Meihu
01 · Historical Records
In the Ming and Qing the popular tunes and ditties that formed meihu circulated widely among the people on both banks of the Yellow River between Shanxi and Shaanxi; professional troupes formed between the last years of Guangxu and the early Republic, successively producing the Xinjiang Sun Fusheng troupe and the Xiaxian Gao Shiwei troupe, while Jiezhou had the meihu training class run by Zhao Liancheng.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Meihu, also called “mihu”, “quzi” and “qingqu”, is widely found in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. Meihu moved gradually from folk-song medley and ground-mat storytelling to stage performance, with two main forms of performance: one retaining the storytelling form of the ground-mat, its librettos mostly zhezi excerpts sung throughout with little spoken dialogue; the other the stage form, with speech, song and acting and freer choice of qupai. Meihu is a local operatic genre of distinctive character with rich tunes and a wide area of circulation, holding an important place in Chinese operatic culture. Meihu was originally called “mihu”. Southern Shanxi is one of its main areas of circulation. Early popular tunes such as Embroidering the Perfume Sachet, Silver Button Silk and Crying at the Fifth Watch, once given string accompaniment, became unaccompanied sitting singing by one or several performers; artists made a living from it, developing it into ground-mat storytelling of linked single qu with a certain plot, and after joining shehuo performance it opened the path to dramatisation. In the Daoguang reign there appeared in Jiezhou, southern Shanxi, an amateur troupe organised by Duan Yaogong with a folk artist of Lingbao, Henan, its plays including The Bachelor Cries for His Wife and Visiting the Lover; the artists' creative elaboration finally formed the meihu singing system of “seventy-two great tunes and thirty-six small tunes”, and at the same time absorbed the drum-and-gong patterns of Puzhou bangzi and drew on its liushui ban, jianban and gunbai, making up for the defect of being unable to express impassioned feeling while keeping its own gentle and lingering singing.
The Bachelor Cries for His Wife
A play of the amateur troupe organised in Jiezhou in the Daoguang reign.
Visiting the Lover
A play of the amateur troupe organised in Jiezhou in the Daoguang reign.
Seventy-Two Great Tunes and Thirty-Six Small Tunes
The singing system of southern Shanxi meihu, finally formed through the artists' creative elaboration and absorbing the drum-and-gong patterns and ban styles of Puzhou bangzi.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Southern Shanxi meihu centres on Linfen city, Shanxi, and is popular in the counties of southern Shanxi and the Shanxi-Shaanxi border on both banks of the Yellow River; in the Daoguang reign Jiezhou already had an amateur troupe organised by Duan Yaogong and a folk artist of Lingbao, Henan, and between the last years of Guangxu and the early Republic professional troupes formed such as the Xinjiang Sun Fusheng troupe and the Xiaxian Gao Shiwei troupe, with the Jiezhou meihu training class run by Zhao Liancheng, an important sign of meihu's flourishing in southern Shanxi.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Meihu · Meihu · Meihu · Meihu.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After graduation the inheritor was assigned to the Linfen meihu troupe and studied under such veteran artists as Yang Haisheng, Wei Benshan and Cheng Genhu, systematically learning the development history, singing style and technique of the old Linfen meihu. On the basis of tradition he absorbed some scientific methods of voice production and, combining his own vocal gifts with modern aesthetic ideas, gradually formed a distinctive singing style. He has taken part in film and television productions and won national awards more than ten times, and has passed on all the conventions, techniques and performing insights of meihu to his disciples, training a group of young actors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Yingjie 03-1099
- Pan Guoliang 05-2428
- Li Ruifang 05-2429
- Jiao Ruixia
- Yan Huifang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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