Xianqiang · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

In performance, the leading roles were spoken and sung by the clapper-striking master, who was called the “story-teller”, while the other string-puppet performers sang the supporting roles and were called the “play-helpers”, preserving the legacy of the storytelling and singing art of Song-dynasty huaben. In its long course of development and change, xianqiang was influenced by local operatic genres such as the Puzhou bangzi of the area, Qinqiang and meihu, drawing on many schools at once and forming the character of the impassioned and unrestrained and the heroic and stirring.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xianqiang is a traditional dramatic performance form transmitted in the Yellow River golden triangle where the Jin, Qin and Yu provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan meet — in Ruicheng County and Yongji City of Shanxi Province, Heyang County and Dali County of Shaanxi Province, and Lingbao City and Shan County of Henan Province (now the Shanzhou District of Sanmenxia City) — and is popularly known as xian huqiang. There is as yet no settled conclusion as to the date of its rise, but what can be certain is that it is closely related to string puppetry, which rose in the Tang dynasty and flourished in the Song dynasty. Early xianqiang was string puppetry, also called the diaoxianhou, performed by artists manipulating string puppets and accompanied by singing. Xianqiang transmits its art mainly by oral teaching and personal instruction. A troupe was made up of three to five people; well-known troupes include Wang Changsheng's troupe (1910–1940) and Wang Yirun's troupe (1945–1951). After the founding of the People's Republic of China, xianqiang completed the artistic transformation from performance by puppets to performance by people, changing from puppet theatre into a theatre of living actors, and professional troupes, opera schools and research institutions were established one after another. Xianqiang as it exists today, that is, xianqiang opera, inherits and develops the early vocal styles, with actors replacing the string puppets in performance. The structure of the vocal style belongs to the banqiang (metrical) system and is in zhi mode. The music is divided into xianqiang tune and luantan tune; within xianqiang tune, the gunbai, jieban and liushuiban (daiban) are particularly distinctive. The musical setup of xianqiang is divided into the wuchang (percussion section) and the wenchang (melody section). In the wuchang, the gangu is used to accompany the vocal styles and the inter passages, the baogu is used for interludes, openings and endings, and there are also dangedengluo, shouluo and zhenzi, the last of which the performers call the “bones of xian opera”. Among the wuchang instruments, the large banhu has a vigorous and distinctive timbre. Representative plays include The Clock and Drum Riddle, The Virtuous Man beyond the Door, Three Joys Arriving at the Door, Seven Catties and Three Ounces and The “Foolish” Director Repaying His Debt. The vocal style is high, fresh, melodious and lingering; it gives one syllable to one beat and makes much use of drawn-out phrases in a weeping tone, and is skilled at venting emotions that tear the heart — oppression, anger and grief. Most tune patterns are evolved from folk songs and minor tunes and are rich in local colour. The spoken parts draw on the strengths of the southern Shanxi dialect and employ few stock formulae and clichés. The instrumental accompaniment is characterised by “no playing while singing and no singing while playing”, so that the audience takes in every syllable. The distinctive vocal style and performance conventions of xianqiang have high aesthetic value, and it plays an important role in spreading the culture of southern Shanxi.