Sichuan Zhuqin

01 · Historical Records

It originates in Daoist temple music, and once flourished for a time in the court of the Tang dynasty. After the first year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty (1796), zhuqin art began to spread among the folk, and those who sang it grew steadily more numerous. In the 1930s Jia Shusan, known as one of the three wonders of the Sichuan “qutan”, created the single-person form of performance, in which one person, seated or walking, plays several roles. In the course of long development, Sichuan zhuqin music divided from a single set of tunes into a number of schools with widely differing styles, such as the zhonghe diao and the yangqin diao. In the late Qing and early Republican period, zhuqin trade organisations were founded one after another in all parts of Sichuan, promoting the development of this folk art.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Sichuan zhuqin circulates in the Han areas of Sichuan Province. It takes its name from the bamboo tube and the jianban clappers, all made of bamboo, used as its principal accompanying instruments; among the folk it is also called “da daotong”, “chang daotong” or “da chi-pangpang”. The earliest performing form of Sichuan zhuqin was seated singing by several people sharing out the roles, generally four or five of them singing together. Zhonghe diao is also called “zonghe diao” or “zhonghe diao”; it circulates mainly in eastern, southern and northern Sichuan. It developed from limen diao, lao nanyin diao and nanyin diao, and on the basis of these tunes several schools of performance were formed. Yangqin diao is also called “sheng diao” and circulates only in Chengdu and western Sichuan; its vocal style is supple and flowing, and it is divided into a male and a female vocal style. Both zhonghe diao and yangqin diao belong to the banqiang (metrical) system, with vocal styles such as “yizi”, “sanfa”, “sanban”, “yaoban” and “daqiang”, as well as auxiliary vocal styles such as the “duozi” and the “shuban”, commonly called “kuqiang” and “kupingqiang”. Jia Shusan simplified the four-line zhuqin vocal form into two lines, changed the “man qiyan ban” (slow seven-eye beat) into the “kuai sanyan ban” (fast three-eye beat), and boldly transplanted into zhuqin music the danxi (string-interlude) and huqin xi vocal styles of Sichuan opera together with Sichuan qingyin and folk minor tunes, creating the rich and varied “caiqiang” (florid style), which soon spread far and wide. The classic repertoire of “Jia school zhuqin” is quite rich, with several hundred sung passages such as Sanguo Yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), Bao Gong An (Cases of Judge Bao), Bai She Zhuan (The Legend of the White Snake) and Feng Bo Ting (Wind-Wave Pavilion); the lyrics of these are for the most part elegant and beautiful, and of strong literary quality.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Sichuan zhuqin has many schools of performance, among which “Jia school zhuqin”, represented by Jia Shusan, has the greatest influence.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Sichuan Zhuqin.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In the past twenty years Sichuan zhuqin has fallen into a standstill: works are scarce, the succession of talent is broken, audiences have been lost and the market has contracted. It faces a severe crisis and urgently needs protection and revitalization. Hua Guoxiu (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in August 1937, native of Wan County, Sichuan Province (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing). National second-class actress. Her vocal style is beautiful and her singing is correct and rounded; she has thoroughly mastered the traditional “nine ban and thirteen qiang” (jiuban shisang qiang) of Sichuan zhuqin. She reformed the vocal styles and the performance, changing seated singing into walking singing with acting, adding folk-instrument accompaniment to the single-person performance, and reforming the zhuqin instruments so that they can serve both as percussion accompaniment and as stage props. She made an across-the-board innovation of zhuqin art, bringing Sichuan zhuqin to a new artistic level. Her representative works include Hua Ziliang Zhuan (The Story of Hua Ziliang), Shuang Qiang Lao Taipo (The Old Woman with Two Guns) and Ba Zhen Tu (The Eight-Array Diagram); Hua Ziliang Zhuan was recorded in 1987 and then broadcast by the Sichuan People’s Broadcasting Station and by China National Radio, and its influence was wide. Representative inheritor of Sichuan zhuqin, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third batch. Wu Kaya (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, of Han ethnicity, born in March 1950, native of Wan County, Sichuan Province (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing). National second-class actress. She devoted herself to studying and researching the singing style of the famous folk artist Yang Yuguo, and from 1962 to 2005 served as composer and zhuqin accompanist for the zhuqin performing artist Hua Guoxiu. She has thoroughly mastered the traditional “nine ban and thirteen qiang” of Sichuan zhuqin and renders it exactly as the performance needs of different characters and different emotions require. Her representative works include Yue Xia Pan Diao (Pan Diao under the Moon), Zhi Zhen Gua Hua (Zhi Zhen Hanging a Picture), Yuan Zai You An (Yuan Zai Visiting the Nunnery), Shi Lin Ji Ta (Shi Lin Offering a Memorial Tower) and Shui Man Jin Shan (The Flood at Golden Mountain). Over a number of years she has persisted in collecting and collating traditional Sichuan zhuqin pieces into musical scores, served as chief editor of the published Selected Musical Scores of Sichuan Zhuqin (Chongqing), and trained dozens of Sichuan zhuqin performers. Representative inheritor of Sichuan zhuqin, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth batch.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Hua Guoxiu 03-1189
• Wu Kaya 04-1723
• Liu Guofu 04-1724
• Zhang Yonggui 04-1725
• Pan Guangzheng

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Sichuan Zhuqin (Sanxiaquyituan, Chongqing) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Hua Guoxiu · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Wu Kaya · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗