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.
Daiwode and the bass huur
Daiwode studied under Erdunzhurihe and Temul from the age of twenty and performs with a bass four-string fiddle.
Daiwode's repertoire
His thirty-odd items include four of the Five Chronicles of the Tang and the Romance of the Sui and Tang.
Ganjur and the register of storytellers
Ganjur translated Chinese romances into Mongolian tale-telling and compiled a register of Kharqin storytellers.
Three Khorchin stylistic lines
Three distinct stylistic lines emerged in Khorchin, associated with Menggen Gaolitau, Erdunzhurihe and Burenbayar.
Training classes and competitions
Fifteen youth classes and ten competitions were organized to pass on both memorized long cycles and improvisation.
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
Daiwode (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Mongolian nationality, born in March 1950, native of Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At the age of twenty he became a pupil of Erdun Zhurihe and Temule to specialise in narrated-and-sung Huren uliger, and from the age of twenty-four he began performing on his own. His narrated-and-sung uliger uses the bass four-string fiddle for accompaniment and places weight on the three techniques of speech, song and acting; the melodies are richly varied and highly flexible. His representative works include more than thirty items such as “Kuxi Zhuan”, “Whole Family Happiness”, “The Narrative of the Weeping Demon”, “Xiebi Zhuan”, “The Romance of the Sui and Tang” and “Gunshots on the Grassland”. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Uliger. Ganjur (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Mongolian nationality, born in October 1950, native of Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The traditional numbers he has handed down include “Jinshu Zhuan” and “The Contention of Chu and Guo”; he has translated and sung in narration such Han stories as “The Romance of the Sui and Tang” and “The Joining of Forces at Huyan”, and has adapted into narration and song a number of uliger works such as “The Story of Genghis Khan” and “The Romance of the History of Qing”. He has also published monographs such as the “Register of Tushiyetu Hurqi” and the 400,000-character novel “Dingtianshan”. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Uliger. Up to now he has organised and run fifteen training classes for young performers and has taken part in organising ten uliger competitions; among the students he has trained are forty-one people, such as Erdun Chugula.
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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