Gaoqiang Opera

01 · Historical Records

Gaoqiang is a collective name for the many operatic genres that took shape as the Yiyang qiang of the Ming dynasty and the later Qingyang qiang evolved and changed. The period from the Wanli reign of the Ming to the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing was the most flourishing time of Changde gaoqiang; afterwards it gradually declined as the southern and northern branches of the tanqiang style rose. In 1954 the cultural authorities of Changde city held a gaoqiang study class, uncovering more than twenty traditional scripts and reviving a few of the plays among them, so that Changde gaoqiang, which had all but disappeared, was given new life.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Across several centuries of evolution the branches of Yiyang qiang changed a great deal; each combined to a different degree with the folk music of its own locality, and hence the gaoqiang of each place formed its own musical style. Changde gaoqiang is one of the three great vocal styles of Changde Han opera — gaoqiang, kunqiang and tanqiang. Ji Tou Jin, Si Fan, Liang Lang Shan, Shuang Hou Dou, Cheng Yaojin Qu Qin and other plays are representative works of Changde gaoqiang; after Liberation there also appeared newly written gaoqiang plays such as Furong Nv and Zisu Zhuan, whose performances caused a sensation for a time. Changde gaoqiang has more than thirty basic melodic forms and more than seventy tune patterns, and its forms of singing include gun chang (rolling song) and the chorus. Its chorus is strongly influenced by the tunes of the Yuan River boatmen's songs and of the zhadui haozi (the work songs of the raft-polers), and is divided into two kinds, the vocal chorus and instrumental accompaniment; in the vocal chorus one voice sings and all the rest join in the response, while the instrumental accompaniment is played on the large gong, large cymbals and suona. In singing there are several expressive methods, including the natural voice, the side voice, the pinched voice and the small high voice. Changde gaoqiang attaches particular importance to training in basic performance technique and has a set of highly expressive movement conventions; in addition it distils certain special performance patterns from daily life, forming bodily techniques that imitate birds and beasts or other creatures in movement and at rest. The performance of Changde gaoqiang often inserts some fine special feats, which can often achieve a captivating effect on stage. Changde gaoqiang is an organic carrier of Changde regional culture and provides living material for the study of the spread and evolution of local operatic vocal styles.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It developed and matured gradually on the basis of local native music such as the primitive sacrificial songs and dances of the area, continually absorbing early operatic vocal styles of the Ming such as Yiyang qiang and Qingyang qiang; it is current mainly in the Xidongting district, the Wuling mountain range and the basins of the Chenshui and Yuanshui rivers, reaching far to southwestern Hubei and eastern Guizhou, and in 1986 it was renamed Wuling xi. Its vocal styles are closely bound to the local dialect and incorporate a large amount of local wuqiang, nuoyuan qiang and yugu diao material, so its expressiveness is strong. The role types of Changde gaoqiang are divided into the four lines sheng, dan, jing and chou, including the “three sheng” of qingxu (blue-whiskered), baixu (white-whiskered) and xiaosheng, the “three dan” of zhengdan, xiaodan and laodan, and the “three jing” of the large painted face, the second painted face and the small painted face. In performance, singing and speaking combine the Zhongzhou rhyme standard with the tones of the Changde dialect; to bring out the regional character of the figures, some non-local speech is also used.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

As early as the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns of the Qing, a great many Changde gaoqiang troupes had one after another dissolved or changed over to singing the tanqiang style, causing a large number of plays to be lost and the line of transmission very nearly broken. In recent years, amid the great changes in society, Changde gaoqiang has once again fallen into the difficult position of being on the verge of extinction and urgently needs rescue and protection. Gong Jinyun (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born in 1944, a native of Changde, Hunan Province. In half a century of performing, Gong Jinyun inherited the traditional skills of Changde gaoqiang and, adapting them to her own conditions, made creative innovations, in particular creating a resonant side voice in her singing, and so successfully shaped character images each distinctive in its own way. Representative works include Shuai Yin Chong Gui Tianbo Fu (The Marshal's Seal Returns to Tianbo Mansion) and others. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Changde gaoqiang), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage; a national second-grade actress. Li Shaoqian (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in 1934, a native of Changde, Hunan Province. He devoted his whole life to creation for Changde Han opera, and for more than fifty years worked to uncover and collate the fine traditional repertory of Han opera, making outstanding contributions to the transmission and development of the art of Changde Han opera. Representative works include: Qiao Hun Ji (The Ingenious Marriage), Si Fan and others. Representative inheritor of gaoqiang (Changde gaoqiang), inscribed in the second national-level batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage; a national second-grade 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 (Changde, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Gong Jinyun · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Li Shaoxian · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗