Gaoqiang Opera

01 · Historical Records

Gaoqiang is the collective name for a group of operatic genres distinguished by several vocal styles, derived in the course of evolution from the Yiyang qiang of the Ming dynasty and the later Qingyang qiang. Xi'an gaoqiang took shape in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, and is named after the ancient name of Quzhou, which was Xi'an. It is a local drama formed under the influence of Yiyang qiang, taking shape no later than the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty; centred on Quzhou, it circulated in Wenzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang Province as well as in southeastern Jiangxi and northwestern Fujian. Xi'an gaoqiang originates among the people and flourishes among the people; it has a body of traditional plays such as Huaiyin Shu, Hezhu Ji and Luhua Xu.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Over several centuries of evolution the branches of Yiyang qiang underwent great change, combining in varying degrees with local folk music, and so the gaoqiang of each locality came to have its own musical character. It was originally accompanied by gongs and drums alone; after the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty it began to perform jointly with Kunqiang and luantan troupes. Influenced by the Kunshan tune and the luantan tune, while keeping its original musical features, it added wind and string instruments such as the kun flute, banhu and jinghu, and also acquired simple interlinking passages. In the surviving Xi'an gaoqiang the singing shouts and bellows, the performance leaps and bounds, the stagecraft blazes in reds and greens, and the instrumentation thunders with big drums and large horns; it is strongly imbued with local flavour. In its repertoire, costume, vocal method, role-type system and performance procedure it basically preserves, in its original undiluted form, the character of ancient Nanju, which is of major significance and value for the study of Nanju. Since modern times, continual warfare has scattered Xi'an gaoqiang among the people. Yet as modernisation has accelerated, Xi'an gaoqiang has lost audiences severely, is short of talent and has fallen into a situation in which the old and the new fail to meet; it faces a fresh survival crisis, and this situation urgently calls for the attention of the relevant departments and a serious response.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Centred on Quzhou in Zhejiang Province, Xi'an gaoqiang spread along both banks of the Qujiang River and around Changshan and Kaihua, reaching as far as Wenzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang Province and southeastern Jiangxi and northwestern Fujian. After the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty it performed jointly with Kunqiang and luantan troupes, and in the Jinhua area it was listed, alongside Kunqiang, luantan, Hui opera, tanhuang and shidiao, among the several vocal styles of Wuju. Gaoqiang troupes mostly used the stages of village ancestral halls as their performance places, and were closely bound to the Lantern Festival lantern-play and temple-fair performance seasons of Quzhou and Jinhua.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Gaoqiang Opera · Gaoqiang Opera · Gaoqiang Opera · Gaoqiang Opera · Gaoqiang Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

After Liberation, the local government carried out rescue work on Xi'an gaoqiang, preserving a large amount of related material and staging some of its plays. Yan Bangzhen (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): over a performing career of more than seventy years he trained more than five hundred disciples in all and founded four local opera troupes, making important and remarkable achievements in the uncovering, collecting, inheritance and promotion of Xi'an gaoqiang. Representative works include Tuijie Fu, Duihua Baxian and others. Also known as Yan Bangzhen (the official file renders his given name in two slightly different written forms), male, Han, born in 1918, died in 2011, a native of Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Xi'an gaoqiang), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Wang Jiahui (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1955, a native of Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. Wang Jiahui joined the Wuju opera troupe as an orchestral player in 1970; after graduating in 1983 from the composition department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he has served as composer of the Quzhou Wuju opera troupe ever since. Over the years Wang Jiahui has continually collected and studied score materials of Xi'an gaoqiang, and has now collected and collated fifteen Xi'an gaoqiang plays and close to one hundred Xi'an gaoqiang qupai melodies, making important contributions to the development and inheritance of gaoqiang within Wuju. Representative works include Tian'e Hun and others. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Xi'an gaoqiang), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage; national first-class composer.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Yan Bangzhen 02-0430
• Wang Jiahui 02-0431
• Wu Chenji 02-0432
• Chen Chunlin 02-0433
• Jiang Xiaosong 02-0434
• Wang Qifu 02-0435
• Chen Gang 02-0436
• Xiang Rong 02-0437
• Gong Jinyun 02-0438
• Li Shaoxian 02-0439
• Wu Chenjun 03-0971
• Deng Qizhi 05-2310
• Wu Qinguo

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Gaoqiang Opera (Quzhou, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Yan Bangzhen · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Wang Jiahui · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗