Shandong Bangzi

01 · Historical Records

Shandong Bangzi, also known as "Gaodiao Bangzi" and abbreviated as "Gaodiao", has a history of more than four hundred years. It originated in the bangzi vocal style of the Shaanxi-Shanxi region; when the bangzi crossed the Taihang Mountains into Shandong, it first spread to Heze, forming Caozhou Bangzi, and then moved east, forming Wenshang Bangzi. After the 1950s, traditional plays such as "The Wall Record" and "Lianglang Mountain" were edited and adapted into classic plays of the Shandong Bangzi repertoire, and a number of newly created modern plays also took the stage in this period.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Shandong Bangzi has an extremely wide area of circulation: east to Linyi on the banks of the Yellow River, west to Kaifeng and Zhengzhou in Henan Province, south to Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province and Fuyang and Bengbu in Anhui Province, and north to Daming County and Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province. Within Shandong Province, Shandong Bangzi is centered on Heze City and extends across Jining, Tai'an and other counties and cities. The vocal music of Shandong Bangzi belongs to the banqiang (ban-style) system, with complex ban patterns and tune patterns. Its singing is both vivid and accessible, with stylistic features of being high-pitched and bold, vigorous and stirring, graceful and harmonious, and open and bright. Its performance conventions are rich yet standardized, with attention to technique, rugged movements and exaggerated postures; the performance of each role type has its own distinctive character, competing in skill and ingenuity in a dazzling display. The Shandong Bangzi repertoire amounts to more than a thousand plays, of which more than six hundred are frequently staged; these include a body of basic plays known as the "Old Eighteen Texts", the "Seventeen Mountains" and the "Twelve Passes", their content largely drawn from folk legends and historical stories.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Shandong Bangzi was originally called "Gaodiao Bangzi", abbreviated as "Gaodiao". After the Shaanxi-Shanxi bangzi crossed the Taihang Mountains into Shandong, it first spread to Heze, forming the Caozhou Bangzi line, the central school of this genre; moving further east, it formed Wenshang Bangzi. The Heze Local Opera Heritage Research Institute pursues the organization of existing plays and the creation of new ones alike, while incorporating the vocal style of the "Liu School" of masters such as Liu Guisong; the Heze line's singing is high-pitched and bold, vigorous and stirring, with exaggerated performance postures, and its repertoire amounts to more than a thousand plays, including a body of basic plays known as the "Old Eighteen Texts", the "Seventeen Mountains" and the "Twelve Passes".

Other submitting regions for the same item: Shandong Bangzi · Shandong Bangzi.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Liu Guisong (from the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in November 1941, a native of Yuncheng County, Shandong Province. She was born into a family of opera performers; her father, Liu Yunting, was a famous Shandong Bangzi artist. From childhood she practiced singing, recitation, acting and acrobatics assiduously, specializing in the qingyi and daomadan role types. At the age of 19, she played a leading role for the first time in the traditional play "The Red Pearl Girl", and when her troupe toured the Northeast on behalf of Shandong she won fame for a time. With a beautiful voice quality and a wide vocal range, she innovated on the basis of inheriting her father's singing; her melodies are high-pitched and passionate, full of dramatic rises and falls, richly imbued with the traditional flavor of Shandong Bangzi. She had a deep foundation in martial and acrobatic skills, with free and nimble stage movements. The stage characters she portrayed left a deep impression on audiences. Her representative plays include "The White-Haired Girl", "Red Pine Forest", "The Red Lantern" and "Shajiabang". She is a representative inheritor of Shandong Bangzi, a project in the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Zhu Fengchen (from the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in July 1968, a native of Yuncheng County, Shandong Province. National first-class actress. In 1980 she was admitted to the Yuncheng County Opera School. In 1981 she entered the Shandong Bangzi Troupe, where she became a leading performer. In 2008 she took the Shandong Bangzi performing artist Liu Guisong as her teacher, studying the vocal art and performance technique of the "Liu School", which further raised her artistic level. She excels in both sheng (male) and dan (female) role types, specializing in qingyi, huadan and daomadan. She has a solid grasp of basic skills and a wide range of stage roles. With a handsome stage appearance, a pure voice and a wide vocal range, her singing is clear and high-pitched, rich in modulation. Her performance is delicate and plain, with equal proficiency in singing, recitation, acting and acrobatics. She is a representative inheritor of Shandong Bangzi, a project in the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. She has carefully cultivated reserve talent, training more than twenty students. In 2010 she received the title of one of the Ten Most Famous Performers of Shandong Bangzi in Shandong Province.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Liu Guisong 03-1133
• Hao Ruizhi 03-1134
• Kairuibao 03-1135
• Du Yuzhen 05-2450
• Zhu Fengchen 05-2451
• Yang Shengjun
• Zhang Yuyong
• Li Hong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Shandong Bangzi (Heze, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liu Guisong · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhu Fengchen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗