Suzhou Pingtan
01 · Historical Records
Pinghua is popularly called 'da shu' (big book) and Tanci 'xiao shu' (small book); they flourished in the Suzhou region during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing dynasty. In the mid-nineteenth century Suzhou Pingtan was introduced to Shanghai. Around the 1920s the centre of Pingtan activity had already shifted from Suzhou to Shanghai.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Suzhou Pingtan is the collective name for Suzhou Pinghua and Suzhou Tanci. With the rapid growth of Shanghai's economy and population, the storytelling market kept expanding and the level of performance kept rising, bringing forth a large number of famous performers and schools that caused a sensation at the time and influenced later generations. In Shanghai too, Suzhou Pingtan is still performed in the Suzhou dialect; its music is beautiful, its vocal style can narrate as well as express feeling, and it carries a strong flavour of the Jiangnan water-town region. Its performances often employ artistic devices of narration, singing, string playing, comic effect and acting. The prose portions of the text are rendered through 'shuo', which is termed 'biao' and 'bai', that is, narrating and describing the words and deeds of characters in the story and the environment of their activity in the voice of the storyteller; the versified passages, mainly in seven-syllable lines, are rendered through 'chang', accompanied by the sanxian or the pipa. In Pingtan performance, one performer is called 'dan dang' and sings while accompanying himself on the sanxian; two performers are called 'shuang dang', divided on stage into the upper seat and the lower seat, each singing while accompanying himself on the sanxian and the pipa respectively and accompanying one another in turn. To add interest, dramatic elements are inserted into the narrative portions of the story during performance; these are called 'xue'. When a performer imitates the speech, gestures and expressions of characters in the story, this is called 'yan', also known as 'zuo' or 'xue'. Over long years of performance, Tanci artists, besides developing the 'shu diao' used for Tanci singing, also absorbed tune patterns such as 'Shan Ge Diao', 'Luan Ji Ti' and 'Fei Jia Diao', enriching the music of the vocal style. Pinghua performance centres on 'shuo, xue, yan', and there is a large number of long-form traditional titles, some fifty or more, including historical romances such as 'The Three Kingdoms' and 'Sui and Tang', cases and chivalrous tales such as 'The Case of Judge Shi' and 'The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants', and mythological and fantastic works such as 'Investiture of the Gods' and 'The Biography of Ji Gong'.
Shanghai pingtan troupe
Founded in 1951 and now known as the Shanghai Pingtan Troupe, it became the city's central body for composing and performing pingtan.
The seven fearsome acts
A late-1940s Shanghai label for seven star pingtan acts; Chen Xi'an and his senior Zhou Yunrui, paired as second hand, were among them.
Signature arias of Chen Xi'an
Chen Xi'an sang chiefly in the Shen style with touches of Xue, and his signature arias include Eighteen Reasons Why, Seventy-Two He's, Bitter Reproach and Meeting Mother.
Works of Yu Hongxian
Yu Hongxian's signature works include Butterflies in Love with Flowers and Spring Breeze on Both Banks of the Huangpu; she received the Peony Award for lifetime achievement in 2014.
Borrowed tune labels
Borrowed tune labels such as the Mountain Song, Crowing Cock and Feijia melodies that tanci singers absorbed to enrich their vocal music.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Tanci leans more towards works of legendary narrative, which contain the rich cultural psychology of the Chinese nation, reflect the traditional moral outlook and life ideals of the people, and embody the humanistic characteristics and values of the Jiangnan region.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Suzhou Pingtan · Suzhou Pingtan · Suzhou Pingtan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Beyond its high artistic value, the Suzhou Pingtan repertory also has important reference value for research in linguistics, history, folklore, ethics and sociology. At present the transmission of Suzhou Pingtan in Shanghai has encountered some difficulties, with a dearth of successors, and protection needs to be strengthened. Chen Xi'an (as recorded in the official file of associated inheritors): National first-grade performer. He became a disciple of Shen Jian'an in 1941. In 1945 he paired up with his senior fellow disciple Zhou Yunrui, taking the lower seat; his fame rose rapidly, and he became one of the celebrated 'Seven Sha' pairings of the late 1940s. In 1951 he joined the Shanghai People's Pingtan Work Troupe (now the Shanghai Pingtan Troupe). From the late 1970s he paired up in turn with Xue Huijun, Zheng Ying and others and changed to the upper seat; his vocal style changed accordingly, drawing mainly on the 'Shen tune' while also absorbing the 'Xue tune', becoming deeper and more resonant. His narration is clear, his articulation agile, and he is skilled at singing to string accompaniment. Representative vocal passages include 'Eighteen Whys', 'Seventy-Two of Him', 'Harsh Reproach' and 'Seeing Mother'. Male, Han nationality, born January 1929, died October 2019, native of Changshu City, Jiangsu Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Pinghua, Suzhou Tanci). Yu Hongxian (as recorded in the official file of associated inheritors): Female, Han nationality, born November 1939, native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. National first-grade performer. Representative works include 'The Butterfly in Love with the Flower' and 'Spring Breeze Bathing Both Banks of the Pujiang'. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item Suzhou Pingtan (Suzhou Pinghua, Suzhou Tanci). In 2001 she was named a Shanghai artist of both virtue and art. In 2014 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the eighth China Quyi Peony Award, conferred by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Quyi Artists Association.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xing Yanzhi 02-0707
- Jin Lisheng 02-0708
- Wang Yuexiang 03-1151
- Xing Yanchun 03-1152
- Zhang Guoliang 03-1153
- Jin Shengbo 03-1154
- Yang Naizhen 03-1155
- Chen Xian 03-1156
- Yu Hongxian 03-1157
- Jiang Wenlan 04-1700
- Zhao Kaisheng 04-1701
- Gao Jun
- Wang Zhenghua
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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