Yuediao
01 · Historical Records
Yuediao is one of the principal local genres of Henan, popular in Henan, northern Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanxi and parts of Anhui, with a history of more than three hundred years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yuediao has a distinctive artistic style and a broad popular base. Its vocal music is mainly in the yuediao mode but also sings chuiqiang, Kunqu and qijuban, carrying the characteristics of the folk music of the central plains and a strong rustic flavour. Its role types are complete, including more than a dozen such roles as da-honglian, er-honglian, wensheng, wusheng, dajing, ermao, sanhualian, zhengdan, huadan, guimendan, langdan, wudan and laodan, and in performance it has formed certain famous schools. It has more than three hundred traditional and newly written plays, many of them familiar and loved by the broad public. Xuchang Yuediao is one of the representatives of Henan Yuediao, and the genre's famous actor Mao Ailian, whose singing takes luantan as its main framework, has a distinctive and individual style known as “Mao-school art” with great influence among audiences.
Huo Fen Xiu Lou (The Embroidered Chamber Burned)
A representative traditional Yuediao play and one of the representative works of the inheritor Mao Ailian.
Li Shuangxi Jie Liang (Li Shuangxi Borrows Grain)
A traditional Yuediao play and one of Mao Ailian's representative works.
Granny Bai Gets Drunk
A representative Yuediao play, noted in the performances of both Mao Ailian and Yuan Xiulian.
Zhuge Liang Diao Xiao (Zhuge Liang's Condolence)
A celebrated traditional Yuediao play noted for the xusheng role's singing, found in central and eastern Henan.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yuediao is popular in Henan and parts of northern Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Anhui, developing different performing characters from region to region; Xuchang Yuediao is one of the representatives of Henan Yuediao, and the “Mao school” created by the famous actor Mao Ailian, taking luantan as its main framework, has had a far-reaching influence.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yuediao · Yuediao · Yuediao.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Mao Ailian (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in March 1930 in Wuyang county, Henan. A national first-grade actor. In 1939 she entered the Luohe Wenfeng troupe and took the famous Yuediao artist Xing Jinkui as her master; she went on stage at thirteen, working the guimendan role and also playing xiaosheng, laosheng and laodan. Her acting is relaxed and natural, plain and unforced; her singing has clear diction, light and gentle, half-speaking and half-singing, true and sincere, conveying spirit through feeling; her voice is fine and crisp, pleasing to the ear, and she has a distinctive use of nasal resonance. She founded the unique “Mao school” art and is known as the “empress of Yuediao”. She is a representative inheritor of Yuediao in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. She has collated and performed more than one hundred and thirty plays, her representative works including Huo Fen Xiu Lou, Li Shuangxi Jie Liang and Granny Bai Gets Drunk, and has taken part in national performances and won awards many times; her disciples have all been mainstays of the Yuediao stage in different periods and most are national first- or second-grade actors. Yuan Xiulian (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in November 1941 in Xiangcheng county, Henan. In 1962 she took the famous Yuediao artist Liu Xiurong as her master and over decades of performance mastered the craft of Yuediao; her tone is pure and her diction clear, and she brings different characters vividly to life. Her representative works include Granny Bai Gets Drunk. She is now the artistic leader of the genre, with considerable fame and influence, and a representative inheritor of Yuediao in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. For many years she has worked to protect and transmit Yuediao, training more than twenty students and performing for villagers free of charge all year round; she has collected and preserved a large quantity of Xuchang Yuediao photographs, scores, scripts, audio-visual material and press reviews, working to extend the genre's social influence and train successors. Yuediao has more than three hundred traditional and newly written plays and preserves information on the folk music and vernacular of the central plains, giving it high value for the history of xiqu and for music research; the Xuchang Opera Art Development Centre (Xuchang Yuediao Art Conservation and Transmission Centre) promotes transmission through revived productions and talent training.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Quanzhi 02-0493
- Mao Ailian 03-1001
- Yuan Xiulian 05-2324
- Ye Xiangcheng 05-2325
- Shenxiaomei
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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