Luantan
01 · Historical Records
Zhuji western-road luantan is a luantan genre formed when western-road Qinqiang artists of the early Qing brought the art from Shaanxi by the water routes of Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou into Zhuji and combined it with local language, music and opera; it is popular in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Xiaoshan, Pujiang, Yiwu and surrounding areas. In 1962 the Zhuji Luantan Troupe was founded. Drawing on the Zhejiang volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu, western-road luantan reached its heyday in the mid-Qing, with troupe activity in Zhuji and the Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Xiaoshan, Pujiang and Yiwu area; the Zhuji Luantan Troupe founded in 1962 was later disbanded for a time, but its artists kept the art alive and in the 2010s the local government supported the rebuilding of a performing group.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Zhuji western-road luantan differs from other luantan genres in vocal style, language, repertory and performance. Its heyday was the mid-Qing, when Zhuji county alone had dozens of troupes such as Laochangchun, performing mostly during the trade fairs of market towns and known as “fair-market opera”. Besides singing bangzi tunes, western-road luantan has more than two hundred tunes and more than four hundred pieces and once stood as one of three equals with Shao opera and Yue opera. Its masterpieces include Shuang Gui Tu, Ri Wang Pai and Tie Ling Guan. Its luantan tunes took shape on the basis of the Zhuji dialect and folk music, the singing high and vehement with a strong rustic flavour, its roles mainly sheng, dan, jing and chou, its repertory mostly drawn from historical romances and folk legend.
Shuang Gui Tu (The Double Honour Scroll)
A masterpiece of Zhuji western-road luantan, also among the representative works of the inheritor Jiang Guifeng.
Ri Wang Pai (The Sun-Prosperity Tablet)
A masterpiece of Zhuji western-road luantan.
Tie Ling Guan (Iron Spirit Pass)
A masterpiece of Zhuji western-road luantan.
Da Bu Gang (Mending the Vat)
A traditional piece newly staged in recent revivals of Zhuji western-road luantan, much welcomed by audiences.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
At present, with the local government's support and through training classes, opera-in-schools and cultural outreach to the countryside, western-road luantan is rapidly reviving, and such newly staged traditional pieces as Da Bu Gang are much welcomed by audiences. Zhuji western-road luantan belongs with Pujiang and Wenzhou luantan to the Zhejiang luantan family, exchanging tunes and repertory with them yet differing in language and music; Zhuji is both an entry point for luantan and one of the places where it was most thoroughly localised.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Luantan · Luantan · Luantan · Luantan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Jiang Guifeng (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in August 1940 in Zhuji county, Zhejiang. Handsome in appearance, sweet-voiced and wide in range, she is skilled at characterisation and is a leading actor and representative figure of Zhuji western-road luantan. Her representative works include Shuangyang Gongzhu Zhui Diqing, San Qing Fan Lihua, Mu Guiying Gua Shuai, Shuang Gui Tu and Jiu Jian Yi. After the troupe was dissolved in 1969 she was assigned to a printing factory but still kept faith with the art. She is a representative inheritor of luantan (Zhuji western-road luantan) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. After retiring in 1994 she devoted herself wholly to protecting, transmitting and spreading the art, collecting and collating scripts, qupai and instruments, running training classes, directing revivals of traditional plays and training fine students such as Zhuo Linli and Cai Tieping. Zhuji western-road luantan preserves more than two hundred tunes and more than four hundred pieces, an important sample for studying the relation of the Zhejiang luantan family to local language and custom; the locality promotes transmission through training classes, opera-in-schools and cultural outreach.
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
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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