Yugu Daoqing
01 · Historical Records
Yugu daoqing is popular throughout Anhui Province and is commonly abbreviated as "daoqing"; it flourishes most in Xiaoxian County and Jieshou, each of which has formed its own branch and school. Daoqing originally came from Daoist songs urging people towards goodness, sung to the beat of a fishing drum and clappers. It spread to many regions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and after merging with local speech and folk tunes it developed into yugu daoqing, a local genre that narrates stories through speech and song. The Xiaoxian branch was strongly influenced by the comparable genre of neighbouring Shandong Province, and its vocal style follows the banqiang (clapper-tune) system; the Jieshou branch, also called "zhuizi weng", inserts many tune patterns into its vocal style. The performance form is usually a single performer beating a fishing drum and clappers to accompany his own speech and song, song predominating with spoken narration interspersed; it is strongly imbued with local flavour and has great power as a vehicle of moral teaching. Yugu daoqing is popular throughout Anhui Province and is commonly abbreviated as "daoqing"; it flourishes most in Xiaoxian County and Jieshou, each of which has formed its own branch and school. Daoqing originally came from Daoist songs urging people towards goodness, sung to the beat of a fishing drum and clappers. It spread to many regions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and after merging with local speech and folk tunes it developed into yugu daoqing, a local genre that narrates stories through speech and song. The Xiaoxian branch was strongly influenced by the comparable genre of neighbouring Shandong Province, and its vocal style follows the banqiang (clapper-tune) system; the Jieshou branch, also called "zhuizi weng", inserts many tune patterns into its vocal style. The performance form is usually a single performer beating a fishing drum and clappers to accompany his own speech and song, song predominating with spoken narration interspersed; it is strongly imbued with local flavour and has great power as a vehicle of moral teaching. The performers of Xiaoxian and Jieshou keep their repertoires in common with one another; the full-length works include "The Golden Whip Tale", "The Three Knights' Sword", "The Generals of the Yang Family" and "The Legend of the Returning Dragon", the medium-length works include "Wang Dingbao Pawns His Jewel", "The Young Master Lei Seeks His Family" and "The Eight Steeds", and the short works include "Splash Water Before the Horse", "Wang Xiang Lies on the Ice" and "Dinglan Carves a Wooden Figure"; long and short pieces complement one another and are chosen according to the occasion.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Within it, the Xiaoxian branch was strongly influenced by the comparable genre of neighbouring Shandong Province, and its vocal style follows the banqiang (clapper-tune) system, which according to expressive function and singing school is divided into "hanqiang" (plain style) and "huaqiang" (ornate style); the Jieshou branch, also called "zhuizi weng", inserts many tune patterns into its vocal style, including "shangyun" pieces such as "Man Jiang Hong" and "Rolling Up the Blind" and "xiayun" pieces such as "Silver Twisted Silk" and "Walking the Wharf". The performance form is usually a single performer beating a fishing drum and clappers to accompany his own speech and song, song predominating with spoken narration interspersed. The traditional repertoire of yugu daoqing includes the full-length "The Golden Whip Tale", "The Three Knights' Sword", "The Generals of the Yang Family" and "The Legend of the Returning Dragon", the medium-length "Wang Dingbao Pawns His Jewel", "The Young Master Lei Seeks His Family" and "The Eight Steeds", and the short "Splash Water Before the Horse", "Wang Xiang Lies on the Ice", "Dinglan Carves a Wooden Figure" and others. It is strongly imbued with local flavour and has great power as a vehicle of moral teaching.
The cold aria and the flower aria
The Xiao county branch splits by function and school into the cold and flower arias, the latter now kept alive by a single singer.
The Jieshou zhuizi hum
The Jieshou branch, called the zhuizi hum, inserts tunes such as Full River Red and the Silver Thread rather than using metre-based arias.
Upper and lower rhyme tunes
Its inserted tunes divide into upper-rhyme items like Full River Red and lower-rhyme items like the Silver Thread.
Long items of Anhui daoing
Long historical and chivalric items, with middle-length and short pieces on city life and filial legend beside them.
Liu Yonglin and the Xiao county flower aria
Liu Yonglin is the last performer able to sing the Xiao county flower aria, the single thread keeping that school alive.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yugu daoqing is popular throughout Anhui Province and is commonly abbreviated as "daoqing"; it flourishes most in Xiaoxian County and Jieshou, and each has formed its own branch and school. Xiaoxian County lies at the northernmost tip of Anhui, bordering Jiangsu, Shandong and Henan; its speech and tunes are close to those of southwestern Shandong and eastern Henan, so the local yugu daoqing has a bold, uninhibited vocal style and a repertoire largely shared with the neighbouring provinces. Jieshou lies in northwestern Anhui, where performers are usually engaged to sing at market-town temple fairs and at weddings and funerals; tune patterns are interpolated into the vocal style, giving it a character distinct from the Xiaoxian branch. Since the end of the twentieth century, performances of yugu daoqing have fallen sharply and the succession of performers has broken down; the "huaqiang" yugu drum of Xiaoxian, for instance, has only one performer left, Liu Yonglin, who can still stage it, and the form hangs by a thread.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Since the end of the twentieth century, performances of yugu daoqing have fallen sharply and the succession of performers has broken down; the "huaqiang" yugu drum of Xiaoxian, for instance, has only one performer left, Liu Yonglin, who can still stage it, and the form hangs by a thread. It is seriously endangered and is in urgent need of protection.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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