Xuzhou Qinshu Balladry

01 · Historical Records

It originated in the little melodies (xiaoqu) of the Ming dynasty, took shape in the late Qing dynasty, and has a history of nearly two hundred years to the present day.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xuzhou Qinshu is also called "Northern Jiangsu qinshu" and was formerly known as "silk strings" or "chang yangqin" ("singing to the yangqin"); it circulates mainly in the border region of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces where the four meet, with Xuzhou at the centre. Its vocal style is beautiful and its melodies rich; the musical structure generally comprises the sections "qiban" (raising tune), "man siban", "da baban" or "hua siban", and "guoban" (linking tune). On entering the huo'er (working part) it sings [Fengyang Ge] or [Duoziban], or speaks in shuo bai (spoken narration), and closes finally with the "shaban" (closing tune). Besides [Fengyang Ge] and [Duoziban], its vocal tune patterns also include [Lianhualuo], [Mokesa], [Yinniusi], [Guadifeng] and the like. Xuzhou Qinshu has several performance forms, including the dan dang (single act), the shuang dang (double act) and biaoyan chang (acted song). The single-act form is again divided into two types: singing accompanied by a single clapper struck with one foot, and singing accompanied by a single qinban (zither board); the double-act form is also called "dui kou" (mouth to mouth), the singer holding a tanban (clapper) and at the same time striking the yangqin while the accompanist plays the shengqin, and in performance it may be sung solo, sung in antiphonal pairs, or joined by the chorus or sung in chorus; acted song means that the performers act out movements while singing, with a small ensemble accompanying and joining in the chorus at the side. Over its long course of development, Xuzhou Qinshu artists created and adapted a large number of performance pieces and sung passages, through which they punished evil and praised good, promoted social ethics and voiced the wishes of the people. Wang Tianbao Goes to Suzhou, Zhang Tingxiu Taking the Imperial Examinations, Lü Dongbin Woos the Peony and Flooding Jinshan Temple are among the more representative of these pieces.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xuzhou Qinshu is sung in the Xuzhou dialect and is rich in local flavour; it has both the graceful, delicate beauty of southern quyi and the bold, impassioned character of northern quyi.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In recent years performance opportunities for Xuzhou Qinshu have decreased; old artists are advanced in years and can no longer carry on the art, while middle-aged performers, pressed by the need to earn a living, have changed to other trades one after another. As a result this quyi form has few successors and is close to extinction, and rescuing and protecting it has become a task that can no longer wait. Wei Yuncai (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in March 1946, a native of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. A first-grade national performer and a member of the China Quyi Artists Association. In 1981 he took the veteran qinshu artists Yang Shixi and Cui Wenbao as his masters and received the true transmission of the two. At the same time he was further taught by senior artists such as his masters' fellow disciples and senior fellow students, which greatly increased his skill. In singing, acting and instrumental accompaniment he gradually formed a distinctive style of his own. His representative pieces include Two Hearts, Zhu Bajie Rakes the Ground and Liu Bang Returns Home. He is a representative inheritor of Xuzhou Qinshu under the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. He has taken part many times in national, provincial and municipal quyi competitions and won major prizes. While raising his own skill he has also actively trained successors, and has taught more than twenty qinshu performers to date, among whom two have become first-grade national performers. Zhang Qiaoling (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Female, Han, born in September 1960, a native of Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. A first-grade national performer and vice-chairwoman of the Jiangsu Provincial Quyi Artists Association. Over more than forty years of performance and transmission she formed a personal style marked by a rounded voice, sincere acting and vivid characterisation, and is one of the representative figures of contemporary Xuzhou Qinshu. Her representative works include Flooding Jinshan Temple, Touring the West Lake, One Woman and Three Mothers and Yu Ji's Rhapsody. Her original piece The Xuzhou People of Affection and Loyalty was included in the Emergency Salvage Series of China's Intangible Cultural Heritage. She teaches Xuzhou Qinshu at Jiangsu Normal University and other institutions of higher learning. She is a representative inheritor of Xuzhou Qinshu under the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Over many years she has devoted herself to training inheritors, promoting the formation of a three-tier structure of national, provincial and municipal inheritors in Xuzhou Qinshu. The young performers she has trained have recorded programmes for China Central Television many times.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Wei Yuncai 03-1186
• Zhang Qiaoling 04-1721

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Xuzhou Qinshu Balladry (Xuzhou, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wei Yuncai · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhang Qiaoling · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗