Sichuan Zhuqin

01 · Historical Records

It originated in Taoist temple music and was in vogue for a time at the imperial court of the Tang dynasty. After the first year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty (1796), the art of zhuqin began to spread among ordinary people, and the number of singers and storytellers grew steadily. In the 1930s, Jia Shusan, hailed as one of the “three supreme masters of the Sichuan qutan”, created the single-performer form, in which one person renders several roles either seated (zuochang) or walking (zouchang). Over its long development, the music of Sichuan zhuqin diverged from a single tune into several schools and tune types of markedly different styles, among them the zhonghe diao and the yangqin diao. In the late Qing and the early Republican period, zhuqin guilds were founded one after another in various parts of Sichuan, promoting the development of this folk art.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Sichuan zhuqin circulates in the Han-inhabited areas of Sichuan Province. It takes its name from the use of bamboo tubes and bamboo clappers as its principal accompanying instruments, and in folk usage it is also called da dao tong, chang dao tong or da chi pang pang. The earliest performing form of Sichuan zhuqin was for several singers to sit and perform in divided roles, generally four or five to a group singing together. The zhonghe diao, also called the “comprehensive diao” or the “middle-river diao”, circulates mainly in eastern, southern and northern Sichuan. It developed from the limen diao, the laonanyin diao and the nanyin diao, and in turn gave rise to several performing schools on the basis of those tunes. The yangqin diao, also called the “provincial diao”, circulates only in Chengdu and western Sichuan; its vocal style is mellow and flowing, and it is divided into a male and a female vocal type. Both the zhonghe diao and the yangqin diao belong to the banqiang type of musical structure. They have vocal styles such as the yizi, sanfa, sanban, yaoban and daqiang, together with auxiliary vocal types such as the duozi and the shuban, which are popularly called the kuqiang and the kupingqiang. Jia Shusan condensed the four-sentence tune pattern of zhuqin singing to two sentences, changed the man qiyanban (slow seven-beat metre) into the kuai sanyanban (fast three-beat metre), and boldly transplanted into zhuqin music the tanxi and huqinxi vocal styles of Sichuan opera as well as the vocal styles of Sichuan qingyin and folk minor tunes. He thus created the rich and varied “caiqiang” (coloured aria), which soon spread far and wide. The classical repertoire of “Jia-school zhuqin” is quite rich, with several hundred singing passages including Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cases of Judge Bao, The Legend of the White Snake and Wind and Wave Pavilion. Most of the lyrics in these passages are refined and elegant, and are highly literary.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Sichuan zhuqin has many performing schools, among which “Jia-school zhuqin”, represented by Jia Shusan, has had the greatest influence.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Sichuan Zhuqin.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Over the past twenty years, Sichuan zhuqin has fallen into stagnation: works are scarce, talent is running short as the older generation passes and no successors emerge, audiences are drifting away, the market is shrinking, and the art faces a severe crisis that urgently calls for protection and revitalization. Zhang Yonggui (from the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in April 1933, native of Mianzhu County, Sichuan Province. He completed his training in 1949 and, within four years, learned a large number of zhuqin pieces, being able to perform more than a hundred and ten zhuqin passages. His voice is resonant and full; in the high register impassioned and stirring, in the low register rich and mellow, integrating the characteristics of both the yangqin and the zhuqin vocal styles. Representative works include Farewell on the Xunyang River, Baoyu Weeps in the Forest, The Three Kingdoms and The Rival States. He is a representative inheritor of Sichuan zhuqin, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fourth batch. For many years he has actively cooperated with the intangible cultural heritage protection departments at all levels and has conscientiously carried out the work of protecting and transmitting intangible cultural heritage.

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 (Chengduyishujuyuan, Sichuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhang Yonggui · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗