Gaoqiang Opera

01 · Historical Records

Gaoqiang is the collective name for a group of operatic genres distinguished by several vocal styles, formed in the course of evolution from the Yiyang qiang of the Ming dynasty and the later Qingyang qiang. Chenhe gaoqiang traces its origin to the Yiyang qiang, one of the four great vocal styles of Chinese opera, and developed during the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing dynasty. The veteran performer Du Fenglin formed the Dahong (Big Red) troupe, the earliest Chenhe gaoqiang troupe in western Hunan, which then toured and performed in various localities; Chenhe gaoqiang thus began to reach the people and to spread widely. In its long course of development and change, Chenhe gaoqiang formed a distinctive artistic style of its own.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Over several centuries of change the branches of Yiyang qiang underwent great transformation; they were combined in different degrees with the folk music of their own localities, and in this way the gaoqiang of each locality came to have its own musical style. It has forty-eight Mulian plays as well as plays such as Huangjin Yin, Hongpao Ji, Yipin Zhong, Pipa Ji and Zhuangfeng Youguo, which have been performed for a long time in western Hunan and are deeply popular with the masses. Chenhe gaoqiang has a rich store of melodies, with more than five hundred tune patterns, suited to the expression of various different feelings and thoughts; its main tune patterns include Guichao Huan, Jiang Huanglong, Lang Taosha, Tao Jin Ling, Pu Deng'e and others. The vocal style of Chenhe gaoqiang is high, resonant and stirring, with a wide compass; it can move among the high, middle and low registers, shattering gold and jade when it is bold and booming to the skies, and as fine as a gossamer thread, supple and moving, when it is soft. The male voice is sung in a full, chesty register, which gives a sense of rugged abandon; the high-octave ornate melismas of the female vocal style are roundabout and clear, pleasing to ear and mind. The performance of the actors is plain and natural and carries a strong earthy flavour; the art lays stress on vocal technique, sings many chuanqi-story plays in the gaoqiang style, and is skilled in performing Mulian plays. The instruments accompanying a performance include suona, dizi, jinghu, erhu, sanxian, big drum, small gong, yunluo, cymbals and small drum; the specially made gaoqiang suona has a high and beautiful tone that blends inseparably with the singing, and it plays an important role both in the chorus and in the instrumental accompaniment. It brought about interaction between audience and performers at an early stage of theatrical performance, and has been called “the earliest stream-of-consciousness art in the world”. When Chenhe gaoqiang performed abroad it caused a sensation and was hailed as “a treasure of Chinese drama”. Measures need to be taken as soon as possible to change this situation.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Chenhe gaoqiang is a local operatic genre that embraces gaoqiang, tanqiang and a small amount of Kunqiang, with gaoqiang as its main element; it is current in the area of the Chenhe River, a tributary in the middle and upper reaches of the Yuan River in Hunan Province, and reaches parts of Guizhou Province and Sichuan Province. In its early period Chenhe gaoqiang divided its role types into eight — sheng, dan, jing, chou, wai, fu, mo and tie; after the late Qing and early Republican period it changed into four types, sheng, dan, jing and chou, with the sheng further divided into zhengsheng, laosheng, hongsheng and xiaosheng, and the dan further divided into zhengdan, xiaodan, yaodan and laodan. Chenhe gaoqiang preserves its ethnic and regional characteristics in full and has a broad popular basis.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Owing to tight funding, a shortage of talent, and an audience that is both localised and ageing, Chenhe gaoqiang has now come close to being lost; only a few troupes go on performing under hard conditions of survival. Xiang Rong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in 1935, a native of Chenxi, Hunan Province. Xiang Rong began learning to sing Chenhe gaoqiang from his father at seven and joined a troupe to perform at nine, gradually mastering a good number of plays and tune patterns; after the Cultural Revolution he worked in the Luxi County Chenhe Drama Troupe as an actor and also as director and playwright, and over more than sixty years of stage practice he accumulated and inherited a large body of Chenhe gaoqiang vocal heritage. Representative works include: Chi Meng (The Deluded Dream), Mulian and others. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Chenhe gaoqiang), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage; a third-grade instrumental performer. Deng Qizhi (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born in October 1957, a native of Luxi County, Hunan Province. A national third-grade actress. She began work at the Luxi County Chenhe Drama Troupe in 1974 and retired in 2007. She specialises in the dan roles and is also capable of performing the xiaosheng, painted-face and chou roles. She is noted for her acting, her performance being delicate and reserved, true and lifelike, her movements crisp and graceful, and her voice round and resonant. The plays she has appeared in include Da Shen Bai Yushuang (The Great Trial of Bai Yushuang), Mulian Zhuan (The Story of Mulian), Er Du Mei (The Second Plum), Fan Lihua Zhan Zi (Fan Lihua Beheads Her Son), Chi Meng (The Deluded Dream) and others. She has persisted in carrying out transmission work for Chenhe gaoqiang: besides taking an active part in the large-scale performances and showcase events organised by the province, the autonomous prefecture and the county, she also volunteered to undertake teaching in the intangible cultural heritage transmission classes opened by local schools, teaching the vocal styles and performance courses of Chenhe gaoqiang. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Chenhe gaoqiang), inscribed in the fifth national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. She has already trained such inheritors of Chenhe gaoqiang as Zhang Xun, Yang Jie and Yang Yaling.

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 (Luxi, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xiang Rong · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Deng Qizhi · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗