Luantan

01 · Historical Records

Taizhou Luantan was originally called Huangyan Luantan. It took shape in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and became popular in the regions of Taizhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Jinhua and Lishui. Pujiang Luantan is also known as Jinhua Luantan. It originated in the late Southern Song dynasty and took shape in the mid-Ming dynasty, and was popular in the area of Pujiang, Lin'an, Jiande and Tonglu, as well as in the prefectures of Wu, Qu, Chu, Wen and Taizhou and in Jiangxi and Fujian. Because it originated in Pujiang County in central Zhejiang, it is called Pujiang Luantan. From the late Southern Song dynasty to the mid-Ming dynasty, over a span of several hundred years, it was handed down in the form of a singing-and-narrating art. In the mid-Ming dynasty, Pujiang Luantan changed from seated singing to staged performance.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Taizhou Luantan has more than three hundred repertoire works. Its frequently performed plays are popularly grouped as the “seven pavilions, eight sashes, nine chronicles and thirteen pictures”: the seven pavilions include Returning Dragon Pavilion, Orchid Fragrance Pavilion and others; the eight sashes include Mandarin Duck Sash, Jade Pendant Sash and others; the nine chronicles include Worshipping the Moon, The White Rabbit Chronicle and others; and the thirteen pictures include The Hundred Longevity Picture, The Twin Lions Picture and others. Other representative repertoire works include The Three Stars Censer, Ziyang Temple, Autumn in the Han Palace, The Interlocking Chronicle, The Palace of Eternal Life, The Single Sword Meeting, Five Tigers Pacify the West, Taking the Seal at Yanghe, The Brocade Robe, The Purple-Gold Bracelet and others. The vocal styles of Taizhou Luantan are very rich. Luantan is the mainstay, and Kunqu, Gaoqiang, Huidiao, Cidi, Tanhuang and other styles are sung alongside it, which makes it one of the few multi-vocal-style Luantan genres in the country. Its stage language combines the phonology of the Central Plains with the Taizhou vernacular, is full of the accent and flavour of local speech, is easy to understand, and is distinctive in its own way. The accompanying instruments are divided into a wen chang (civil ensemble) and a wu chang (martial ensemble). The wen chang falls into two categories, sizhu string-and-wind pieces and suona pieces; the wu chang falls into two categories, naotai gong-and-drum sets that punctuate the stage action and gong-and-drum sets used in performance. The role types of Taizhou Luantan are divided into the “four upper parts” and the “four lower parts”. The four upper parts are sheng, dan, jing and chou; the four lower parts are wai, tie, fu and mo. As the genre developed, the classification of role types became ever more fine-grained. In performance, Taizhou Luantan has many remarkable feats, such as “tooth play”, “riding double”, “piercing the belly with a steel fork”, “swinging a fire ball” and “dangling the hair from an umbrella”, which have long been praised. The principal vocal styles of Pujiang Luantan are the sanwuqi, the Luantan sanjian, the erfan, the luhua diao, the bozi and others; each is divided into a number of banqiang patterns and forms a complete system of its own. The accompanying instruments are divided into a wentang (civil band) and a wutang (martial band). The wentang includes the flute, banhu, kehu, suona and others, while the wutang includes the drum board, large and small gongs, large and small cymbals and others. Instrumental technique is highly developed, and the “sanwuqi” together with the instrumental piece “Huatoutai” are the most distinctive. The melodies performed are ornate, smooth and expansive, while at the same time carrying emotional qualities that are stirring, high-spirited, tragic and sombre. The role types of Pujiang Luantan are divided into thirteen divisions, including huadan, zhengdan, tiedan, laodan, xiaodan, dahua, erhua, xiaohua, sihua, laosheng, laowai, fumo and xiaosheng. Its performance is characterised by playing literary plays with martial action and martial plays with literary treatment; its conventions are regular, vigorous and forceful, rich in local colour, and distinctive both in special skills and in martial combat performance. Pujiang Luantan has roughly three hundred repertoire works, of which close to 200 have now been collected. Representative works include Jade Qilin, The Hundred Blossom Stage, The Red Robe of Longevity, Green Peach Blossom, Phoenix Mountain, Whole Family Happiness, The Drunken Bout at the Mountain Gate, The Blind Man Seizes the Adulterer and Selling Rouge, among others. After the founding of the People's Republic, Pujiang Luantan became one of the principal vocal styles of Wuju opera. There are now no professional or amateur Pujiang Luantan troupes, but in Pujiang County there are still dozens of folk seated-singing groups whose main repertory is Pujiang Luantan.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Pujiang Luantan was built on the local Pujiang folk song “Cailan Qu” (the Basket Song) and developed under the mutual influence of the multi-mode zhugongdiao singing-and-narrating art and Nanxi opera.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Luantan · Luantan · Luantan · Luantan.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Taizhou Luantan and Pujiang Luantan are precious legacies of the folk culture of the nation and the “living fossils” of Chinese opera; their historical origins, artistic forms and many other aspects all have high research value. Under the impact of the economic boom, however, Luantan performing troupes have shrunk, actors are hard to recruit as the older ones retire, audiences have been lost in large numbers, and the transmission of the genre has run into difficulties, so urgent rescue and protection are needed. Xu Dinglong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1941, a native of Tiantai, Zhejiang. Xu Dinglong has solid and deep acting skills. He originated the umbrella “dangling hair” technique on his own and has distinctive performance skills. His representative works include The Legend of the White Snake, The Princess of Twin Suns, The Matched Destiny, The Slaying of the Flood Dragon and others. Representative inheritor of Luantan for the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. Fu Linhua (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1958, a native of Linhai, Zhejiang. Fu Linhua was admitted to the Taizhou Cultural Work Troupe (the Taizhou Luantan Opera Company) in 1977. From 1980 he studied under Li Zimin in composing Luantan music, researched the local characteristics of Luantan music in depth, and broadly absorbed the strengths of the music of other genres. He has composed music for more than twenty plays and over one hundred songs, and his works have won awards many times; his representative works include The Empty Sedan Chair, The Wandering Spirit, Borrowing a Wife and others. Representative inheritor of Luantan for the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, and a national Class III composer.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Xu Dinglong 02-0532
• Fu Linhua 02-0533
• Meng Fanzhen 03-1020
• Geng Shuyi 05-2350
• Jiang Guifeng 05-2351
• Lin Hongyang

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Luantan (Taizhou, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xu Dinglong · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Fu Linhua · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗