Jinju (Shanxi Opera) · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

In the early Qing dynasty, Puzhou bangzi flowed into Jinzhong City of Shanxi Province, where it combined with the Qitai yangge and the local folk tunes of Jinzhong; with the participation of Shanxi merchants and local literati it took shape as Central Route bangzi. Central Route bangzi matured in the late Qing and early Republican period, with troupes multiplying and talent emerging generation after generation. The first generation of Central Route bangzi women performers set off another change in its vocal art, and only from 1925 onward was it known as "Jinju" (Jin Opera).

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Jin Opera is one of the four bangzi genres of Shanxi Province; because it arose in central Shanxi it is also called "Central Route bangzi", while other provinces call it "Shanxi bangzi". It circulates mainly in central and northern Shanxi and in parts of Shaanxi Province, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hebei Province. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Jin Opera became a principal form of propaganda art; after the founding of the People's Republic of China it entered a new period of prosperity and development. The vocal styles and performance of Jin Opera have both the stirring, rugged character of bangzi singing and, at the same time, roundedness and fine craftsmanship. Its vocal structure belongs to the banqiang system and is divided into three categories, "luantan", "qiang'er" and "quzi"; the rhyming rule is an oblique tone above and a level tone below. A small number of plays are sung in Kunqu or in Luoluo style. "Luantan" is the principal vocal category of Jin Opera, with seven ban patterns: pingban, jiaban, erxing, liushui, jieban, gunbai and daoban. "Qiang'er" denotes the various florid vocal figures in Jin Opera; they are seldom used on their own but attach to the "luantan" of the different ban patterns, and include the five-flower qiang, three-flower qiang, travelling-horse qiang, two-finger qiang, thirteen coughs, four-not-like and daoban qiang. "Quzi" refers to the Kunqu arias and local minor tunes that are sung. Its performance techniques are varied and technically demanding, including feather-flag work, hat-wing work, chair work, whip work, dart work, tea-bowl play, headscarf play and queue-flinging. All five role types are complete: sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou. The main accompanying instruments of the orchestral section are the Jin hu, the erxian, the sanxian and the sixian, collectively called the "four principal instruments"; the music is rich, the ban patterns are varied and the expressive range is strong. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Western orchestral instruments were added to Jin Opera accompaniment on the basis of the "four principal instruments", and the vocal styles were considerably reformed on the foundation of the traditional ban patterns such as pingban, jiaban, erxing and liushui. Traditional repertoire falls into three kinds, historical story plays, supernatural plays and everyday-life story plays, and well-known plays include Beating the Golden Branch, The Golden Water Bridge, Calculating the Grain and Ascending the Hall, The Sentimental Probe and Descending on Hedong.