Yongnianxidiao

01 · Historical Records

Yongnian xidiao is also called "Zezhou diao"; because it usually performed in paodai plays (costume-and-sash plays) and because its stage generally carried one daban (a length of railing), it also had the popular name "three-daban". In the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China it was formally named "xidiao". It originally had five vocal systems — kun, bang, luo, juan and huang — but only the bangzi register is performed now, and its singing and recitation have abandoned Jin pronunciation, moving towards jingbai and yunbai; all of its more than one hundred traditional plays are inherited from Shangdang bangzi, and the juan plays that it once had have now been lost.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Yongnian County of Handan City lies in southern Hebei, where the plains are vast and the Fu River and the Ming River run across the territory; the geographical environment is excellent, and Yongnian xidiao is widely transmitted in this area. Yongnian xidiao is also called "Zezhou diao"; because it usually performed in paodai plays (costume-and-sash plays) and because its stage generally carried one daban (a length of railing), it also had the popular name "three-daban". In the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China it was formally named "xidiao". Yongnian xidiao belongs to the banqiang system (metrical-modulation system), and its vocal music consists mainly of sīxián tune patterns and large-flute tune patterns. It has elaborate, costly and complete sets of metrical forms such as "two-slow-beat", "three-slow-beat", "four-six-beat", "duoban", "slow-long-beat" and "jieban", and it is good at expressing lofty and impassioned, free and uninhibited, and lively and cheerful emotions. Its accompanying instruments are very distinctive. The lead instrument, the head-string saw fiddle, is an authentic indigenous instrument made by the players themselves: it uses hide for its strings, is tuned in fifths with 6 inside and 3 outside, has a thin and short neck, and its relatively thick and long sound box is hollowed out of catalpa or paulownia wood. The two strings of the homemade jinghu are tuned in fourths, with 3 inside and 6 outside; the sanpa (gourd) is a bass instrument shaped like an erhu, with a rather long neck and a flat sound box, producing a deep, rich tone. Yongnian xidiao originally had five vocal systems — kun, bang, luo, juan and huang — but only the bangzi register is performed now, and its singing and recitation have abandoned Jin pronunciation, moving towards jingbai and yunbai. Yongnian xidiao has a complete range of role types; in performance it chiefly learns from and draws on the performance conventions and acrobatic techniques of Peking opera and Hebei bangzi, and is characterised by roughness and boldness, concision and plainness, and is full of local colour.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yongnian xidiao is transmitted in the area of Yongnian County in southern Hebei. Yongnian District of Handan City has vast open plains, with the Fu River and the Ming River running across the territory, and an excellent geographical environment; since xidiao was transmitted here from Zezhou in Shanxi it has taken root in this district, and in performance it chiefly learns from and draws on the performance conventions and acrobatic techniques of Peking opera and Hebei bangzi, being characterised by roughness and boldness, concision and plainness, and full of local colour. At present only one professional xidiao troupe, in Yongnian District, carries on the transmission within Hebei.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

All of its more than one hundred traditional plays are inherited from Shangdang bangzi. These include more than sixty bangzi-register plays such as Xiao Guoshan (Crossing the Small Mountain) and Luo Zhang Kuilou (Luo Zhang Kneeling Before the Tower); more than thirty huang-register plays such as Tanyin Shan (Exploring the Yin Mountain) and Kongchengji (The Empty Fort Strategy); a number of kun-register plays such as Fengxiang and Cifu; and a number of luo-register plays such as Da Mian'gang (Beating the Flour Jar), Shangfen (Visiting the Tomb) and Dingzhuan (Carrying Bricks). The juan plays that it once had have now been lost. With its distinctive artistic charm, Yongnian xidiao attracts broad audiences and has become an indispensable spiritual sustenance in the life of the local people, and it has a certain reference value for research into Hebei's local culture and social customs. At present xidiao in Hebei is declining day by day; only one professional xidiao troupe remains in Yongnian County, with few personnel, tight funding, difficulty in transmission and a precarious existence, and it urgently needs rescue and protection. Zhang Haichen (official archival record of the associated inheritor): He began learning the theatre from his father Zhang Xuezeng in 1943 and worked in the Yongnian Xidiao Troupe from 1948, fully mastering the singing technique and performance skills of Yongnian xidiao. His performance is exaggerated and fluent, and he is skilled in playing the xusheng (bearded male) role. His singing is rough and lofty, he is suited to large-scale dynastic plays, and he can take the leading role in all the plays. His representative works include Pan Yang Song, Hai Rui Gao Zhuang (Hai Rui Files a Complaint) and Balan Ci Xiao. He collected ten scripts of xidiao traditional plays as well as traditional performance props, and trained more than thirty successors. Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1936, died in November 2023, native of Yongnian County, Hebei Province. Representative inheritor of Yongnian xidiao in the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Zhang Haichen 03-1096

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yongnianxidiao (Yongnian, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhang Haichen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗