Shaoxing Xuanjuan
01 · Historical Records
Shaoxing xuanjuan is one of the "five great genres" of the Shaoxing region of Zhejiang Province. It took shape in the late Qing dynasty and, in the late Qing and early Republican period, spread to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo and other places; to this day it has a history of more than one hundred and fifty years. From 1950 onward, under the influence of the political situation, Shaoxing xuanjuan gradually ceased to be performed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Shaoxing xuanjuan is a form of storytelling-and-singing with a religious colouring, used chiefly for rites of offering to gods and praying for blessings. Its song-books are generally called "baojuan"; performers lay them on a table and sing them straight from the book, hence the name "xuanjuan". Ordinary xuanjuan, sung unaccompanied, is called "pingjuan"; when erhu, sanxian, yueqin and other instruments are added as accompaniment, it is called "huajuan". A "pingjuan" needs at least three people, who divide among themselves the role types of sheng, dan, jing, chou and the rest; one person may double several different roles. In performance the singers sit around the table. Those facing south are called the "lu position" or the "shu position"; they are responsible for turning the pages of the book and are usually taken by dan performers. Those facing east are called the "fu position" or the "yu position"; they keep time with a high-pitched wooden fish and are usually taken by zase (miscellaneous) performers. Those facing west are called the "shou position" or the "jing position"; they strike the xingmu (striking block) in support of the singing and are usually taken by sheng performers. If four people take part, there is in addition a "cha position" seated beside the "shu position", responsible for pouring tea in support of the singing. The vocal music of Shaoxing xuanjuan is called "xuanjuan diao". It includes the "wugong diao" and "shuahai'er" of Shaoxing opera, the "yinsiping", "folihua" and "qizou diao" of diao qiang, and the "danshuang" and "yinshi diao" of folk small tunes, and so on. The lyrics consist mainly of paired seven-character or ten-character lines of even length, and the vocal music likewise takes its opening from the final three characters of the upper and lower lines; the chorus part must always be joined with the liturgical refrain of "Namo Amitabha". The total number of xuanjuan song-books in Shaoxing is around one hundred. Their contents either relate to Buddhist scriptures, such as Mulian Baojuan and Liuxiangnü Baojuan, or share their titles with operatic works and other genres: with Shaoxing diao qiang, Pipa Ji, Xi Xiang Ji, Xunhuan Bao and Fenyu Jing; with Shaoxing opera or Yue opera, Sanguantang, Fenghuang Tu, Biyu Zan, Longfeng Suo, Shuang Jinhua, Mai Hua Long Tu, Mai Shui Long Tu and Ge Mai Long Tu; with Suzhou tantci and Shaoxing citiao, Yu Qingting, Zhen Zhu Ta, Yu Yuan Yang and Bi Yu Chai. Xuanjuan performers have no strict line of master-and-disciple transmission; they mostly form xuanjuan troupes voluntarily, headed by the "yu position", and sing at ceremonies such as a god's birthday, a birthday celebration and memorial rites.
Plain scroll and flowered scroll
The two modes of Shaoxing scroll singing: the unaccompanied "plain scroll" and the "flowered scroll" with erhu, sanxian and yueqin.
The four seats around the table
The seating protocol of xuanjuan singers: the south-facing "book seat" turns the scroll, the east "fish seat" beats the wooden fish, the west "longevity seat" strikes the gavel, and a fourth "tea seat" pours tea.
The xuanjuan tune and its closing invocation
The xuanjuan tune borrows from Shao opera and diaoqiang as well as folk ditties, and every helped refrain ends on the invocation "Namo Amitabha".
The hundred-volume scroll repertoire
About a hundred scroll texts survive, ranging from Buddhist titles such as the Mulian scroll to pieces shared with Shao opera, Yue opera, Suzhou tanci and Shaoxing cidiao.
He Yungen and the Dahe troupe
He Yungen, a closed-door disciple of Chen Asong, made scroll singing his trade from 1977, kept some forty scrolls in his repertoire and founded the Dahe troupe that trained over twenty disciples.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shaoxing xuanjuan is centred on Shaoxing County (today Keqiao District of Shaoxing City); in the late Qing and early Republican period it spread with the rites of offering to gods and praying for blessings to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo and other places, and it is one of the "five great genres" of the Shaoxing region. Xuanjuan performers have no strict master-and-disciple transmission and mostly form their troupes voluntarily, headed by the "yu position", and are engaged to sing at ceremonies such as a god's birthday, a birthday celebration and memorial rites; the area in which they operate broadly coincides with the areas in which Shaoxing diao qiang, Shaoxing opera and Yue opera are current, and for this reason baojuan song-books also borrow a great many works from neighbouring genres.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Although it has to some extent been revived, it has few successors to follow, and it urgently needs to be rescued and protected. He Yungen (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Stage name He Baobao. He came into contact with Shaoxing xuanjuan at the age of twenty and was the closing-door disciple of the performer Chen Asong. From 1977 onward he made xuanjuan his profession, and he is familiar with the traditional repertoire and the traditional vocal styles. His singing is accurate in diction and round in tone, his voice rises and falls with inflection, and his performance is plain and natural. He regularly performs more than forty baojuan and is skilled in the single work "Guadeng". He has collected more than thirty kinds of handwritten baojuan copies, and has founded the "Dahe troupe", training more than twenty disciples. His singing has carried him across Hangzhou, Shaoxing and other places, where he is welcomed by the public. He has taken part many times in xuanjuan exchange performances inside and outside the province, and was selected into the first group of outstanding folk literary and artistic talents of Zhejiang Province, assessed by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and other units. Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1942, died in December 2018, native of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province. Representative inheritor of the Shaoxing xuanjuan project under the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Yungen 03-1194
- Chen Huachun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。