Pingju Opera

01 · Historical Records

Pingju was originally called "bengbeng xi" or "luozi xi", was also known as "pingqiang bangzi xi" and was abbreviated as "ping xi", and it formally took the name "Pingju" in 1935. Cheng Zhaocai was the founder of Pingju and its first playwright; his representative works Ma Guafu Kai Dian (The Widow Ma Opens an Inn), Hua Wei Mei (The Flower as Matchmaker), Yang Sanjie Gao Zhuang (Yang Sanjie's Suit) and others have become the classic preserved repertoire of Pingju.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

It circulates in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the Northeast, and has a broad popular basis. Around 1910, the bengbeng xi artists headed by Cheng Zhaocai took as their base the antiphonal "lianhualuo" of the Luanzhou area in eastern Hebei, absorbing the vocal music and the performance art of northeastern errenzhuan, Peking opera, shadow puppetry and dagu; in performance they used a complete set of Hebei Bangzi instruments for accompaniment, and thus the basic style of Pingju was formed. In the course of practice this newly emergent Pingju art was continually developed and perfected and became steadily more mature. The music of Pingju belongs to the banqiang (metrical) system; its ban patterns include jianban, dabban, da anban, xiao anban, sanchui, daoban, duoban and liushuiban and at the same time there is also fandiao (reverse mode). The accompanying instruments fall into three kinds, bowed and plucked, percussion and wind: the bowed and plucked include the banhu, erhu, sanxian and the like, the percussion include the ban (clappers), digu (low side drum), tanggu (hall drum), diluo (small gong) and daluo (large gong), and the wind include the dizi, suona and the like. The vocal styles of Pingju draw on the music of Peking opera and of bangzi, and are divided into a male voice and a female voice.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The China Pingju Opera Theatre carries on the traditions of the western-route and eastern-route schools of Pingju; its productions retain a great deal of the content of Beijing traditional culture, and at the same time it has inherited, developed and formed artistic schools such as Bai (Yushuang), Xin (Fengxia), Wei (Rongyuan), Zhang (Defu) and Ma (Tai). The Tianjin Pingju Opera Theatre is likewise strong, and it has both inherited and developed the four great schools of Li (Jinshun), Liu (Cuixia), Bai (Yushuang) and Ai (Lianjun) very well.

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

As the times change, the influence of Pingju is being greatly weakened, and measures should be taken to give it the necessary protection and support. Liu Ping (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, of Han ethnicity, born in December 1942, a native of Beijing. A national first-class actress, a recipient of the special government allowance of the State Council. In 1959 she was admitted to the training class of the China Pingju Opera Theatre. In 1960 she was assigned to the second troupe of the China Pingju Opera Theatre, and she at one time stood in for Xiao Baiyushuang to play the role of Gao Xia in Shenghuo de Kaige (The Song of Life). In 1978 she took part in the revival of Qin Xianglian, which has remained in the repertory and gone on being performed ever since. Building on the tradition of the Bai school, she developed it in her own way: her singing is low, turning and melodious, with a rich and mellow flavour, and voice and feeling thrive together. The plays she is best at are largely qingyi roles and tragedies. In 2016 she took Wang Ping as her pupil. Representative inheritor of Pingju under the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. In 1984 she won the second Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award for playing Bai Yushuang in Pingju Huanghou (The Queen of Pingju). Gu Wenyue (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, of Han ethnicity, born in March 1945, a native of Gu'an County, Hebei Province. A national first-class actress, a recipient of the special government allowance of the State Council. In 1965, after graduating from the Beijing Municipal Specialised School of Chinese Opera, she was assigned to the China Pingju Opera Theatre. She was head of the youth troupe of the China Pingju Opera Theatre. Her high and low registers are harmonious and unified, her vocal style is pretty and sweet, remaining rounded even in the high register and particularly pure and clear in the low; the characters she creates are vivid and lifelike. She originated the solo Pingju concert and the Pingju musical story-drama. Among the pupils she has taken are Wang Lijing and Zhang Xiuyun. Representative inheritor of Pingju under the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. For playing Yang Sanjie in Yang Sanjie Gao Zhuang she won the second Chinese Golden Record Award; for playing Zhang Wuke in Hua Wei Mei she won the first Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award. She has been named a National March 8th Red-Banner Pioneer and an advanced worker of the national cultural system.

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 (Zhongguopingjuyuan, Beijing) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liu Ping · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Gu Wenyue · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗