Northeast Errenzhuan
01 · Historical Records
Since the twentieth century the influential representative Errenzhuan performers have included Xu Xiaolou, Lang Yanfang and Xiaolanzhi of Liaoning, Cheng Xifa, Li Qingshan and Gu Bailin of Jilin, and Guo Wenbao, Li Tai and Hu Jingqi of Heilongjiang.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Errenzhuan is a widely influential quyi singing form. Because it is performed with singing and dancing together, the tunes and the dance answering one another, it used to be called “Bengbeng”. It is mainly popular in the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang and in the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and it is performed in speech and song in the northeastern accent. It is generally held to have been formed around the middle of the Qing dynasty by the fusion of the northeastern big yangge with the lianhualuo that came in from inside the Shanhai Pass. In its development it has widely absorbed the music, vocal styles and performance techniques of sister arts such as northeastern folk songs, the Taiping drum and the northeastern dagu, so that its vocal styles and tunes are extraordinarily rich. Errenzhuan has not only the “double performance”, which forms its main body, and the “group singing” form in which several people narrate and sing, but also the “single number” and the “lachang xi” forms, which belong to the small-drama genre and in which the actors take roles. In Errenzhuan as a quyi genre, the “double performance” and the “group singing” take either the form of two performers, first and second, cast as a female and a clown, who sing and dance while delivering speech and song in their respective role types, or the form of several people each holding a different accompanying instrument, seated and singing in turn by role type. Its vocal music is very rich; it is traditionally said to have “nine airs, eighteen tunes and seventy-two kekes”. Its commonly used vocal tune patterns include “Huhu qiang”, “Laba paizi”, “Wen keke”, “Wu keke”, “Sanjie ban”, “Baoban”, “Siping diao”, “Wuzijin” and “Hongliuzi”, and the accompanying instruments include the banhu, the suona and bamboo clappers. The sung texts of Errenzhuan consist mainly of seven-syllable and ten-syllable lines, with long and short lines used as well; the performance stresses the combined use of the four skills of singing, speech, acting and dancing. The singing skill stresses “characters, lines, flavour, beat, vocal style and drive”, sounding high and fiery yet warm and pleasing; the speech skill is divided into “speech passages”, “set passages” (also called formulaic passages) and “free passages”, with the clown teasing and the female supporting, using rhymed speech for the most part but also plain speech and rhythmic recitation, in a language that is lively and humorous and invites laughter; the acting skill (also called the performing skill) stresses the use of body carriage and gesture to assist the singing, emphasizing the combined mastery of hand, eye, body, technique and step; the dancing skill is chiefly the dancing of the northeastern big yangge, and it also absorbs elements of other folk dances and of martial arts, with acrobatic specialities such as twirling fans, waving handkerchiefs, beating jade clappers and striking large bamboo boards interspersed among them, so that the stage effect is extremely lively and boisterous. Among these, the eastern school is centred on Jilin City and its performance is skilled in dancing with painted sticks and contains elements of martial arts; the western school is centred on Heishan County in Liaoning and stresses the ban-tou introductions and the singing; the southern school is centred on Yingkou in Liaoning and gives equal weight to singing and dancing; the northern school is centred on Beidahuang in Heilongjiang and seeks a vocal style that is beautiful and moving. Hence the folk saying that the south relies on lang, that is on dance, the north on singing, the west on the ban-tou and the east on the sticks. Later the various schools drew on one another’s strengths and merged, and the emphasis of the performance was no longer as clearly divided as before. The best-known traditional Errenzhuan pieces are “The Blue Bridge”, “The West Chamber”, “Lord Bao Makes Amends”, “The Eighth Sister Yang Goes on a Spring Outing” and “Zhu Bajie Roots in the Ground”. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China new pieces also appeared, such as “Three Chickens”, “Fetching the Girl”, “Liu Chuntao” and “The Harvest Bridge”. Over a long period Errenzhuan has been deeply loved by the broad masses of the Northeast, especially by the peasant friends. A saying current among the people of the Northeast runs that I would rather give up a meal than give up Errenzhuan.
Lachang xi
The small-drama branch of the genre in which actors take roles, as distinct from the storytelling forms.
Smashing the Sanxian and Spilling Water
Signature lachang operas of the inheritor Zhao Benshan, known for his comic role art and vivid blind characters.
The clown's art
The division of comic and straight roles, with improvised and set speeches in rhymed or plain delivery.
How Much Is One Plus One
A lachang opera of 1986 that won first prize at the first northeastern folk arts festival.
Errenzhuan in Tieling
Troupes in Tieling keep alive an art so loved that people would sooner skip a meal than a performance.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Following the differences in its areas of popularity, Errenzhuan formed four schools in the course of its development: the eastern school, the western school, the southern school and the northern school.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Errenzhuan · Errenzhuan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhao Benshan (as recorded in the official file on the associated inheritor): Male, of Han nationality, born in 1957, a native of Tieling, Liaoning. A member of the China Quyi Association, vice-chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Quyi Association, member of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and deputy to the National People’s Congress. He is skilled in the clown art of northeastern Errenzhuan; his performance is plain and humorous and his portrayal of blind characters is vivid and lifelike. Through the portrayal of ordinary characters he reveals social problems. His representative works are the lachang operas “Smashing the Sanxian”, “The Great Lantern Viewing” and “Spilling Water before the Horse”. A representative inheritor of northeastern Errenzhuan among the national-level intangible cultural heritage projects in the second batch, and a first-class performer. In 1986 the lachang opera “One Plus One Equals What” won first prize at the first folk art performance competition of the three northeastern provinces.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Xiuyuan 02-0751
- Zhao Benshan 02-0752
- Wang Zhongtang 02-0753
- Zhao Xiaobo 02-0754
- Shi Guiqin 02-0755
- Dong Xiaofang 04-1710
- Han Ziping 04-1711
- Wang Suzhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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