Longzhou Narrative Singing
01 · Historical Records
The dragon boat song is known in folk usage as "chang longzhou" ("singing the dragon boat") or abbreviated simply as "longzhou". It is a form of quyi (narrative singing) popular in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province, generally held to have formed during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty; according to legend it was created by a scion of a fallen family whose ancestral home was Longjiang, Shunde.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It is performed by one or two singers who strike a small gong or small drum themselves as an intermittent accompaniment while chanting; the vocal style is short and clipped, soaring and falling dramatically, humorous and amusing, and rich in a cathartic effect. The sung text is based on rhymed seven-syllable lines, four lines making one group. The melodic style is plain and flowing, full of local flavour, and well suited to narrative and lyrical expression. Its subject matter is rich and varied, ranging from mythological tales and folk stories to current-affairs news, and it covers virtually everything. But because folk artists are often not literate, and the repertoire is transmitted mainly by ear and by word of mouth, comparatively little has survived. In the past, dragon boat song was usually performed by artists who went from street to street and lane to lane; at major national festivals and various celebratory occasions their figures could easily be spotted. The dragon boat song carries a large amount of folk-custom information, and its influence reached such a point that even Cantonese opera absorbed its vocal style as an important tune pattern for performance, that tune pattern being named "Longzhou Ge" or "Longzhou".
The Longzhou Ge tune
The tune title taken into Cantonese opera from dragon-boat singing, known simply as the dragon boat.
The carved boat, gong and drum
The singer's kit: a small gong or drum struck between phrases, and the carved dragon boat carried as a sign.
Seven-character quatrains
The lyrics run in seven-character lines grouped in fours, set to a plain, flowing and earthy melody.
Auspicious New Year Songs
Blessing songs composed and sung by the inheritor You Xueyao, while Wu Yuchou sang the classic repertory.
Singing at boat offerings and races
Historically sung in the streets and at every festival and celebration, especially dragon-boat races and weddings.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The core of the transmission of dragon boat storytelling lies in Shunde, particularly in the waterside towns of Xingtan, Longjiang, Leliu and Jun'an, and it also reaches Nanhai, Panyu, Zhongshan, Dongguan and the western part of Guangzhou known as Xiguan. The performers are mostly villagers who farm part of the year and perform part of the year, carrying a small wooden dragon boat on the shoulder or holding a small gong and small drum; along the village lanes beside the creeks they go from house to house, singing a passage of auspicious words in exchange for rice, grain or a red envelope. At the Dragon Boat Festival boat races, temple fairs and deity birthdays, and at weddings and births, they are invited to sing in the ancestral hall or before the landing stage. Because it is sung in the Shunde local dialect with short, abruptly dropped phrase endings, outsiders take it to be the same vocal line as the "Longzhou" tune pattern in Cantonese opera, and Xingtan Town of Shunde has also held a dragon boat storytelling competition to encourage its transmission.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As the values of the younger generation have changed, dragon boat song now faces a shortage of successors. In Shunde, the core area of the transmission of dragon boat song, only four or five people can still sing it, and no young person has been found who would apprentice under a master; effective and workable protection measures are urgently needed so that dragon boat song can go on being handed down. Wu Yuchou (per the official archival record of an associated inheritor): his singing has a pure Shunde accent and authentic dragon boat song style, and he mainly sings classic dragon boat songs. Representative works include: Fuqi Heshun (Husband and Wife in Harmony) and Laoshi Jiao Xuesheng (The Teacher Teaches the Pupil). Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1928, died in 2008, a native of Shunde, Guangdong. Representative inheritor of the dragon boat storytelling item among the national-level intangible cultural heritage projects in the second batch. In 2006 he took the championship of the first dragon boat storytelling competition of Xingtan Town and was awarded the title of "Outstanding Dragon Boat Storytelling Artist of Xingtan Town". You Xueyao (per the official archival record of an associated inheritor): he began studying under You Zhenfa at the age of 40. His singing has a pure Shunde accent and authentic dragon boat song style; besides singing classic dragon boat pieces, he is skilled at composing and performing his own dragon boat songs whose content consists of blessings and congratulatory words, and these are deeply loved by the people. The dragon boat songs he composes and performs himself include Bazi Hezheng Ge (Eight-Character New Year Greeting Song), Zhen Zheng Shi Jing Se Wei (Truly a Splendid Sight), Song Longzhou (Seeing Off the Dragon Boat), Wang Lao, Wang Shao, Wang Zai, Wang Sun (Prosperity to the Eldest, the Second, the Son and the Grandson), among others. Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1939, died in 2010, a native of Shunde, Guangdong. Representative inheritor of the dragon boat storytelling item among the national-level intangible cultural heritage projects in the second batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Yuchou 02-0745
- You Xueyao 02-0746
- Chen Zhenqiu 05-2492
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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