Shangdangerhuang

01 · Historical Records

How this vocal style, formed in the south, came to the Shangdang area cannot be traced; from stage-wall inscriptions found dating to the middle and early Qianlong reign it is known to have circulated in the Shangdang area for more than two hundred years. Since the 1980s the opera market has been depressed, performances have fallen year by year, the artists' livelihood is insecure and successors are lacking, making transmission difficult and state support and protection urgently needed.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Shangdang erhuang, also called “Shangdang pihuang” and popularly “native erhuang”, has singing divided into the two great kinds of xipi and erhuang, including fan erhuang, together called “pihuang”, belonging to the banqiang system. Xipi is ringing and round, often used to express feeling and mostly adopted by the sheng and dan; erhuang has few ban styles but is gentle and clear. Its martial percussion includes drum, clapper, middle-pitch gong, steel fork and high-pitched small gong, while its civil section is led by the jinghu with the jing erhu. Artistically it stresses the two skills of singing and doing, its performance elegant and plain, fine and lifelike, much loved by the local people and often staged at recreational contests and in honour of the gods. Its traditional repertory includes more than a hundred plays such as Beating the Princess, Hanging the Dragon Lantern, Taking Western Sichuan, The Wuzhang Plain, Qinghe Bridge, Entering the Palace Twice, The Girl's Complaint, Shetang Pass and The Jade Hall of Spring, of which thirty are Three Kingdoms plays. Shangdang erhuang was originally one of the five vocal styles of Shangdang bangzi, playing an important part in satisfying the local people's cultural entertainment and spreading traditional culture; after the founding of New China it became an independent genre and the professional Jincheng city district erhuang troupe was set up.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Shangdang erhuang centres on the Jincheng city district of Shanxi and is popular in the Shangdang counties of Jincheng, Gaoping, Yangcheng and Lingchuan; originally one of the five vocal styles of Shangdang bangzi, it became an independent genre after the 1950s and the Jincheng city district erhuang troupe was formed, often performing at local recreational contests and rites honouring the gods.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

There is also a “pingban erhuang”, now lost. The inheritor took the old actor Liang Huaisheng (stage name Jin Geda) as his master at twelve, specialising in huadan, qingyi and laodan, and later, on Zhao Shuli's recommendation, received guidance from the famous Peking opera artist Cheng Yanqiu, greatly raising his theory and skill; his singing is round and gentle with free articulation and his doing plays elegant, plain and lifelike, having both the features of Shangdang bangzi and a Peking-opera flavour. His representative works include Hongni Pass, Breaking Hongzhou, The She-Yang Bond, The Chess-Piece Array and Hanjiang Pass, and he has persisted in teaching disciples with the troupe and in running a drama school, training more than a hundred and sixty students in all and taking an active part in public-benefit performances, so that Shangdang erhuang art has been further protected, transmitted and developed.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Guo Pangpang 05-2465
• Yang Hailan

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Shangdangerhuang (Jinchengshicheng, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Guo Pangpang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗