Wuyin Opera
01 · Historical Records
Wuyin Opera was originally called "Zhouguzi". It originated in the Zhangqiu and Licheng area of Shandong and is popular in Jinan, Zibo and the surrounding regions of central Shandong. In the 1930s Deng Hongshan went to Shanghai to make phonograph records for the Pathé (Baida) company. Because his vocal style was beautiful and moving, the record company presented him with a silk banner reading "Master of the Five Tones", and the genre was accordingly named "Wuyin Opera". Wuyin Opera arises from the folk and is rooted in the folk; long ago it had already become an indispensable art form for the ordinary people of the regions where it circulated, for holiday festivals and weddings and for their own amusement.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Its emergence, development and final shaping passed through three stages in roughly equal measure: the yanggeqiang stage, the five-person troupe stage and the Wuyin Opera stage. In performance the words are articulated first and the melodic line follows; the tunes are colloquial in their wording, and the vocal styles show considerable melodic variation. It is sung in the natural voice; in the female style the final tone is drawn out and the ending is then turned upward in falsetto, a device known as "cloud covering the moon", which is highly expressive. At first Wuyin Opera was performed mainly as erxiao plays (xiaodan and xiaosheng) and sanxiao plays (xiaodan, xiaosheng and xiaochou), without a civil orchestra accompaniment, and its content mostly reflected folk life; as it developed, a civil orchestra accompaniment was added and the repertory became richer. The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice. In the development history of Wuyin Opera the early famous performers included Tiedi, Xun Xingwang, Cao Ransheng, Gao Guifang (stage name "Half a Bowl of Honey"), Li Dexing (stage name "Follower of the Pillar") and Wang Huankui (stage name "Joy Arrives of Its Own Accord"), and others. Later Deng Hongshan, whose stage name was "Fresh Cherry", became the great synthesiser of Wuyin Opera performance. His vocal style is plain and spare, soft and supple; the people picture it as "one tuft and one ear of grain, gladdening folk until the tears fall". Deng Hongshan's performance is delicate and expressive, and his techniques of "floating brows", "sending the gaze" and "flying the old crow" may well be called a supreme achievement of operatic performance.
Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Millstone Grinder
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Brocade Tower
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Wall-Top Story
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Village Mother
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Meeting in the Pine Grove
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
The Parents-in-Law Arguing
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
An'an Carrying Rice
The traditional plays of Wuyin Opera mainly include Wang Xiaoer Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband, The Millstone Grinder, The Brocade Tower, Wang Dingbao Borrowing on Pledge, The Wall-Top Story, Zhao Meirong Watching the Lanterns, Wang Lin Repudiating His Wife, The Village Mother, Old Woman Wang as Matchmaker, The Fourth Sister Zhang's Descent to the Mortal World, The Meeting in the Pine Grove, The Parents-in-Law Arguing and An'an Carrying Rice.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Because what it portrays above all is the image and the state of life of rural women of the locality, its breath of everyday life is strong and its local character is rich. The dialect is plain and natural, folk proverbs and vivid comparisons are often used, the speech is concise and full of meaning, and the genre is deeply loved by the local people.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the rapid changes in the social, economic and cultural spheres have had a great impact on Wuyin Opera and jolted it hard; added to lagging protection measures and insufficient funding, this genre now faces the danger of being lost. Huo Junping (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1947, native of Zibo, Shandong. She has inherited Deng Hongshan's performance skills well, while at the same time developing a strong personal style from her vocal style to her performance. Her representative works include Laba Sister and the Stone Mill Spring. Representative inheritor of Wuyin Opera under the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects, honorary president of the Wuyin Opera Theatre of Zibo City, Shandong Province, a first-class performer, and a two-time winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award. Lü Fengqin (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in November 1964, native of Zibo City, Shandong Province. A national first-class performer, and an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. She has loved operatic art since childhood. In 1979 she was admitted to the Zibo Wuyin Opera Theatre by examination, where she specialised in the qingyi and huadan roles. In 1985 she became a disciple of Deng Hongshan, the great master of Wuyin Opera, and was later personally taught by Deng Hongshan's son Deng Jili. She studied and performed a dozen-odd traditional plays, among them Wang Xiao Driving the Mule, Wang Erjie Longing for Her Husband and The Millstone Grinder. Her stage appearance is handsome, her timbre is mellow and rounded, her performance is delicate, and the characters she portrays are sharply individualised and true to life. She has successively starred in a body of excellent traditional plays and modern plays, among them The Swapping of Sisters, The Exchange of Souls, The Wall-Top Story and The Returning Dragon, and is deeply loved by audiences. She serves as artistic director of the Wuyin Opera Theatre of Zibo City, Shandong Province, and consciously shoulders the task of transmitting Wuyin Opera in our own time. Representative inheritor of Wuyin Opera under the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. She has won the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, the Wenhua Performance Award of the Ministry of Culture and the Shanghai Magnolia Award for Dramatic Performing Arts, and has been named an Advanced Individual in the national work of protecting intangible cultural heritage.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huo Junping 02-0596
- Lvfengqin 05-2377
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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