Yangju Opera

01 · Historical Records

In the early 20th century it entered large cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou; in the 1950s and 1960s Yangju opera began to flourish, performances in Zhenjiang, Nanjing and Yangzhou enjoying a vogue for a time and forming a tripartite contest among the three cities.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Yangju opera was originally called Weiyang xi and is popularly known as Yangzhou xi; it is current in Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing and other places of Jiangsu Province and in parts of Anhui Province, and Yangju plays are also performed in Shanghai. Yangju opera is based on Huagui opera, a small folk song-and-dance play of Yangzhou, and on Xianghuo opera, performed by male shamans at the thanksgiving and deity-propitiation temple meetings of the folk of northern Jiangsu; absorbing Yangzhou qingqu, local folk songs and simple tunes, it gradually developed into an independent drama genre. The vocal music of Yangju opera belongs to the tune-pattern system and consists mainly of three parts: Huagui opera music, Xianghuo opera music, and Yangzhou qingqu together with xiao chang (short sung pieces). Its accompanying ensemble is divided into a wen chang (civil section) and a wu chang (martial section). The civil section mainly uses string and wind instruments such as the zhu hu, zheng gong, pipa, sanxian, yangqin, flute and suona; the martial section mainly uses percussion such as the ban drum, large gong, small gong, nao and bo, and hall drum. Although the role types of Yangju opera are divided into sheng, dan, jing and chou, the distinction is not strict; performers cover a wide range, and in the vocal line only a male style and a female style are distinguished. The performance of each role type draws largely on and absorbs the conventions of Kunqu, Beijing opera and the like, yet it always keeps the plain and lively character of Huagui opera, with a strong flavour of everyday life. Yangju opera has more than four hundred traditional repertoire works, the more influential of which include Yu Qingting (The Jade Dragonfly), Zhenzhu Ta (The Pearl Pagoda), Shen Tudì (The Trial of the Land God), Xiu Fu Yuan (The Embroidered Tally), Wang Zhaojun (Lady Zhaojun of the Han), Nao Deng Ji (The Trouble with the Lanterns), San Xi Bai Mudan (Three Plays of the White Peony), Ming Fu Yan (The Noble Lady's Feast), Qiaofu Yu Hua Nü (The Woodcutter and the Painted Maiden), Hongyan Chuanshu (Wild Geese Carrying a Letter) and Bai Sui Guashuai (The Hundred-Year-Old Takes Command).

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yangju opera is current in Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing and other places of Jiangsu Province and in parts of Anhui Province. In the 1950s and 1960s, performances in Zhenjiang, Nanjing and Yangzhou enjoyed a vogue for a time, forming a tripartite contest among the three cities. The Zhenjiang line is marked out by the art of the Jin school: Jin Yungui created the female vocal style 'jin-diao Shuzhuangtai', and his last formal disciple Yao Gonglin developed out of it the 'Yao style of the Jin school', so that the saying arose that 'nine out of ten young male roles are Yao's'; the Zhenjiang Yangju Opera Troupe and the Zhenjiang Yangju class of the Jiangsu Theatre School share the task of training talent for the locality.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Over the past ten years, under the impact of the pluralistic culture of modern society, people's aesthetic ideas have changed, so that the audience for Yangju opera has diminished, the performance market has contracted and the art survives with difficulty; in these circumstances it is necessary to formulate measures to strengthen the protection and support of Yangju opera. Xiao Ronggui (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A national first-class performer. On the foundation of the 'sheng-diao Shuzhuangtai' sung by the master Jin Yungui he innovated boldly, creating the female vocal style 'jin-diao Shuzhuangtai' and enabling the 'ziyou diao' (free style) to develop further. In 1959 he went to Beijing to perform Tiaoxu Fu (Choosing the Son-in-Law) and was received by leaders of the Party and the state. In the 1970s he went to Jiangdu County (today Jiangdu District of Yangzhou City) to teach Yangju opera, in 1982 he served as a teacher at the Zhenjiang Yangju Opera Troupe, and from 1992 he taught for three years in the Zhenjiang Yangju class of the Jiangsu Theatre School. His representative works include Hongxia (Crimson Clouds), Jiezi (Borrowing a Son), Hongse Jiapu (A Red Family Genealogy), Seng Ni Xia Shan (The Monk and the Nun Descend the Mountain), Chongtai Bie (Parting at the Twin Terraces), Tiaoxu Fu (Choosing the Son-in-Law) and other plays. Female, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1933, died in October 2018, native of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. Representative inheritor of Yangju Opera, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third batch. Yao Gonglin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1947, native of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. A national first-class performer. He entered the art at the age of 14 and is the last formal disciple of Jin Yungui, the late founder of the Jin school art of Yangju opera. His appearance is handsome and elegant and his performance free and untrammelled, and he has the reputation of being the 'finest young male role' of the Jin school of Yangju opera. He inherited, developed and enriched the vocal styles and performing art of the Jin school, forming the 'Yao style of the Jin school' that became known far and wide north and south of the Yangtze; his imitators and disciples are numerous, so that there arose a situation in which 'nine out of ten young male roles are Yao's'. Over the years he has trained a body of young Yangju performers and artistic backbones, and he has published the collection of vocal styles Jinsheng Yaoyun (The Sound of Jin, the Melody of Yao) as well as audio-visual materials of Xixiang Ji (The Story of the Western Wing), Honglou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), Maiyou Lang (The Oil Peddler), Fangqing Xiugu (Fangqing Ashamed before His Aunt) and other works. Representative inheritor of Yangju Opera, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third batch. He has won, among other honours, the excellent performance award at the first, second and third Jiangsu Yangju Opera Art Festivals, the 'White Magnolia' gold award at the Shanghai Yangju Opera Television and Radio Grand Prix, and the title of 'Virtue and Art Both Refined' member awarded at the inaugural session of the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Li Kaimin 02-0578
• Wang Qin 02-0579
• Jiang Jianfeng 03-1046
• Wu Huiming 03-1047
• Xiaoronggui 03-1048
• Yao Gonglin 03-1049
• Xu Xiufang 05-2366
• Li Zhengcheng

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yangju Opera (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xiaoronggui · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Yao Gonglin · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗