Huaidiao
01 · Historical Records
By the mid-Qing huai tunes were already widely current in northern Henan and southern Hebei, and the prefectural offices and garrisons mostly kept huai-tune troupes for entertainment and offering.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Huai tunes are a bangzi-family local genre, also called “huai tunes” (huaimin) and “Zhang river old tunes”, and because they circulated widely through the Zhangde, Weihui, Shunde, Guangping and Daming prefectures of Henan they are also called the “five-prefecture huai tunes”. For instance the Zhangde prefecture's first constable troupe, second constable troupe and Western Camp troupe all kept huai-tune troupes, called the “upper three troupes”, while folk huai-tune troupes were even more common. Its traditional repertory runs to more than three hundred pieces, mostly historical robe-and-belt plays, The Yang Family Generals and Pan and Yang in Lawsuit being commonly staged. Its roles are complete and its movements rough and bold, close in style to daxianxi and Dapingdiao, incorporating the artistic elements of martial arts and acrobatics and the “great Hong boxing” and preserving such early operatic stunts as “playing with tusks”. Its singing is in the banqiang system with the four great ban categories of slow ban, erba ban, liushui ban and sanban. Its accompaniment follows the early bangzi-family chief instruments of daxian, erxian and sanxian, its martial section preserving such distinctive instruments and methods as the “four great fans” and the “sharp trumpet”, fiery and impassioned, plain and stirring, very suited to expressing scenes and atmosphere of ancient warfare. Its singing is upright and high with a distinctive colour, mainly divided into touban, erban, liushui and sanban, with other qupai besides. Its instruments include banhu, erhu, dihu, great nao, great cymbals and the great bangzi, from which it is also called the “great bangzi qiang”.
The Yang Family Generals
One of the commonly staged plays of huai tunes.
Pan and Yang in Lawsuit
One of the commonly staged plays of huai tunes.
Playing with Tusks and Other Stunts
Huai tunes preserve such early operatic stunts as “playing with tusks” and incorporate the artistic elements of martial arts and acrobatics and the “great Hong boxing”.
The Four Great Fans and the Sharp Trumpet
The distinctive instruments and accompanying methods preserved in huai tunes' martial section, fiery and impassioned, plain and stirring, suited to expressing scenes of ancient warfare.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Huai tunes centre on Anyang county, Henan, and are popular in the five prefectures of northern Henan—Zhangde, Weihui, Shunde, Guangping and Daming—and in southern Hebei and south-eastern Shanxi; because they circulated widely through the five prefectures they are called the “five-prefecture huai tunes”, and the Anyang county huai-tune troupe is the only surviving professional performing body.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Huai tunes have a long history, a distinctive character and a rich heritage, but in recent years their condition has gone from bad to worse, with a shrinking market, an ageing company and no successors, only the single professional performing body in Anyang county remaining, urgently needing support and protection. The inheritor has a crisp, ringing voice and a broad range with strong expressiveness, using both the true and the second voice, with clear enunciation and beautiful singing, clean in movement and solid in martial skill, handling sabre and spear with ease; over the years he has trained a great many young students, his disciples Zhao Baodi in the laosheng and xusheng roles and Sun Xuehai in the short-combat wusheng having become the mainstays of the huai-tune troupe, doing a great deal for its survival and continuation.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sun Guoji 04-1692
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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