Wenzhou Lianhua
01 · Historical Records
Wenzhou lianhua took shape in the late Qing dynasty and has a history of more than a hundred years; it is widely transmitted in the urban districts of Wenzhou, and in Yongjia, Rui'an, Yueqing, Pingyang and Taishun in southern Zhejiang, as well as in parts of Taizhou. It evolved from daoqing storytelling; by the late Qing and early Republican period it already had a large audience, and a batch of famous performers appeared, among them Xu Bangzhong, Wu Wengao, Xu Shunjie and Li Goujin.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The lines of Wenzhou lianhua mostly use seven characters, though there are also five-character and ten-character lines, and paired lines generally rhyme. In performance the artists usually insert padding syllables and modal particles into the lines, to strengthen the rhythm and produce a lingering flavour. The vocal style of lianhua gradually took shape on the basis of the folk local music of the Yongjia area of Wenzhou City; it takes the “lianhua tune” as its foundation and supplements it with the “phoenix tune” and Wenzhou folk song melodies. When singing, the artists flexibly employ metrical forms such as the “fast beat”, “slow beat”, “free beat” and “stacked beat” according to what the content requires, producing distinctive artistic effects. The accompanying instruments of Wenzhou lianhua were at first only a single daoqing bamboo tube and a pair of yinyang clappers (that is, bamboo clappers); the qin-accompanied form of lianhua appeared only in the early twentieth century, adding the ox-tendon zither, the sanxian, the pipa and others, which made the music more beautiful and pleasing. Wenzhou lianhua takes a wide variety of subjects; its traditional repertoire numbers more than fifty pieces, mostly of medium and long length. Among them are mythological subjects such as “The Great Opening of Heaven” and “The Eight Immortals”, secular subjects such as “The Qilin Leopard” and “The Crystal Palace”, and local subjects such as “Liu Wenlong”, “Gao Ji and Wu Sanchun” and “Huang Sannü Niao and Lin Dinglang”; the content is very rich. A traditional medium-length piece can be sung for three to four hours, while a traditional long piece can be sung for around ten hours and has to be performed in three or four sessions.
Yongjia folk music and the lotus tune
The melody of Wenzhou lianhua grew out of the folk music of Yongjia county, which is regarded as the genre's musical homeland.
Opening Heaven and The Eight Immortals
Among over fifty traditional items, these two represent the mythological strand alongside worldly pieces such as the Unicorn Leopard and the Crystal Palace.
Liu Wenlong and Gao Ji and Wu Sanchun
Local Yongjia-region tales such as Liu Wenlong and Gao Ji and Wu Sanchun distinguish Wenzhou lianhua from imported storytelling matter.
Middle-length and long items
Traditional items run long: a middle-length piece takes three to four hours, a long one about ten hours across three or four sessions.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yongjia is the principal area of origin for the vocal style of Wenzhou lianhua; the “lianhua tune” was gradually distilled from the folk local music of the Yongjia area, and the protection unit is the Yongjia County Cultural Heritage Protection and Transmission Center. Local lianhua artists are mostly invited to perform at the villages along both banks of the Nanxi River; a medium-length piece may be sung through for three or four hours, while a long piece has to be divided into three or four sessions. Beyond Yongjia, audiences in Rui'an, Yueqing, Pingyang, Taishun and parts of Taizhou are equally familiar with this genre. Lianhua performance in Yongjia and in the urban districts of Wenzhou City have long exchanged with one another; their vocal styles, metrical forms and repertoires are basically the same, and the differences lie mainly in dialect speech and in the artistic lineages of the performers.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Wenzhou Lianhua.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wenzhou lianhua enjoys broad popular appeal and a very strong local character; it is an important basis for studying folk literature and social customs in southern Zhejiang, and has high historical and cultural value. At present this precious local storytelling genre has fallen into a survival crisis, with few followers to succeed the artists, and urgently needs protection and transmission.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Dai Chunlan 03-1195
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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