the literary legends of later ages, and the number of plays is large. A body of printed editions of Qingyangqiang plays once appeared in history, including Cilin Yizhi, Zhaijin Qiyin, Yugu Xinhuang and Huichi Yadia; today 94 Qingyangqiang plays large and small can be collected.
Huichi Yadia (Elegant Tunes of Hui and Chi)
The repertoire of Qingyangqiang reaches from the southern drama of the Yuan and Ming dynasties down to the literary legends of later ages, and the number of plays is large. A body of printed editions of Qingyangqiang plays once appeared in history, including Cilin Yizhi, Zhaijin Qiyin, Yugu Xinhuang and Huichi Yadia; today 94 Qingyangqiang plays large and small can be collected.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
During the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, Yiyangqiang flowed into the Qingyang area, where it combined with the local dialect and with folk songs and ditties to form Qingyangqiang.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qingyangqiang.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present it survives mainly in Qingyang County, Anhui Province, and in a few other places such as Hukou County, Jiangxi Province. The repertoire of Qingyangqiang reaches from the southern drama of the Yuan and Ming dynasties down to the literary legends of later ages, and the number of plays is large. A body of printed editions of Qingyangqiang plays once appeared in history, including Cilin Yizhi, Zhaijin Qiyin, Yugu Xinhuang and Huichi Yadia; today 94 Qingyangqiang plays large and small can be collected. Yet because of war, epidemics, the impact of outside culture and other causes, Qingyangqiang has declined day by day, has basically disappeared from the stage and is on the verge of extinction, so it urgently needs rescue, protection and transmission. Yin Wuhuan (official file record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han nationality, born in 1932, native of Hukou, Jiangxi. Throughout his life he followed his master's performance tradition and transmitted in full the singing and acting norms that preserve the artistic features of ancient Qingyangqiang, becoming an important inheritor who keeps Qingyangqiang's unique skills alive among the folk of northern Jiangxi. Representative works include Zhengdong (Conquering the East) and Baitu Ji (The White Rabbit). Representative inheritor of Qingyangqiang of the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Zhengke 02-0428
- Yin Wuhuan 02-0429
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。