Errenzhuan
01 · Historical Records
According to the 1885 edition of the Fenghua County Gazetteer, Lishu County already had Er-ren-zhuan performances as early as the forty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign (1780).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Er-ren-zhuan is a traditional folk performing art native to northeast China that brings together multiple art forms such as narrative singing, opera, song and dance, and acrobatics. In Jilin Province it circulates mainly in Lishu County, covering 22 townships, and is particularly widespread in Lishu Town, Guojiadian, Liujiaguan, Lamadian, Yushutai, Mengjialing, Shijiapu and other places. The props of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan are the fan, the handkerchief, the wooden clapper (da ban) and the small hand clapper (shouyuzi), and the repertory performed numbers more than a thousand works. In particular, The Newlyweds Return to the Bride's Family, an Er-ren-zhuan written and performed by the famous Lishu Er-ren-zhuan artist Shuang Juhua during the Qianlong reign, is still sung and staged today. Er-ren-zhuan has a broad sense and a narrow sense. The broad sense includes danchutou solo numbers, lachangxi pull-to-the-square plays, zuochang seated singing and qunchang choral singing; in the narrow sense Er-ren-zhuan is called "shuang wanyi" or "shuang tiao" by the people. An Er-ren-zhuan performer is one man and one woman who dance while singing, adding comic lines and special feats; they are said to have the "five skills", namely singing, speaking, acting, dancing and special feats. Its vocal styles have traditionally been described as "nine vocal styles, eighteen tunes and seventy-two haihai refrains", and are now summarized into ten principal tunes, ten subsidiary tunes and folk xiaoze. The defining feature of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan lies in the use of props: it devised the "ankou" and "liangpian" handkerchief manipulations, which make various kinds of spin possible. "Rotating handkerchief — the phoenix returns to the nest" was pioneered in Lishu. In Delivering New Year Pictures, the feats performed with the fan, the handkerchief, the wooden clapper and the hand clapper can be called the ultimate. Artists around Lishu mostly worked from village to village and from household to household in the slack farming season; in a village yard, or with a single kang bed spread inside a house, they could begin singing at once, starting with a xiaomao opening number and then moving on to the main zhengshu, and singing until midnight was routine. This mode of performance has continued for more than two hundred years and has preserved the lyrics of more than a hundred traditional passages in the mouths of the artists.
The Newlyweds Return to the Bride's Family
The props of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan are the fan, the handkerchief, the wooden clapper (da ban) and the small hand clapper (shouyuzi), and the repertory performed numbers more than a thousand works. In particular, The Newlyweds Return to the Bride's Family, an Er-ren-zhuan written and performed by the famous Lishu Er-ren-zhuan artist Shuang Juhua during the Qianlong reign, is still sung and staged today.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The signature feats of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan include the "rotating handkerchief", the "ankou handkerchief" and the "flying clapper", all of them pioneered locally. Over more than two hundred years the locality has seen in succession such performing troupes and groups as the Qi, Geng, Feng, Gao, Duan, Yue, Fu and Chai family troupes. With a deep popular base and frequent performance activity, this has made Lishu a "hometown of Er-ren-zhuan" famed far and wide. Lishu Er-ren-zhuan enjoys a broad popular base, has gathered the wisdom and artistic creativity of several generations, has distinct local characteristics together with educational and aesthetic value that cannot be ignored, and is one of the precious cultural heritages of the northeast region.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Northeast Errenzhuan · Errenzhuan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This performing form is still carried on today by master-apprentice transmission and by performing troupes. The cultural value of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan is fully embodied in the completeness of its traditional repertory and its distinctive artistic features; its traditional plays are alive on the stage and alive in the hearts of the common people today. The transmission of Lishu Er-ren-zhuan still walks on two legs, master-apprentice and troupe: apprentices learn their art in the troupe, learning as they perform, and set up their own troupe once they have completed their training; precisely because the repertory is complete and the troupes succeed one another without break, many traditional passages can still be performed entire.
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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