Yuju (Henan Opera)

01 · Historical Records

Yuju has now been transmitted for more than a hundred years, and as early as the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty it had already become a highly influential operatic genre in Henan.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Yuju is also called Henan Bangzi, Henan Gaodiao or Henan Ou, and in the western mountains of Henan it is called "Rallying Roar of the Mountain Side". It is one of the most important branches among China's bangzi vocal operatic genres, is deeply loved by the broad masses of the people, and is popular mainly in Henan Province while being circulated throughout the country. In its formation and development Yuju drew on the artistic elements of kunqiang, chuiqiang, pihuang and other bangzi vocal operatic genres, and at the same time widely absorbed the music, narrative singing and popular short tunes current among the people of Henan, forming the character of a genre that is plain and honest, rich and delicate and full of local flavour. Yuju has abundant repertory resources, among them close to a thousand traditional plays. In past times there was the saying "three thousand in the Tang, eight hundred in the Song, and the Three Kingdoms can never be exhausted", and such traditional plays as Beheading the Son, The Shepherd's Scroll, Liu Quan Carrying the Melon, Embracing the Pipa, The Execution of Guo Huai, The Red Monk Descends the Mountain, The Great Sacrifice, Borrowing the Wife, The Matchmaker, Hua Mulan, Mu Guiying Takes Command, The Flower Spear Duel and Magistrate Tang Judges the Imperial Decree have long remained on the stage without decline. Yuju's music has four great ban categories, dozens of ban patterns for the voice and dozens of diaomen styles of singing. Its vocal repertoire includes not only many local vocal styles, such as Yudong Diao, Xiangfu Diao, Yuxi Diao, Shahe Diao and Gaodiao, but also many qupai whose text patterns are the ten-syllable line, the seven-syllable line and the five-syllable line, or whose words are in long-and-short lines; in performance and singing this has produced a great many artistic schools. Yuju accompaniment is divided into the civil ensemble and the martial ensemble. The civil instruments mainly include the banhu, erhu, sanxian, yueqin, the leather-buzzed drone piweng and the flute, while the martial instruments include the ban gu (ban-drum), bangzi, large gong and small gong. The "four sheng", the "four dan" and the "four painted faces" make up the role system of Yuju. The four sheng are the laosheng, the large red face, the second red face and the xiaosheng; the four dan are the qingyi, huadan, laodan and caidan; the four painted faces are the black face, the large painted face, the second painted face and the third painted face. Since modern times a group of famous masters such as Chang Xiangyu, Wang Runzhi, Ma Shuangzhi, Chen Suzhen, Cui Lantian, Ma Jinfeng and Yan Lipin has emerged in the course of Yuju's development, raising the art to a higher plane through their varied styles. Yuju's art has long been shaped by Central Plains culture, especially the local culture of the Yellow River basin. In the plays it performs, in stage performance, in the shaping of characters, in its modes of expression and in its music and vocal styles it has formed a distinctive Henan local style, bearing strong regional cultural colour, and it has become a precious treasure in the treasury of China's national opera. Because the times have developed with such speed, social ideology and aesthetic taste have undergone enormous change, and the survival of Yuju has begun to face a crisis.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yuju is popular mainly in Henan Province and is circulated throughout the country. Owing to differences of locality and speech it has formed different vocal styles within Henan, such as Yudong Diao, Xiangfu Diao, Yuxi Diao, Shahe Diao and Gaodiao: Yudong Diao centres on the Shangqiu area and makes much use of falsetto with a high register; Yuxi Diao centres on the Luoyang area, is sung mainly in the natural voice and carries its melodic line downward; Xiangfu Diao is current in the Kaifeng area, while Shahe Diao is current on both banks of the Shahe River in southeastern Henan. The various schools resemble and differ from one another both in repertory and in performing style.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Yuju (Henan Opera) · Yuju (Henan Opera).

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The number of audiences has shrunk sharply, performance talent is scarce, and many traditional plays, especially those of the representative regional schools, are already close to being lost. This situation urgently needs to be changed, and the rescue and protection of Yuju should be carried out as soon as possible. Ma Jinfeng (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1922, native of Cao County, Shandong. Her performance is delicate, free and uninhibited, vivid and true to life, and her vocal style is marked by resonance, brightness, elegance and freshness; she is the founder of the "Ma school" of Yuju art. Her representative works include Mu Guiying Takes Command, Flowers at the Court and The Flower Spear Match. Representative inheritor of Yuju under the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects, art adviser to the Luoyang Municipal Bureau of Culture of Henan Province, and a first-class performer. In 1957 Ma Jinfeng became a disciple of Mei Lanfang, and her art improved greatly in consequence. Over the course of her life she shaped many typical artistic images, and was honoured as the "Peony of Luoyang" and as "one of the five great female leads of Yuju"; at the same time she continually trained newcomers, so that her pupils are to be found everywhere. Zhang Baoying (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1940, native of Changge, Henan. She is famous for her skill in performing tragedy, with a rounded melodic line and feeling and expression in perfect accord. Her representative works include The Peach Blossom Hermitage and Lord Bao Qingtian. Representative inheritor of Yuju under the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects, honorary principal of the Anyang School of Culture and Art of Henan Province, and a first-class performer. Zhang Baoying was admitted to the Anyang Yuju Troupe at the age of fifteen, and in 1959 became a disciple of Cui Lantian. For close on fifty years she has devoted herself to the study of the art of the "Cui school"; on the basis of the particular character of her own voice, she has developed and created beyond her inheritance and formed an artistic style of her own, while the apprentices and successors she has trained are to be found throughout the country, so that she is called "the leading figure of the new Cui school".

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Ma Jinfeng 02-0478
• Zhang Baoying 02-0479
• Humeiling 02-0480
• Wu Bibo 02-0481
• Jia Tingju 02-0482
• Zhang Meizhen 02-0483
• Li Shujian 02-0484
• Wang Guanjun 03-0997
• Feng Zhanshun 03-0998
• Miao Wenhua 05-2320
• Li Xianmin 05-2321

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yuju (Henan Opera) (Henan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Ma Jinfeng · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhang Baoying · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗