Wuligeer
01 · Historical Records
Uliger is a Mongolian form of quyi storytelling; it took shape around the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty and has circulated widely in every part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and in the Mongolian settlements of the neighbouring provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. The subjects of uliger numbers draw on a very wide range of sources: some come from folk tales, such as “Taiyang Guniang”; some are the work of writers or performers, such as “Qingshi Yanyi”; some come from folk narrative poems and narrative songs, such as “Gada Meiren” and “Danabala”; some are composed out of events that actually happened in real life, such as “Hongtaiyang”, “Yanjiu Zhihai” and “Zhengqi de Linluo”; and some are transplanted and adapted from comparable Han forms or literary stories, such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, “Investiture of the Gods” and “Yang Jinhua Duo Yin”. The best known include, of the Qing dynasty, Dansennima, Baiyinbaoligao, Chuobang, Sanbula, Saren Mandula, Helitengdugu’er, Baitanqi, Wiritanasitu and Xiennitu; of the Republican period, Zhana, Jinbaoshan, Changming, Kuai Mang, Menggen Gaolitau, Erdun Zhurihe, Buren Bayar, Wendusu, Zhamusu and Xiribu; and since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Pajie, Maoyihan, Zhana, Daorji, Quejigawa, Laosier as well as Baoliang, Laixi, Wulijisang, Mengbangzhu, Renqin, Shulin, Tegxibayar, Demuxige, Ganjur, Yuanbao, Temuergaole, Menggen Aola and others — all of them were warmly welcomed for the excellence of their uliger art. Over its long course of development and change, uliger performance in the different regions where it circulates has formed its own distinct characteristics. After the 1980s began, many well-known performers died one after another, new successors were seriously lacking, and ways of life changed while forms of entertainment became more varied; the survival and development of the uliger art tradition came under threat, performances shrank day by day, there was a shortage of venues in which to perform and the ranks lacked successors, so that strong measures of support and protection are urgently needed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In Chinese the meaning of uliger is “storytelling”; because it is performed in the Mongolian language, it is also called “Mongolian-language storytelling”. Among the Mongolian people, uliger performed by mouth alone with no instrumental accompaniment is called “Yabugan uliger”, also known as “Hurui uliger”; uliger performed in narration and song with chor accompaniment is called “Chorin uliger”; and uliger performed in narration and song with four-string fiddle accompaniment is called “Huren uliger”. Uliger performed with instrumental accompaniment is usually sung and narrated by a single performer accompanying himself on a fiddle; the melodies of the vocal style are richly varied and highly flexible, and those with comparatively clear functional characteristics include [Zhengzhan diao], [Zeou diao], [Fengci diao], [Shanhe diao], [Ganlu diao] and [Shangchao diao]. The artistic accumulation of uliger is very deep; its numbers fall into short, medium and long, the long ones being the most compelling. “The Story of the Suppression of Mangus”, “The Five Tang Narratives” (that is, “The Narrative of Weeping at the Marriage”, “Whole Family Happiness”, “The Narrative of the Weeping Demon”, “The Narrative of Qibi”, “The Narrative of the Qiang and the Hu”), “Khubilai Khan”, “The Golden History”, “The Western Han”, “The Romance of the History of Yuan”, “The Romance of the History of Qing”, “Marshal Baiyina”, “Spring and Autumn and the Warring States”, “Great Western Liang”, “Northern Liao”, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Dream of the Red Chamber” are all classics among them. New numbers written and performed after the founding of the People’s Republic of China include “The Twenty-Five Thousand Li Long March”, “Liu Hulan”, “Huang Jiguang”, “The Woman Hero Guo Junqing”, “Children of the Grasslands”, “The Red Detachment of Women”, “The Red Lantern”, “Scaling the Tiger Mountain”, “The Lock of Linked Hearts”, “The Golden Avenue”, “The Xisha Women” and “Enterprise”. Historically the uliger performers who travelled between the great grasslands of Inner Mongolia and the Mongolian settlements of Northeast China were as numerous as the stars. For the broad masses of the Mongolian people, uliger is not only the principal way and means of their cultural life but also an important educational means for acquiring knowledge and cultivating the mind; in their eyes uliger occupies a very important place.
Three modes of the Mongolian tale-telling
Oral only, accompanied by the chuur fiddle, or accompanied by the four-string huur — three distinct modes of performance.
Functional melodies
Melodies are assigned to dramatic functions such as battle, courtship, satire, landscape, journey and court audience.
The long narrative cycles
The great long cycles, including the Five Chronicles of the Tang and the tale of the suppression of the Mangghus.
The four-string huur accompaniment
In the Khorchin grasslands the huur-accompanied mode flourishes, with the Jarud banner a stronghold of the style.
Laosier and his course book
The Jarud artist Laosier recorded dozens of tales on radio and wrote the first teaching manual for the art.
Twentieth-century new pieces
After 1949 new items turned from dynastic romance to revolutionary and contemporary subjects such as Liu Hulan.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
On the Horqin grasslands, for instance, “Huren uliger” is comparatively well developed, and in the course of history three schools of differing style formed around Menggen Gaolitau, Erdun Zhurihe and Buren Bayar; in Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County of Liaoning Province, by contrast, the transplanting and adaptation of uliger from Han stories is more widespread, and it has even brought forth new artistic forms such as “Fuxin Mongol opera”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Wuligeer · Wuligeer · Wuligeer · Wuligeer.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Laosier (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Honorary vice-chairman of the Inner Mongolia Quyi Association, chairman of the Tongliao City Mongolian Storytelling Society, chairman of the Jarud Banner Quyi Association, and head of the Jarud Uliger Art Troupe. He recorded dozens of uliger works and more than a hundred huolaibao pieces for the Inner Mongolia Broadcasting Station; the “Romance of the History of Qing in huolaibao” that he wrote was very widely popular; and the “Tutorial on the Art of Uliger” that he wrote filled the gap in Mongolian teaching materials on the art of uliger. Male, of Mongolian nationality, born in 1946, died in 2010, native of Tongliao, Inner Mongolia. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Uliger, and a national second-class actor.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Laosier 02-0762
- Yangtielong 02-0763
- Hanyingfu 02-0764
- Baochaogezhu 02-0765
- Daiwode 04-1713
- Ganzhuer 05-2497
- Baizhalizeng 05-2498
- Zhangdeligen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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