Yangge Opera
01 · Historical Records
In the Zhengtong reign of the Ming, yangge transmitted orally by folk artists began to spread across the Jinzhong plain. By the Daoguang reign of the Qing, Qi county already had such yangge troupes as Tongle She, Qitai Xile Ban and Qitai Dewei She. Afterwards the artists gradually blended dance, martial arts and various skills into yangge, developing “ground yangge” and “street yangge”, and further drew on the content and forms of folk art from elsewhere, so that yangge evolved from street singing into a local short opera with more than three hundred plays.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qitai yangge is a local short opera circulating among the people of Shanxi; it began as a folk ditty sung by farmers during their work, traceable to the Tang and Song. In this process a Qitai yangge distribution area formed, centred on Qi county and Taigu and reaching more than ten surrounding counties and districts including Wenshui and Jiaocheng. It combines music, dance, singing, recitation, acting and martial yangge, taking the life stories of the farmers of Qi county, Taigu and Jinzhong as its subject, with fine and pleasing tunes, lively language, plain and rough performance and a strong flavour of life and local character, much loved by audiences in its areas and of some research value for Jinzhong folklore and the emergence of opera.
Mai Ronghua (Selling Velvet Flowers)
A traditional Qitai yangge play and one of the representative works of the inheritor Bai Meiyun.
Chunjiang Yue (Moon over the Spring River)
A traditional Qitai yangge play and one of Bai Meiyun's representative works.
Da Chi Cu (A Great Fit of Jealousy)
A traditional domestic sketch of Qitai yangge and one of Bai Meiyun's representative works.
Da Tiaocai (Picking Greens)
A traditional domestic sketch of Qitai yangge, a piece the inheritor Sun Guiming is skilled in.
Tou Nangua (Stealing Pumpkins)
A traditional chou-role sketch of Qitai yangge and one of Sun Guiming's representative works.
Jie Qinjia (Receiving the In-Laws)
A traditional Qitai yangge sketch drawn from the visits of relatives and in-laws in village life.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Taigu is one of the central areas of Qitai yangge, where troupes and “street yangge” performances once flourished; the Taigu line is noted for its chou plays and life sketches and, sharing an origin with the Qi county line, differs from it in tune and repertory.
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
Bai Meiyun (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in November 1963 in Taigu county, Shanxi. Her representative works include Mai Ronghua, Chunjiang Yue and Da Chi Cu. She is a representative inheritor of yangge opera (Qitai yangge) in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, won the first prize at the Shanxi provincial opera festival in 1990 and a silver award at the sixth China Folk Art Festival in 2004, and took part in the recording of the CCTV programme “Folk Songs of China — Strolling Taigu, Watching Yangge” in 2009; her performances have reached all parts of Jinzhong and she has trained more than ten leading yangge performers. Sun Guiming (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in August 1952 in Taigu county, Shanxi. Fond of yangge from childhood, at twenty-five he entered the Taigu county yangge troupe, learning singing from Wang Xiaoduan (stage name Xiangmandan) and performance from Wang Zhenji (stage name Little Toad the Clown) and specialising in the chou role. Over decades in the art he has created vividly true comic images in hundreds of classic Taigu yangge plays, bringing each to life through his own understanding of art and life. His representative works include Da Tiaocai, Tou Nangua and Jie Qinjia. For many years he has worked at training talent and actively carried out opera-in-schools, teaching students and teachers about Qitai yangge, and in his spare time passes on singing and acting to folk troupes and enthusiasts, benefiting more than two hundred amateurs. He is a representative inheritor of yangge opera (Qitai yangge) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Taigu Qitai yangge preserves a large number of rural-life sketches and tunes; transmitters sustain the genre through opera-in-schools and folk teaching, with the Taigu county cultural centre responsible for the project's protection and transmission.
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)
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