Jinge
01 · Historical Records
It arose around the late Ming and early Qing periods and flourished in the middle of the Qing period, and together with Quanzhou Nanyin it is hailed as a sister flower of the folk arts of southern Fujian. After the 1940s Jinge began to decline.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jinge is an important form of quyi singing, current in the southern Fujian plain area centred on Zhangzhou and including Xiamen, Jinjiang and Longxi, as well as in Taiwan Province. It was originally called zajin ge, and Jinge is the common short form of the name. Jinge is performed by several people seated in a circle, each holding a pipa, dongxiao, erxian, sanxian, wooden fish or double bells and the like, and self-accompanying. Its vocal music is rich and varied, including such principal commonly used tunes as Wu Kong Zai and Si Kong Zai, such chanted tunes as Za Sui Zai and Nian Za Zai, and tunes absorbed from sister arts such as Za Ge and Hua Diao Zai. The most famous traditional programmes are Chen San and Wu Niang, Qin Xuemei, Shanbo and Yingtai, Meng Jiangnü, Miaochang's Lament, Dong Yong and Lü Mengzheng. The all-embracing richness of Jinge's music and vocal styles reflects the open character of its art, which accommodates a great variety of things; from one side it embodies the untrammelled and enterprising spirit of the people in the region where Jinge is current. Jinge is rooted in the folk; its song texts are plain and easily understood, its tunes are beautiful and flowing, and it carries a strong local flavour. The way Jinge has nurtured and brought forth its sister arts can be seen clearly from this.
Zajinge, the assorted brocade song
The original name of the genre, which arose at the Ming-Qing transition and flourished in the mid-Qing.
The two principal tunes
The most used principal tunes, standing beside the declamatory and borrowed tune types.
The declamatory tunes
The recitative tune types of the genre, used for long narration and transitions.
Shi Yangquan of the Pavilion school
The Pavilion-school master under whom the inheritor Wang Suhua studied from the age of eleven.
Taiwan's changgezai
When Zheng Chenggong took Taiwan the genre travelled there and merged with local songs to form changgezai.
Chen San and Fifth Lady, Liang and Zhu
The best-known traditional titles, alongside Qin Xuemei, Meng Jiangnü and others.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In the late Ming and early Qing periods, when Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, he brought Jinge there as well; combined with the local folk songs and xiaodiao it formed a new form called chang gezai (singing the gezai tunes).
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As time goes by, interest in Jinge among people today has grown ever more slack, and the art of Jinge faces the crisis of possible extinction at any moment; measures must be taken to protect it. Wang Suhua (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han nationality, born in December 1954, native of Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. She began to study Jinge at the age of eleven and was taught by Shi Yangquan, a noted master of the Ting school. Her singing centres on the Jinge pieces Za Nian Zai, Wu Kong Zai Da Diao (the Wu Kong Zai great tune) and Bei Si Yang Guang. Her vocal style is fine and elegant, her diction clear, and her performance vivid. Her instrumental technique is deft; on the basis of the skills she inherited from Shi Yangquan she has also absorbed the technique of the nanpa (southern pipa), giving her playing a strong traditional flavour. She has long been devoted to the transmission and teaching of the Jinge singing art and has trained many successors for Jinge. Representative inheritor of Jinge in the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Her representative works include Jia Ling Ji, Chen San and Wu Niang and Bing Nan Ge; she has taken part many times in national, provincial and municipal performances and won awards.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Suhua 04-1709
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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