Ji Opera

01 · Historical Records

Jiju is based on the northeastern errenzhuan; on the foundation of broadly absorbing northeastern folk music and performance techniques such as Northeast dagu, shadow puppetry and laba xi, it gradually developed and evolved into an independent xiqu form with a complete musical composition system and a full set of role types. The embryo of Jiju appeared at the end of the Qing dynasty, it developed in the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and it entered a period of consolidation in the 1980s.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Its vocal music falls into liuqiang, haidiao and its own characteristic qupai; it is a composite music based mainly on the banqiang system and also using the specific tunes of qupai. It has both a bold, high-spirited side and a gorgeous, restrained side, with marked rhythm, beautiful melody and friendly, approachable tunes, and it has a strong power of characterization. Its performance form absorbs the characteristics of errenzhuan and northeastern folk dance, and also incorporates the performance skills and strengths of other xiqu forms, creating specialty skills of its own; its handkerchief technique, water-sleeve technique, fan technique, long-silk technique and chair technique are renowned in the world of Chinese opera. Classic Jiju repertoire includes “Tao Li Mei”, “Bao Gong Peiqing”, “Yan Qing Mai Xian” and “Banyao”. At the height of its creative history, 16 performing troupes were engaged in creating and performing Jiju, producing more than 1,000 fine plays of various types. Jiju absorbs the black-soil culture; with an art form that is bold and unrestrained yet simple and humorous, it carries on the folk music, vocal styles and dance of the northeastern region, and it has a broad audience in Northeast China. Jiju artists, guided by the principle of “preserving the essentials and innovating”, are restoring the classic old plays through the teaching, assisting and leading (chuan, bang, dai) of the older generation of actors, and they keep creating and staging new plays that follow the pace of the times. Jiju gathers the essence of northeastern folk art and reflects the joys, sorrows, anger and grief of the people of the Jilin land in its various historical periods; it performs what the common people think about, sings what the common people long for, takes root among the people, draws wisdom from life, and spreads healthy and uplifting thoughts and feelings. It holds firm to the traditional performance form, conveys an optimistic and positive national spirit, and with its distinctive style of performance and vivid characterization has become an organic part of China's operatic art, with high historical, cultural and artistic value.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Jiju is distributed mainly in Jilin Province and the areas around it; it “does not leave its base, gathers the finest of many flowers, fuses and refines them, and forms a school of its own”.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present the transmission of Jiju centres on the Jilin Provincial Opera Theatre and radiates to all parts of the province; Changchun, Jilin, Songyuan, Siping, Gongzhuling, Liaoyuan and other places all have teams engaged in transmitting and creating Jiju. In recent years Jilin Province has carried out the “Jiju Revitalization Project”, welcoming a new peak of creative development; the number of audience members increases year by year, the ranks of opera fans of the old, the middle-aged and the young keep growing, and fans' associations in various places are now able to perform complete, full-length Jiju plays.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• An Jingfang

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Ji Opera (Jilin) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗