Sipingdiao
01 · Historical Records
Sipingdiao evolved from northern Jiangsu huagu (flower-drum); among the people it was once popularly called “sipingdiao” (four-pieced tune), and around 1930 it changed from costumed singing to stage performance in theatrical dress. Moreover, because its course of evolution from beginning to end is clear and well evidenced, it has been called “an epitome of the development of Chinese xiqu”, holding a special place in Chinese operatic art and being a rare flower of Chinese folk art. Shangqiu is one of its main areas of activity; drawing on local opera annals, Shangqiu city formed a Sipingdiao troupe in the 1950s which performed for years in the towns and countryside of eastern Henan, and because Sipingdiao grew directly from huagu narrative-singing into opera, its repertory and singing retain many traces of narrative-song and short plays.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The female voice is plain yet plaintive and pretty, while the male voice is high and bold, combining hardness and softness and keeping a strong narrative-singing character. Sipingdiao is a genre with a deep popular base, and Chen Sanliang Pa Tang, Xiao Bao Gong and Ya Nü Gao Zhuang are all plays much welcomed by the people. Its singing belongs mainly to the banqiang system, the female voice plain yet pretty, the male voice high and bold, combining hardness and softness and keeping narrative-singing traits; the gaohu leads the orchestra, the sheng, dan and chou roles stand out, and its plays are mostly drawn from everyday life and courtroom stories.
Chen Sanliang Pa Tang (Chen Sanliang at Court)
One of the plays much welcomed by the people and a representative piece of Sipingdiao.
Xiao Bao Gong (The Young Judge Bao)
One of the plays much welcomed by the people and a representative piece of Sipingdiao.
Ya Nü Gao Zhuang (The Mute Girl's Suit)
One of the plays much welcomed by the people and a representative piece of Sipingdiao.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Sipingdiao, based on huagu yet also absorbing much artistic nourishment from sister genres, has formed a style with strong regional characteristics. It has a wide distribution, the adjoining areas of Henan, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu all being its range of activity; in Henan there are at present still two professional troupes, the Shangqiu Sipingdiao Troupe and the Puyang Fanxian Sipingdiao Troupe. In Henan the genre centres on Shangqiu and Fanxian; the Shangqiu line is noted for its dan and xusheng plays, and such representative pieces as Chen Sanliang Pa Tang and Xiao Bao Gong are household names in eastern Henan.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zou Aiqin (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in 1929 in Shenqiu, Henan. Her voice is pure and bright, her singing articulate and clear to the ear; her embellishment is plain and unadorned yet elegant, full of feeling and smoothly flowing. She is now artistic adviser to the Shangqiu Sipingdiao Troupe of Henan. Her representative works include Chen Sanliang Pa Tang, Feng Shou Zhi Hou, Mei Xiang, Liu Hai Kan Qiao and Sheng Si Pai. She is a representative inheritor of Sipingdiao in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Bai Jinrong (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): at twelve Bai Jinrong took Zhang Minghua as her master to learn Pingju, Peking opera and Henan zhuizi; she joined a troupe to sing at fourteen and at nineteen entered the Shangqiu Sipingdiao Troupe, working in the sheng, chou and caidan roles. Her voice is deep and resonant, her singing style vehement and bold, free in narrative-song, ordered in its pauses, well controlled in its rises and falls, combining hardness and softness with fresh melody, her acting plain and natural and her images vivid. Her representative works include Da Mian Gang, Tiao Nü Xu, Shen Gaoming, San Bu Yuanyi and Xiao Bao Gong. Female, Han, born in 1931, died in 2011, a native of Bo'ai, Henan; a representative inheritor of Sipingdiao in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Growing from huagu narrative-singing into a stage opera, Sipingdiao fully preserves the artistic material of that evolution and has important value for the study of operatic form; the Liangyuan District Sipingdiao Art Research Centre in Shangqiu sustains the genre through reviving plays and training talent.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zou Aiqin 02-0554
- Baijinrong 02-0555
- Cui Taixian 02-0556
- Zhang Xubin 02-0557
- Liu Yuzhi 03-1033
- Wang Fengyun 03-1034
- Fumei
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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