Sipingdiao
01 · Historical Records
In the Qing dynasty huagu opera was repeatedly banned; to survive, its artists renamed it “civilised huagu” and “huagu dingdang”. Northern Anhui huagu thus evolved into Sipingdiao, ending its days as a ground-mat performance and taking the stage. Chengwu is one of the main counties transmitting Sipingdiao in Shandong; drawing on local opera annals, the Chengwu Sipingdiao troupe was founded in the 1950s and has performed continuously ever since.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Northern Anhui huagu has a history of nearly three hundred years and is popular in northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, north-eastern Henan and south-western Shandong. Later, on the basis of the Pingdiao ban patterns of huagu opera and absorbing parts of Pingju, Yuju and Peking opera singing, with added string accompaniment, it formed the “sipingdiao”. Because its singing is steady and even with four lines of melody to a section, it was renamed “Sipingdiao”. It is famed for its singing, its physical performance a system of its own, with the gaohu as its principal accompanying instrument. It performs more than two hundred pieces, drawn from the people and carrying a rich flavour of life. Over more than a century Sipingdiao has matured through development and change, accumulating a large amount of valuable artistic material. Chengwu Sipingdiao's singing, on the basis of the huagu Pingdiao ban patterns, absorbs part of the singing of Pingju, Yuju and Peking opera with string accompaniment; the inheritor Wang Fengyun created the slow Siping and reverse Siping ban patterns, enriching its vocal art.
Chen Sanliang Pa Tang (Chen Sanliang at Court)
A representative Sipingdiao play, commonly staged by the Chengwu troupe and once recorded and televised.
Pei Xiuying Gao Zhuang (Pei Xiuying's Suit)
A traditional Sipingdiao play starred in by the inheritor Wang Fengyun and once recorded and televised.
San Gao Li Yanming (Three Suits Against Li Yanming)
A traditional Sipingdiao play noted for the dan role's singing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shandong once had several professional Sipingdiao troupes; the Chengwu Sipingdiao Troupe is one of those still performing all year round, and the Chengwu line's dan plays are especially outstanding, such pieces as Pei Xiuying Gao Zhuang and Chen Sanliang Pa Tang being widely circulated.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao · Sipingdiao.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present Sipingdiao struggles to survive with a worrying future. Shandong once had several professional Sipingdiao troupes; today only the Chengwu Sipingdiao Troupe still performs all year round, and the amateur troupes are in poor shape, so positive measures are needed to rescue and protect this excellent folk operatic genre. Its innovation in ban patterns and long performance practice have accumulated valuable material for this folk genre; the Chengwu County Sipingdiao Conservation and Transmission Centre sustains it through taking disciples and reviving plays. Wang Fengyun (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in May 1944 in Peixian, Jiangsu. A national first-grade actor. Her voice is sweet and round, her diction clear, her phrasing flexible, combining hardness and softness and moving freely between restraint and release. On the basis of tradition she reformed the Sipingdiao vocal art and devised the slow-Siping and reverse-Siping ban patterns, enriching its singing; she is also distinctive in such techniques as bian, tou, shan, ti, ding, dun and chan. In 1957 Shandong Television recorded and broadcast two plays she starred in, Pei Xiuying Gao Zhuang and Chen Sanliang Pa Tang. After retiring she still devotes herself to taking disciples and teaching, and many of her students have grown into leading actors of the troupe. She is a representative inheritor of Sipingdiao in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
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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