Yangge Opera
01 · Historical Records
Yuxian yangge was strongly influenced by Shanxi bangzi, absorbing not only its robed-and-belted grand plays but also its musical system, and thus forming various ban patterns evolved from bangzi tunes. Drawing on the Hebei volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu, it took shape in the shehuo singing around Yuzhou in the mid-Qing, and by the late Qing and early Republic there were already professional troupes; lying at the Hebei–Shanxi border, it absorbed much of Shanxi bangzi's ban patterns and grand plays and gradually grew from a “two-small-role play” into a local genre with a full range of roles.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yuxian yangge, also called “Yuzhou bangzi” and “Yuju”, arose in Yuxian and is popular in Zhangjiakou in Hebei, northern Shanxi and some banners and counties of Inner Mongolia, a genre much loved by the people of its areas. Early Yuxian yangge was sung in “xundiao” (folk songs), consisting mainly of “two-small-role” (xiaosheng and xiaodan) or “three-small-role” (xiaosheng, xiaodan and xiaochou) plays, often performed in rural shehuo. Its roles are complete, divided into hong (laosheng), hei (large and second painted faces), sheng, dan and chou. Its singing is in the Yuxian dialect and mostly uses a combination of true and falsetto voice. The xiaosheng and dan can sing “xundiao”, the “hong” rarely and the “hei” never. Among the bangzi-tune patterns, apart from the special singing of the “hei” role, the vocal structures of the other roles are broadly similar. In long stage practice Yuxian yangge has accumulated more than two hundred plays, among which Huilong Ge and Da Waguan are representative. At the same time, the old artists are leaving one after another and young people are mostly unwilling to learn so archaic an art of vocal style and conventions.
Huilong Ge (The Returning Dragon Pavilion)
A representative play among the more than two hundred accumulated by Yuxian yangge.
Da Waguan (Smashing the Crock)
A representative play among the more than two hundred accumulated by Yuxian yangge.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yuxian yangge is popular in Zhangjiakou in Hebei, northern Shanxi and some banners and counties of Inner Mongolia; through long fusion with Shanxi bangzi and the language of Yuzhou it has formed a regional character combining a bangzi-tune framework with yangge vocal colour, with the Yuxian cultural centre as the project's protection body.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera · Yangge Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present Yuxian yangge faces great difficulty in survival; the diversification of art forms has shrunk the performance market and greatly reduced the number of performing bodies, so the genre suffers from a lack of transmitters, stands on the brink of extinction and urgently needs rescue and protection. Its more than two hundred traditional plays and the various ban patterns evolved from bangzi tunes make it an important example for studying the transformation of yangge into bangzi tune; facing a shrinking market and scarce transmitters, the locality, relying on the cultural centre, sustains the genre through recording and collating plays and opera-in-schools. Wang Zhilan (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in September 1945 in Yuxian, Hebei. She has inherited and developed the artistic features of Yuxian yangge and is a fairly versatile actor of the Yuxian Yangge Troupe, skilled in xiaodan, daoma and xiaosheng and noted for fine acting, solid technique and fine singing; her Pan Jinlian in Wu Dalang Mai Bing combines singing, acting and dance, and her Yang Paifeng in Chu Feng Ling Kong is noted for bearing and weapon work, both much praised by specialists and audiences. She is a representative inheritor of yangge opera (Yuxian yangge) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and won the first performance prize at the First Zhangjiakou Drama Festival in 1990.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Qiaoju 02-0601
- Wu Niancheng 02-0602
- Zhang Zhanyuan 02-0603
- Zhang Yuanye 02-0604
- Zhang Fu 03-1060
- Zhang Runlai 03-1061
- Miao Gensheng 03-1062
- Bai Meiyun 03-1063
- Ren Senkui 03-1064
- Wu Yumei 04-1650
- Yang Shengxiang 04-1651
- Wang Zhilan 05-2381
- Sun Guiming 05-2382
- Li Yingying 05-2383
- Qu Dengmei
- Zhang Fenran
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。