Chuanju (Sichuan Opera)

01 · Historical Records

The formation of Chuanju went through a long process of vocal-style fusion. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, external vocal styles such as Kunqu, Yiyang qiang, Qingyang qiang, Shaanxi bangzi, Hubei Handiao and Hui diao entered Sichuan one after another, and during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns they were gradually joined to the native haoyang diao (rice-transplanting tune), the Chuanjiang work songs, the local ditties and religious music, so that the transformation by which these imported styles became “Sichuanised” was essentially completed. Around the 1911 Revolution, gaoqiang, Kunqu, huqin and tanxi merged with the native dengxi in performance on the same stage, forming the Chuanju of “the republic of the five vocal styles”, which has continued down to the present day.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Chuanju is popular in Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and parts of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei Province; it is the most influential local operatic genre in south-west China. It has five principal vocal styles — gaoqiang, huqin, tanxi, Kunqu and dengdiao — and is a microcosm of the historical evolution of the vocal styles and genres of Chinese opera since the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, Kunqu, Yiyang qiang, Qingyang qiang, Shaanxi bangzi, Hubei Handiao, Hui diao and other vocal styles flowed into Sichuan, and during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns they were gradually fused with the local haoyang diao (rice-transplanting tune), the Chuanjiang work songs, the local ditties, religious music and other traditions, so that the process by which the imported vocal styles became “Sichuanised” was essentially completed. Around the 1911 Revolution, gaoqiang, Kunqu, huqin and tanxi together with the native Sichuan dengxi were fused into one another in performance on the same stage, forming the Chuanju of “the republic of the five vocal styles”, which has continued down to the present day. Chuanju has a rich repertoire of more than six thousand traditional and newly created plays, represented by Huangpao Ji (The Yellow Robe Record), Jiulong Zhu (The Nine-Dragon Pillar), Yougui Ji (Record of the Secluded Chamber), Chunqiu Pei (A Spring and Autumn Marriage), Dongchuang Xiu Ben (Revising the Text at the Eastern Window), Wuzi Gao Mu (The Five Sons Accuse Their Mother), Shennong Jian (The Shennong Ravine) and Qing Tan (A Search of the Heart). Many of these are classic plays preserved from the nanxi of the Song and Yuan dynasties, Yuan zaju, Ming chuanqi and a variety of ancient vocal styles and genres, and they have high literary and historical value. The plays collected and adapted after the founding of New China — Liuyin Ji (Record of the Willow Shade), The Brocade Tower, Xiuru Ji (The Embroidered Tunic Record), The White Snake, Lalang Pei (The Forced Match) and Dahongtai (The Red Terrace) — together with those adapted and created during the reform and opening-up period, such as Bashan Xiucai (The Scholar of Bashan), Face-Changing and Si Shui Wei Lan (Small Ripples on Dead Water), have all produced considerable social influence and reveal the deep traditional cultural foundation of Chuanju. Chuanju is divided into five role types — xiaosheng, dan, sheng, hualian and chou — each of which has its own self-contained system of performance skills and procedures. The performance of the wenwusheng, the xiaochou and the dan roles is the most distinctive of all. Chuanju has made many excellent inventions in the means of dramatic expression and in performance technique, and it fully embodies the aesthetic character of Chinese opera, in which the real and the imagined give birth to one another and the spirit is conveyed through the form. Chuanju performance is full of the flavour of everyday life, lively and vivacious, witty and humorous. In order to portray characters better, Chuanju artists have created many unique skills such as face-changing, the hidden knife, running through the fire hoop and opening the wisdom eye. The stage is boisterous and noisy, full of novelty and interest, which has become one of the great characteristics of Chuanju. Of the five vocal styles of Chuanju, the gaoqiang music, which belongs to the qupai system, is the most original; its structural form combining chorus, percussion and singing brought the union of drama and music to an unprecedented height, making it an outstanding representative of the development of gaoqiang music in Chinese opera.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Chuanju is centred on the two great cities of Chengdu and Chongqing and is popular in Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and parts of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei Province; it is the most influential local operatic genre in south-west China. The Sichuan Provincial Academy of Arts and the provincial Chuanju theatre system have for long undertaken the work of collecting plays, recording vocal styles and training performers, forming an artistic line that is strong in gaoqiang while possessing all five vocal styles; the Sichuan side and the Chongqing side each have their own emphasis while also complementing one another.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Chuanju (Sichuan Opera).

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Chuanju has research and cognitive value for Bashu culture and for art, history and folklore, and it occupies a highly distinctive position in the history of Chinese opera and in the development of Bashu culture. In recent years Chuanju, like the other local operatic genres, has faced a survival crisis: audiences have dwindled, the performance market has contracted, funding is insufficient, and transmission and development have become extremely difficult. The task of rescuing and protecting Chuanju is now sternly placed before us. Chen Zhilin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1964, a native of Chengdu, Sichuan. From September 1979 to July 1984 Chen Zhilin studied at the Sichuan Provincial Chuanju School, where his first teacher was the xiaosheng performer Qiu Yongsheng; he afterwards sought instruction from many famous masters and received the true transmission of the xiaosheng performance art of the previous generation, such as Liu Youquan, Luo Yuzhong and Lan Guanglin. As a Chuanju xiaosheng performer, Chen Zhilin's stage image is full of scholarly refinement; his singing is compact and full-bodied, free and unconstrained, rich in voice and feeling, and he has formed the unique “Chen school” of Chuanju xiaosheng performance art. His representative works include Face-Changing, Bashan Xiucai (The Scholar of Bashan) and Yidanda (Bold in the Gall). Representative inheritor of Chuanju in the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, winner of the second Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, president of the Sichuan Provincial Chuanju Theatre and a first-class actor, and a recipient of the special government allowance of the State Council. Chen Qiaoru (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1967, a native of Xuyong, Sichuan. Chen Qiaoru entered the Xuyong County Chuanju Theatre of Sichuan Province at the age of twelve and began her training there, later becoming a disciple of the famous Chuanju performer Zhang Guangru. Her stage appearance is handsome and graceful, her bearing free and easy, and her singing mellow and lingering, gradually forming a performance style that is delicate, clear and upright, steady and free. Her representative works include Dashen (Beating the God), A Good Person of Sichuan and The White Snake. Representative inheritor of Chuanju in the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, winner of the second Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, and a first-class actor.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Chen Zhilin 02-0448
• Chen Qiaoru 02-0449
• Xiaoting 02-0450
• Chen Anye 02-0451
• Xia Tingguang 02-0452
• Shen Tiemei 02-0453
• Ren Tingfang 03-0972
• Xu Shounian 03-0973
• Xiao Demei 03-0974
• Gao Fenglian 03-0975
• Zhou Jipei 03-0976
• Xu Qianyun 03-0977
• Wu Tong 03-0988
• Wei Yixin 04-1596
• Yu Kaiyuan 04-1597
• Huang Ronghua
• Liu Yun

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Chuanju (Sichuan Opera) (Sichuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Chen Zhilin · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Chen Qiaoru · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗