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, the founder of Pingju and its first playwright, wrote such representative works as Ma Guafu Kai Dian (The Widow Ma Opens an Inn), Hua Wei Mei (The Flower as Matchmaker) and Yang Sanjie Gao Zhuang (Yang Sanjie's Suit), which have now become the classic preserved plays of the genre.

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. Chen Peihua (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, of Han ethnicity, born in August 1933, a native of Tianjin. A national first-class actress, a recipient of the special government allowance of the State Council. She began to carry leading roles in 1950, and her performances took her to every part of the country, where she was warmly received by audiences. In decades of study and stage practice she inherited and developed more than a hundred plays, including large numbers of traditional and modern plays that were transplanted or newly created. Her representative plays include Niulang Zhinü (The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl), The Moon-Worship Record, Er Du Mei (The Second Plum Blossom), Qi Shuanghui and Lü Bu and Diao Chan. She fully inherits the singing characteristics of the Li school of Pingju: her voice is soft and delicate, clear and sweet, and stresses the conveyance of feeling, while her singing is turning and melodious, fresh and lasting in flavour. Representative inheritor of Pingju under the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Zeng Zhaojuan (official archival record of the associated inheritor): female, of Han ethnicity, born in November 1965, a native of Qing County, Hebei Province. A national first-class actress. In 1981 she was admitted to the training class of the Hangu Pingju Troupe of Tianjin, and in March 1987 she took the famous Pingju performing artist Hua Shulan as her teacher and studied the art of the "Hua school". Her singing voice is sweet and her range wide; she conveys feeling through her voice and moves others with her feeling. The plays she created and performed, Ji Yin Chuanqi (The Legend of the Sealed Seal), Zhao Jintang, Fengyang Qing and Hong Gaoliang, have had wide artistic influence. She is now president of the Tianjin Pingju Opera Theatre. Representative inheritor of Pingju under the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. She is a recipient of the Ministry of Culture's Wenhua Performance Award, of the sixteenth Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award in 1999, and of the second "Plum Blossom" (er du mei, a second-degree award) at the twenty-fourth Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award in 2009. She is devoted to the transmission of the art of Pingju and actively passes the fine traditional plays of the genre on to young actors.

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 (Tianjinpingjuyuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Chen Peihua · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Cengzhaojuan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗