Huagu Opera

01 · Historical Records

Huaibei huaguxi circulates in the Huaibei and Suixi area of northern Anhui and in the border region of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. Flower-drum singing came out of folk song and gradually developed into the “two-small play” performed by one dan and one chou, then drew on the performing modes of local grand opera and became an independent genre. The main tunes of the Huaibei branch include “Suzhou diao”, “Huibei diao”, “kouzi diao pingban” and “hanban”, the “han diao” being especially individual in character; its performance is distinctive too, the “flower-drum great procession” being its most characteristic feature and regarded as the “consummate skill” of Huaibei huaguxi, and artists insist on what is called the nine qiang and eighteen diao and the seventy-two heng heng.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Huaguxi is the general name for the “flower-drum” local short operas of various localities in China, circulating mainly in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Zhejiang. The chuanqi play of Fan Wenruo at the end of the Ming dynasty depicts a stage scene of flower-drum singing, showing the earliest appearance of this art form. Flower-drum singing came out of folk song and gradually developed into the “two-small play” performed by one dan and one chou. In the course of practice, it drew on the performing modes of local grand opera and absorbed various artistic elements, finally developing into an independent local operatic genre. The musical tunes of huaguxi belong basically to the qupai-linking form, while also being supplemented by some ban-style variation. Its performing means are rich and varied, lively and animated, with distinctive local characteristics and a folk song-and-dance style. Traditional plays mainly reflect folk-life content such as productive labour, love between men and women and family conflicts, and in later development some new works reflecting modern life also appeared. Its vocal music divides into the two great categories of “gong-qiang” and “qin-qiang”: gong-qiang has southern-road gong-qiang, northern-road gong-qiang and special gong-qiang sanqu, while qin-qiang has zhengdiao qin-qiang and qin-qiang xiaodiao. Shaoyang huaguxi has rich singing and many qupai, forming a musical system fusing the three vocal categories of chuan-diao, paizi and xiaodiao; its performance and music are divided into eastern, southern and western roads according to basic artistic style. The main tunes of Huaibei huaguxi include “Suzhou diao”, “Huibei diao”, “kouzi diao pingban” and “hanban”, among which “han diao” is especially individual in character. Its performance is also distinctive, and the “flower-drum great procession” is its most characteristic feature, regarded as the “consummate skill” of Huaibei huaguxi. Wannan huaguxi has the four main arias “tao qiang”, “beiniuzi”, “siping” and “bei qiang”, together with flower arias composed of lantern tunes and folk ditties. Its traditional plays include Saohua Tang, Daguayuan, Jiabaoxi, Dangchayuan and Dabuding. The singing of Suizhou huaguxi divides into the four modes “man diao”, “tai diao”, “Liangshan diao” and “cai diao”. Macheng huaguxi, also called “Dongluzi”, has singing such as “dong qiang”, “er gaoqiang”, “erhang”, “dui qiang”, “tan qiang” and “xiaodiao”, and plays such as Maihua Ji, The Pearl Tower, Suing the Dyke Tyrant and Storming the Court.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yueyang huaguxi in Hunan is sung in the northern Hunan dialect and has 123 traditional plays in all.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Zhou Qinquan (as recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): In 1936 he began to learn Huaibei huaguxi from the old artist Zhang Maoxuan. From 1949 he began taking apprentices and teaching, training more than five hundred students, innovating in transmission and developing in innovation, and enriching the performance art of Huaibei huaguxi. He has acted in more than four hundred plays, is skilled in the sheng and jing role types and has a distinctive vocal manner and key, with the nine qiang and eighteen diao and the seventy-two heng heng; his performance techniques include ten great walks, thirty-six middle walks, seventy-two small walks, one hundred and eight pounces and ninety-two shivers. Over the years he has led his troupe on tours through southern Shandong, northern Jiangsu, eastern Henan and Huaibei, and is warmly received by the masses. Male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1925, died in April 2013, native of Huaibei City, Anhui Province. Representative inheritor of huaguxi in the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. His students Zhang Shuhua, Yang Suhua, Huang Shurong, Wang Xiumei and others have now become the backbone of Huaibei huaguxi. Zhou Yuling (as recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in December 1969, native of Huaibei City, Anhui Province. In 1986 she completed her training and became a leading actor in the troupe. In 1989 she became head of operations at the huaguxi theatre of Suixi County and has continued to perform Huaibei huaguxi up to the present. She specialised in the laodan, xiaodan and qingyi roles and afterwards broadened her study to the laosheng, xiaosheng, wusheng, xusheng and chou roles. She is skilled in gong, drum and cymbal technique and has a thorough grasp of the vocal styles, tunes and spoken passages of huaguxi; while consolidating her command of the traditional repertory she also innovates boldly, rehearsing modern plays on rural subjects. Under the difficult conditions of a privately run troupe with few personnel, she kept taking on disciples, raised funds for a large stage and staged full-scale works such as Wang Baochuan, Zheng Xiaojiao and The Golden Ball of the Great Song, winning high praise from audiences everywhere. Representative inheritor of huaguxi in the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Lvjinling 03-1119
• Zhou Qinquan 03-1120
• Chixiuyun 03-1121
• Yang Yuping 03-1122
• Yang Jiane 03-1123
• Pan Aifang 04-1684
• Yang Xiaolan 04-1685
• Ouyang Juewen 04-1686
• Zhou Yuling 05-2440
• Wei Guifeng 05-2441
• Wan Baoying 05-2442
• Cengmeiling 05-2443
• Hu Ruishi 05-2444
• Du Meishuang 05-2445
• Liao Hanmei 05-2446
• Li Xiaojia 05-2447
• Li Saijian
• Liu Liurong
• He Xiangan

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Huagu Opera (Huaibei, Anhui) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhou Qinquan · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhou Yuling · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗