Lianhualuo Balladry
01 · Historical Records
Since the twentieth century its development and its performances have flourished in Taiyuan and have declined one after another in other regions, so it is also often called 'Taiyuan Lianhualuo'. Lianhualuo was introduced into Shanxi around the middle of the Qing dynasty. The best-known early Lianhualuo performer in Shanxi was Li Liangen in the first half of the twentieth century; the pieces he was known for included Da Bayi and Xiao Bayi. In the early 1960s, Cao Qiang, a young xiangsheng (crosstalk) performer at the Taiyuan Quyi Federation, studied Lianhualuo performance under Li Liangen and devoted himself to excavating and sorting out Lianhualuo's artistic materials.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Lianhualuo is an ancient form of quyi folk art widely popular throughout Shanxi, also known as 'Jinzhong luozi'. As it has developed up to the present day, the standard performance form is for a single performer to accompany his own rhythmic recitation by striking bamboo clappers (two large and five small, commonly called the 'seven pieces'), with singing and recitation predominating and spoken lines interspersed. There are also two-person antiphonal and multi-person performance forms. The lyrics consist basically of four seven-character lines to a stanza, and follow matched rhyme patterns. Traditional repertoire includes long works such as The Five Women of Tang (Wunu Xingtang Zhuan), Wanhualou and Huyanqing Challenges the Arena, and short pieces such as The Little Couple Fighting and The Young Widow Visiting a New Grave. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ren Wuer, a blind Lianhualuo performer from Mijiazhuang Village, Jiaocheng County, composed and performed a large number of new pieces, such as The Recovery of Xiaoyi and Wenshui. His own compositions drew mainly on subject matter from real life, pursued humour and wit, and established a school of his own.
The seven bamboo pieces
The singer strikes his own clappers, two large and five small and known as the "seven pieces", chanting with occasional spoken asides; duet and group forms also exist.
Long traditional items
Representative long items in seven-character quatrains, told over consecutive days at markets and temple fairs.
Short theatrical pieces
Short pieces drawn from everyday life, witty and compact, often played before the longer tale to gather an audience.
The blind singer Ren Wu'er of Jiaocheng
During the War of Resistance the blind Jiaocheng singer Ren Wu'er composed many topical pieces such as Recapturing Xiaoyi and Wenshui, forming a humorous style of his own.
Lü Zhu adapts Heroes of the Lüliang Mountains
After 1949 the Jiaocheng singer Lü Zhu adapted the novel Heroes of the Lüliang Mountains into a long new item, a widely felt example of repertoire renewal.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Lianhualuo is widely popular throughout Shanxi and is also known as 'Jinzhong luozi'; since the twentieth century it has flourished in Taiyuan and so is also called 'Taiyuan Lianhualuo'. The protecting entity is the Taiyuan Municipal Song, Dance and Acrobatics Troupe. The Taiyuan Quyi Federation is the centre for local Lianhualuo performers: in the early 1960s Cao Qiang studied under Li Liangen there and began excavating and sorting out the nearly lost Jinzhong luozi; around Mijiazhuang in Jiaocheng County there survives the tradition of the blind performer Ren Wuer composing and performing new pieces. Entering the twenty-first century, the old performers are of advanced age, young and middle-aged performing talent is exceedingly scarce, and performances are concentrated in quyi special sessions in the urban area and in campus activities.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Lü Zhu of Jiaocheng County, under the guidance of the county cultural centre, adapted and performed the long new work The Heroes of the Luliang Mountains, which had a considerable influence. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the old performers are of advanced age, young and middle-aged performing talent is exceedingly scarce, the art cannot be handed on, and the tradition faces a survival crisis and urgently needs protection. Cao Youyuan (from the official files of associated inheritors): He loved quyi from childhood; at the age of twenty-one he entered the Taiyuan Municipal Quyi Federation and became a xiangsheng (crosstalk) performer. In the early 1960s he began excavating and sorting out the nearly extinct Jinzhong luozi; during the same period he also took the old Lianhualuo performer Li Liangen as his master, humbly sought instruction, and improved Lianhualuo's vocal styles, language, sentence patterns and clapper patterns, while at the same time blending the Taiyuan dialect and Putonghua into Lianhualuo, so that innovation was achieved in the course of transmission. Representative works include Dongdong Presents the Treasure, The New Song of the Battle, Improvisational Quyi Satire, Xiao Ding Drives the Car, The Secret of Longevity, Too Clever by Half, Instant Effect and A Perfect Match. Male, of Han ethnicity, born in December 1937, died in February 2014, a native of Pingyao County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item Lianhualuo. In his lifetime he formally accepted nine disciples, who came from various trades, and he also brought Lianhualuo into schools, cultivating many enthusiasts of the art.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Cao Youyuan 04-1730
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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