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Peking Opera

Ⅳ-28Traditional OperaYanyijituan, JiangsuBatch 3 (2011)Extension ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

In 2001 the Jiangsu Peking Opera Theatre and five other provincial-level art troupes were reorganised to form the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group. In 2005 it was rated a "national key Peking opera troupe" by the Ministry of Culture. From the 1950s to the present it has created dozens of outstanding plays, among them Luotuo Xiangzi (Rickshaw Boy) and Piaoyi de Hongshajin (The Graceful Red Silk Scarf).

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Peking opera is a treasure of the culture and art of the Chinese nation. Since its founding, while inheriting the tradition the theatre has always held the creation of repertoire to be the very foundation on which it stands and develops.

Luotuo Xiangzi (Rickshaw Boy)

From the 1950s to the present it has created dozens of outstanding plays, among them Luotuo Xiangzi (Rickshaw Boy) and Piaoyi de Hongshajin (The Graceful Red Silk Scarf).

Piaoyi de Hongshajin (The Graceful Red Silk Scarf)

From the 1950s to the present it has created dozens of outstanding plays, among them Luotuo Xiangzi (Rickshaw Boy) and Piaoyi de Hongshajin (The Graceful Red Silk Scarf).

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

At present the theatre has more than 120 performers and staff, a well-ordered company in which a variety of schools are represented, and among its core artistic forces are a number of first-grade performers renowned at home and abroad, such as Li Jie, Xu Quanxin and Zhou Lixia.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Over half a century, the Cheng school inheritor Xin Yanqiu, the Tan school inheritor Wang Qinsheng, the Qi school inheritor Zhao Yunhe, the noted martial male performers (wusheng) Liang Huichao, Zhou Yunliang and Wang Zhengkun, the martial woman (wudan) Zhou Yunxia and dozens of other artists have made important contributions to the founding and development of the theatre. Zhou Yunliang (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han nationality, born in October 1933, native of Shanghai. An expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. He can perform a very great number of plays; his stage bearing is free and unconstrained, elegant and flowing, the outlines and workmanship of his body movements clean and precise, his martial arts solid and brisk, and he is able to leap down from a high platform of "four and a half zhang". His representative plays include Na Gaodeng (Bringing the High Lantern), Tanzhuang (Reconnaissance at the Village), Yebeng (The Night Run), Wugongling (The Centipede Ridge), Tiaohuache (Lifting the Decorated Cart), Longtan Baoluo (Bao and Luo at Dragon Pool), Wusong (Wu Song) and Hongqiao Zengzhu (Presenting the Pearl at the Rainbow Bridge); above all he became famous throughout the theatre world for his "three turmoil plays and one fight", that is Naolonggong (Making Trouble in the Dragon Palace), Naodifu (Making Trouble in the Underworld), Natian'gong (Making Trouble in the Heavenly Palace) and Shibaluohan Dou Wukong (The Eighteen Arhats Fighting Sun Wukong). National model worker. He has many times led troupes on performances to Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and other countries, and is renowned at home and abroad. Representative inheritor of the Peking opera national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth batch. In 1959 he won the gold medal at the Seventh World Festival of Youth and Students in Vienna, Austria. He has trained a number of excellent disciples. Shen Xiaomei (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han nationality, born in December 1937, native of Changsha City, Hunan Province. National first-grade actress; an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. In 1953 she became a disciple of Master Mei Lanfang and was personally taught by him such plays as Guifei Zuijiu (The Drunken Concubine), Bawang Bieji (Farewell My Concubine) and Yuzhoufeng (The Cosmic Blade); she has inherited the classic Mei school repertoire in a relatively comprehensive and complete way and grasped its essence. She works in the dan row, her stage bearing dignified and graceful, simple and natural. Her representative works include such traditional plays as Guifei Zuijiu (The Drunken Concubine), Bawang Bieji (Farewell My Concubine), Yuzhoufeng (The Cosmic Blade), Shengsi Hen (Parting Brought by Death), Feng Huichao (The Phoenix Returns to the Nest) and Yutangchun (Jade Hall Spring), as well as such newly created plays as Qian Nv Youhun (A Beautiful Woman in Mourning), Rong Rujian and Baozhu Ji (The Treasure Hall Candle). National model worker and advanced worker of the national cultural system. She has successively travelled to the United States, Canada, Germany and France to give instruction. Representative inheritor of the Peking opera national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth batch. In 1995 she proposed and set up a special programme to cultivate a cross-century generation of Peking opera audiences and successors, popularising knowledge of Peking opera in schools and in the armed forces, and teaching and staging plays. She has won many honours in the arts; in 2006 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Hawaii, United States.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Peking Opera (Yanyijituan, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
  2. Zhou Yunliang · National Representative Bearer Archive
  3. Shen Xiaomei · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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