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Puppetry

Ⅳ-92Traditional OperaLongyan, FujianBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, as the Hakka migrated, puppetry spread by degrees to the Hakka areas, including the counties of Shanghang, Yongding, Changting, Liancheng, Wuping, Zhangping, Ninghua and Longyan in Longyan City, and it also reached Dabu and Wuhua in Guangdong, Shicheng and southern Ganzhou in Jiangxi, and Pingjiang in Hunan and other places. It preserves the surviving traces of Song-Yuan religious and storytelling puppets and of Ming-dynasty Yiyang gaoqiang; in the late Qing dynasty it absorbed the vocal styles of different genres such as luantan, waijiang xi (Minxi Han opera) and Jiangxi huaguxi, and further absorbed the local folk minor tunes of Minxi and the southern ci with northern diao (nanci beidiao), fusing many kinds of vocal music into one. Ming-dynasty Minxi Hakka puppetry circulated among the people in the form of Yiyang gaoqiang and was combined with the ritual procedures of folk Daoist altars, forming a shape in which ritual and drama coexist. In the middle of the Qing dynasty, when luantan opera flourished, the various troupes one after another 'changed their tunes and sang it anew', so that gaoqiang troupes and luantan troupes existed side by side.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Minxi Hakka puppetry is a traditional form of drama transmitted mainly in the areas where the Hakka people live in southwestern Fujian Province. Minxi lies at the junction of Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong: to the northwest it adjoins southern Ganzhou, to the southwest it borders eastern Guangdong, and to the southeast it neighbours the Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou area (Minnan). Minxi Hakka puppetry has a rich and varied repertoire. It has more than one thousand plays, preserving the dramatic and literary characteristics of different periods, such as Song-Yuan storybooks, Ming chuanqi and Qing luantan. Its vocal styles are inclusive of many schools. Its Hakka character is marked. Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like. Minxi Hakka puppetry already existed between the Song and Yuan periods. Apart from a few chuanqi scripts, its plays mostly perform the storytelling novels (huaben). The early performers comprised one person manipulating the strings in front of the stage and one beating the drum at the back; by the early Qing dynasty a third person had been added to manipulate the strings. After the Daoguang reign both the number of puppets and the back-stage accompaniment increased. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Longyan area once had four county-level professional puppet troupes and more than ninety folk puppet troupes. The literary scripts, the vocal music and the performance techniques of Minxi Hakka puppetry preserve and merge the puppet-art characteristics of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, and display with artistic skill the politics, the economy, the religion, the folk customs and the ways of human feeling of Hakka society, and they spread the values of punishing evil and promoting good, of honesty and universal love. It therefore has high historical, cultural and social value, and plays a positive role in carrying forward the fine qualities of the Hakka people — hard-working, plain, kind and loving — and in spreading positive influence.

The Legend of Guanyin

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

The Legend of the Three Officials

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

The Legend of Madam

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

The Legend of Huaguang

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

The Legend of Yue Fei

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

The Yang Family Generals

Minxi Hakka puppetry has a variety of performance forms, three chief ones: mythological plays performed in community rites for the gods' birthdays and jiao ceremonies, whose main plays include The Legend of Guanyin (Guanyin Zhuan), The Legend of the Three Officials (Sanguan Zhuan) and the like, corresponding to the sacrificial rites; folk plays performed in household customs for blessing and for the averting of disaster, such as The Legend of Madam (Furen Zhuan), The Legend of Huaguang (Huaguang Zhuan) and the like; and multi-act serial plays performed at rural market fairs, such as The Legend of Yue Fei (Yuefei Zhuan), The Yang Family Generals (Yangjia Jiang) and the like.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The plays contain such distinctive comic characters as the theatre gods 'Great Tian Lord' (Datian Gong), 'Little Tian Lord' (Xiaotian Gong) and 'Wang Qilao'; their appearance is strange and their movements grotesque, and on reaching each new place they speak their lines in the local dialect, so the flavour of local folk custom is very strong.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present more than twenty puppet troupes are still active in Longyan City. This item was formerly transmitted within the family, from elder brother to younger brother and from father to son; by the middle of the Qing dynasty the practice of taking a master and learning the art from him had appeared. Among the folk today master-and-disciple teaching is still the main method, and professional troupes also transmit the art by running training classes; relying on rehearsal and performance practice, they advance the work of protecting the item.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

  1. Puppetry (Longyan, Fujian) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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