Jiaodong Dagu Drum Balladry
01 · Historical Records
The transmission of Jiaodong dagu in Qingdao and along the Jiaodong coast is closely tied to the way blind performers plied their trade. Early performers made a living by storytelling combined with fortune-telling; judging from the appearance of Liu Xueyi of Rongcheng in the early Qianlong reign, this genre already had a history of some two hundred and fifty years. In the 1920s, blind performers popular throughout the Jiaodong Peninsula absorbed the vocal styles and tunes of eastern-route dagu, Laiyang tanci, Maoxiang and other forms, giving it new development.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jiaodong dagu is popular in the coastal areas of the Jiaodong Peninsula in Shandong Province and has a history of close to two hundred years to the present. In its early days it was usually named after the performer's home place, so it goes by many names such as the Penglai dagu, the Qixia dagu and the Rongcheng dagu. Because the performers were all blind, it is also called the 'blind men's tune'. Jiaodong dagu is divided into the northern, eastern and southern routes, of which the northern route has had the greatest influence. The northern route is popular in Penglai, Feixian, Muping, Fushan, Yantai and other places; its most representative school is the Liang school, whose singing is high-pitched and vigorous as well as circuitous and mellow, and which is good at using changes of vocal style to portray all kinds of character. The eastern route is popular in Wendeng, Rongcheng, Weihai, Rushan and other places; its principal school is the Peng school represented by the blind performer Peng Runzhi of Rongcheng, whose singing is plain and unadorned, stresses vocal resonance and thus has rather distinctive features. The southern route is popular in Haiyang, Laiyang, Jimo, Yexian, Qixia and other places; in the course of its transmission there arose the Lü (Green) school represented by Xu Shanghou, whose vocal line flows and is beautiful in performance, is rich in the flavour of local opera, and is deeply loved by the local people. The vocal system of Jiaodong dagu belongs to the type based on modulation of metrical patterns, with such expressive forms as the opening board (qiban), the thrown board (shuaiban), the level board (pingban), ornamental vocal (huaqiang), the lament (bidiao), the fast board (kuaiban), contrary-mode fast board (fandiao kuaiban), counting board (shuban), closing board (luoban), free-rhythm board (sanban) and the funeral paper-burning tune. Its board-mode organisation is highly varied, and the structure is often changed as the development of the story demands. The opening board is used only at the beginning of a performance, the level board is used mainly for narration, and the other board modes can be joined freely through the closing board. The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
The Purple Gold Bracelet
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
The Bee
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
Calling Yang to Join the Ranks
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
The Heavenly Gate Formation
The traditional repertoire of Jiaodong dagu is very rich. It includes more than sixty short works such as Xiangzi Offering Birthday Greetings and Zhuge Liang Beats the Dog, more than ten medium-length works such as the Purple Gold Bracelet and The Bee, and more than ten long works such as Calling Yang to Join the Ranks and the Heavenly Gate Formation.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jiaodong dagu is bound closely to the life of the people of the places where it is popular, is marked by strong local character, and has fairly high value for research into folklore and regional culture.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Jiaodong Dagu Drum Balladry.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This precious form of folk drum-song now has few successors and is on the verge of extinction, so urgent rescue and protection are needed. Liang Jinhua (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): A woman of the Han ethnic group, born in August 1944, native of Penglai County, Shandong Province. A national first-class performer. She began at the age of eight to sing and recite short passages while holding clappers and a drum. In 1961 she was admitted to the quyi troupe of the Qingdao Song and Dance Theatre. Her singing shows agile board openings, a bright vocal line, a mellow tone and free control of delivery, expressing both feeling and content. She has sung more than sixty passages, with representative works including Zhu Bajie Rooting the Ground, Tying the Baby, the Children's Hero Li Dapeng and Old Neighbours. She is a representative inheritor of the Jiaodong dagu national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national-level batch. She has won awards many times at national quyi performance events, and has actively taken on disciples to transmit the art.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liang Jinhua 03-1161
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。