Erjiaxian
01 · Historical Records
Drawing on the Shandong volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Dingtao materials, erjiaxian is popular in the border region of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui and took shape in the nineteenth century out of such folk performing forms as “huagu dingxiang” and “da wuyin”; the troupes around Dingtao were already famous in the late Qing, and in 1951 the artists joined the troupe to form the Heze prefecture erjiaxian company.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Erjiaxian, also called “liangjiaxian”, is a local operatic genre of long history widely found in the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui, named because the four strings of its chief accompanying instrument, the sihu, separately clamp the two strands of horsehair on the bow, with a history of more than three hundred years. It was first a cotton-spinning ditty and, through the artists' development and creation, gradually formed on the basis of such genres as “huagu dingxiang”, “da wuyin” and “sigen xian”. Its singing music belongs to the “xuansuo vocal” system combining the banqiang and qupai forms, its chief feature being the alternation of true and falsetto voice. Its qupai are mostly drawn from folk music, many still fairly primitive. It is deeply loved by audiences, so that in its areas there is even the saying “though you eat nothing, wear nothing and give up the New Year, you must still go to hear erjiaxian”.
Sanlafang
One of the plays performed by the inheritor with the Shandong joint troupe on the 1959 Beijing reporting tour.
Zhanhua Qiang (Standing by the Flower Wall)
One of the plays performed by the inheritor on the 1959 Beijing reporting tour.
Shuan Wawa (Tying the Baby)
One of the plays performed by the inheritor on the 1959 Beijing reporting tour.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Its ban styles are rich and its musical style fine, full of local character, and it excels in the “three-small plays” reflecting folk life, its subjects mostly realistic.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Erjiaxian · Erjiaxian · Erjiaxian.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The inheritor joined the newly founded Heze prefecture erjiaxian troupe in 1951, specialising in guimendan and huadan; inheriting the genre's traditional style and attending to singing, he deeply explored the plain use of dialect, his articulation melodious, natural and fluent, fast without disorder and slow without break, sorrowful without harming beauty and angry without harming elegance, letting feeling lead the voice with both voice and feeling present. Attending also to learning from all quarters, he innovated such erjiaxian qupai as the nianzi, zanzi and kantoujue, giving an impression ancient yet not old, charming yet not gaudy, ringing yet not vulgar. He entered the Caozhou Hongyi troupe in 1945 and joined the Heze prefecture erjiaxian troupe in 1951 as a xiaosheng, beginning to play leads in 1954 and gradually growing into one of erjiaxian's famous actors; in 1959 he joined the joint Shandong tour of Liuzi opera, erjiaxian and Liuqiang to report in Beijing, entering Zhongnanhai three times and performing Sanlafang, Zhanhua Qiang and Shuan Wawa, and in 1979 went to Beijing for the Ministry of Culture's performance marking the thirtieth anniversary of National Day.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tian Aiyun 03-1124
- Li Jinghua 03-1125
- Song Ruitao 03-1126
- Fuhongwei 05-2448
- Wu Li
- Zushuxian
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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