Pingju Opera

01 · Historical Records

Pingju was originally called Bengbeng xi or Luozi xi, also known as Pingqiang bangzi xi and abbreviated as Ping xi; the name Pingju was formally adopted in 1935. Cheng Zhaocai was the founder of Pingju and its first playwright. His representative works The Widow Ma Opens a Shop, Flower as Matchmaker and Third Sister Yang Files a Complaint have become classic preserved repertoire pieces of Pingju.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

It is popular in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the Northeast, where it has a broad mass following. Around 1910, the Bengbeng xi performers headed by Cheng Zhaocai took as their basis the antiphonal lianhua luo (lotus-fall) songs of the Luanzhou area in eastern Hebei, absorbed the music and repertoire of the Northeast erren zhuan, and later took in the music and performance art of Beijing opera, shadow puppetry and dagu; in performance they used a full set of Hebei bangzi instruments for accompaniment, forming the basic style of Pingju. This newly emerging operatic vocal genre was subsequently further developed and refined in practice. Pingju also has a body of representative repertoire such as Sister Wang Longs for Her Husband, An'an Delivers Rice, Ma Siyuan Opens a Teahouse, The Young Son-in-Law, Liu Qiao'er, The Marriage of Xiao Erhei, Qin Xianglian and Du Shiniang. The music of Pingju belongs to the banqiang system, in which tunes follow set metrical patterns; its ban patterns include jianban, dabian, da'anban, xiao'anban, sanchui, daoban, duoban and liushuiban, and there is also a fandiao (reverse) mode. Accompaniment instruments fall into three groups: bowed and plucked strings, percussion and wind. The bowed and plucked group includes the banhu, erhu and sanxian; the percussion group includes wooden clappers, small side drums, hall drums, small gongs and large gongs; the wind group includes the dizi and suona. The vocal styles of Pingju draw on the music of Beijing opera and bangzi opera, and are divided into a male style and a female style. Early Pingju distinguished only male and female roles; in the course of development it gradually acquired the three role types of sheng, dan and chou, and later, under the influence of Beijing opera and bangzi, formed role types such as qingyi, huadan, laodan, xiaosheng, laosheng and xiaochou. Its performance absorbs the body movements and vocal styles of bangzi and Beijing opera, yet still keeps the free and lively character of a folk small opera, full of the flavour of everyday life. As the times develop, the audience for Pingju has fallen sharply and is ageing, and the influence of the form is greatly diminished; specific measures should be formulated to give it the support it needs.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The male vocal style has produced and developed the laosheng qiang (old male style) and the hualian qiang (painted-face style), while the female vocal style has a great many singing schools.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Pingju is the principal operatic genre of Northeast China and North China and has spread to the vast areas of Northwest and Southwest China, becoming a new genre that carries deep folk cultural traditions while also expressing a modern aesthetic consciousness. At the same time it embodies the folk culture of eastern Hebei and is closely followed by researchers of the history of Chinese opera and of folklore. Feng Yuping (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born in 1959, a native of Huludao, Liaoning. Feng Yuping entered the junior arts class of the Shenyang Pingju Theatre in 1973 and remained in the theatre as a staff member after graduating in 1979; in the course of that period she studied for two years at the Central Academy of Drama. In 1981 she became a disciple of the noted Pingju performing artist Hua Shulan, specialising in the qingyi role. Her representative works include Mu Guiying Takes Command, The Red Detachment of Women, Xie Yaohuan, Half a Pair of Scissors and The Romantic Widow. A representative inheritor of Pingju in the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, a first-class actress, a two-time winner of the China Drama Plum Blossom Award, and a recipient of a special government allowance from the State Council. Xiao Junting (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born in 1921, a native of Leling, Shandong. Xiao Junting performed in Tangshan and other places in Hebei, in Changchun and in Jinzhou from 1929 to 1952; after 1952 she was transferred to the Shenyang Pingju Theatre and stayed there until her retirement, and during those years she was also at times sent down to the countryside to work. Her representative works include Duel with Flowered Spears, Beating the Golden Branch, Eighth Sister Yang's Spring Outing, The Yang Family Women Generals and Storm in the Small Courtyard. A representative inheritor of Pingju in the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects, the founder of the Xiao school of Pingju, and a first-class actress.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Liu Xiurong 02-0558
• Hong Ying 02-0559
• Feng Yuping 02-0560
• Xiaojunting 02-0561
• Zhou Dan 03-1035
• Liu Ping 03-1036
• Gu Wenyue 03-1037
• Chen Peihua 03-1038
• Zhang Junling 04-1640
• Yuan Shumei 04-1641
• Lihongxia 04-1642
• Cengzhaojuan 05-2357
• Wang Guanli 05-2358
• Luo Huiqin 05-2359
• Wang Xiangyang 05-2360
• Ma Huimin
• Li Weiquan

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Pingju Opera (Shenyang, Liaoning) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Feng Yuping · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Xiaojunting · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗