Yangge Opera
01 · Historical Records
Huguan yangge was originally a folk shehuo performance form circulating in the Huguan area of Shanxi, formed in the late Ming and early Qing. In the late Qing and early Republic Huguan already had more than a hundred amateur yangge troupes such as Xiguanbi and Shipo, whose plays were mainly Da Suanzao and Su Jiejie Mengmeng. Drawing on the Shanxi volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu, more than a hundred amateur troupes appeared in Huguan in the late Qing and early Republic, performing mostly at rural shehuo and temple fairs; in 1960 the Huguan county government formed a professional yangge troupe and carried out large-scale rescue and collation of the art.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It is often sung in the street, at the meal ground, on the threshing floor and on the kang, accompanied only by bronze percussion and without string instruments, hence also called “ground-circle yangge” and “dry-plank yangge”. Huguan yangge has several times gone to the provincial capital to report on its work and has won awards repeatedly. Its accompaniment is mainly bronze percussion with few strings, its singing plain and brisk, its plays mostly rustic life sketches and its performance close to such everyday settings as the street, the meal ground and the threshing floor, hence the names “ground-circle yangge” and “dry-plank yangge”.
Da Suanzao (Beating the Wild Jujubes)
One of the principal early plays of the Huguan yangge amateur troupes.
Su Jiejie Mengmeng (Sister Su Dreams)
One of the principal early plays of the Huguan yangge amateur troupes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Huguan yangge is popular in the Huguan area of south-eastern Shanxi and, together with Zezhou yangge and Xiangwu yangge, forms a branch of Shangdang-region yangge; through long performance in shehuo and yangge teams it took such alternative names as “ground-circle yangge”, and the various branches have exchanged and borrowed tunes 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
In October 1960 the Huguan county government formally organised a professional yangge troupe and carried out large-scale rescue and collation. In recent years, with changes in production and way of life, Huguan yangge's performance market has shrunk steadily, its artists struggle to survive and the whole art lacks successors, urgently needing government support and protection. It preserves the form of shehuo yangge's transition into a stage short opera, and its string-less vocal system is distinctive among Shanxi yangge and of value for operatic music research; facing a shrinking market and a lack of successors, the locality sustains the genre through professional revivals of traditional plays and opera-in-schools. Li Yingying (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in December 1961 in Huguan county, Shanxi. Her performance style is plainly unadorned, her singing clear and flowing, and her hand, eye, body and step techniques closely follow the character's temperament, her performances in Er Du Qing and Tao Li Mei being especially outstanding. She is a representative inheritor of yangge opera (Huguan yangge) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Passionate about the study and transmission of Huguan yangge, she has many times gone deep into the drama classes of vocational schools and the Huguan county cultural centre to coach students, with outstanding achievements in training transmitters.
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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