Pingnan Pingjiang Opera
01 · Historical Records
Drawing on the Fujian volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Pingnan materials, Pingnan pingjiangxi developed out of the “tuo gushi” performance popular in the north-eastern Fujian countryside in the late Ming and early Qing and also called “shoulder-pole shed”, sung in the eastern Fujian dialect; because its singing shares with Yiyang qiang the feature of “one man raising the voice, the many responding”, it belongs to the “baizi gaoqiang” system. From 2001 the locality resumed rescue and excavation work.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Its art form is relatively simple and primitive, its singing much mixed with local folk ditties and with Daoist and Buddhist music, marked in performance only by the “scabbard clapper” together with drum and gong. Like Yiyang qiang it uses the “singing and responding” form combining unaccompanied song and choral support, “one man raising the voice, the many responding”. Later it gradually added string accompaniment, using such instruments as the “maohu” and “zhina”. Its commonly performed plays include a body of classics known as the “seven pairs”, “eight gifts” and “twenty-one miscellaneous” and some “three-small plays” for the xiaosheng, xiaodan and xiaochou, its performance plain and rough-hewn and close to life. Its costume and make-up are also simple, the stage dress generally sewn from printed native cloth; the clown need only paint a white egg on each cheek and put on two nose-whiskers to go on stage, and the xiaosheng and xiaodan need only dot the brow, lips and cheeks with “Xiamen peach” before appearing. Pingjiangxi preserves the artistic features of baizi Yiyang high-pitched singing and an archaic performing style, providing an important reference frame for the study of high-pitched singing, especially “baizi gaoqiang”; its traditional repertory and performing art are a treasure of Chinese operatic culture of high artistic value.
The Seven Pairs
One of the customary names for the classic plays commonly staged by pingjiangxi.
The Eight Gifts
One of the customary names for the classic plays commonly staged by pingjiangxi.
The Twenty-One Miscellaneous
One of the customary names for the classic plays commonly staged by pingjiangxi.
The Scabbard Clapper and Choral Support
Pingjiangxi marks the beat in performance only with the “scabbard clapper” together with drum and gong, and uses the “singing and responding” form combining unaccompanied song and choral support.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Pingnan pingjiangxi is the most influential local high-pitched genre of the eastern Fujian dialect area, developed out of the “tuo gushi” performance popular in the north-eastern Fujian countryside in the late Ming and early Qing and also called “shoulder-pole shed”, and is widely found around Pingnan county, Fujian.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhang Xiandu (born October 1939 in Pingnan, Fujian, died August 2019), the inheritor, when rescue and excavation work began in 2001 returned at the age of fifty-nine to the newly re-formed Pingnan Jitou pingjiangxi troupe as director and actor to rescue the genre and, despite the difficulties of transmission, trained more than thirty new pingjiangxi talents.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Xiandu 03-1128
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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