Hezhoupingxian
01 · Historical Records
Since the late twentieth century, performances of Hezhou Pingxian have contracted severely: old performers have passed away one after another, and new enthusiasts are not coming forward to replace them. Hezhou Pingxian shares part of its musical material with the locally popular Hezhou Xianxiao and Hezhou Hua'er, while its singing texts are adapted in large measure from historical romances and folk tales. In the 1920s and 1930s, Pingxian singing in the city of Linxia depended largely on business houses and literary associations; performers were commonly invited to sing seated in teahouses and inns, and the texts circulated as hand-copied manuscripts lent about and copied among performers. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the cultural departments of Linxia Prefecture and of the city organized the collection and recording of material, sorted some old passages into booklets, and for a time transferred them to the stage, with amateur Pingxian troupes appearing in public performance. From the 1980s onward, as old performers withdrew and audiences dispersed, the occasions for performance fell sharply.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hezhou Pingxian is a quyi genre circulating chiefly in Linxia City of Gansu Province, historically called Hezhou, and in the districts around it. The form of performance is a single singer accompanying himself on the sanxian while narrating and singing, with singing as the main element and spoken passages interspersed. The structure of the vocal styles is a linked chain of tune patterns. The lyrics are refined and elegant, the melodies rich and beautiful, and the genre has a high aesthetic value. The performers are mostly literati and scholars, or folk artists with some cultural cultivation. Hezhou Pingxian is sung rather than spoken, with short, finely judged spoken passages used chiefly for turns in the narrative and for introducing characters. In performance one person sits and sings while playing the sanxian, accompanied by plucked and bowed instruments; the whole piece is linked together in the order of its tune patterns, with four lines to each stanza, using both seven-syllable and ten-syllable line forms; the vocal melodies are rich and beautiful and the lyrics refined and elegant.
Linked-tune structure
Its music links separate labelled tunes according to the text, with singing dominant and speech interspersed.
Literati sitting-singing
Its performers were mostly literati or cultured amateur artists, singing solo to their own sanxian in Linxia's clubs and teahouses.
Hezhou, the old name of Linxia
The genre takes its name from Hezhou, the old name of Linxia on the Tang-Tubo road and tea-horse trade route.
Fewer than ten singers
Since the late twentieth century performances have shrunk sharply; fewer than ten singers remain in Linxia and many songbooks are lost.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hezhou Pingxian is centred on Linxia City of Gansu Province, historically called Hezhou, and circulates in Linxia, Hezheng, Yongjing, Jishishan and Kangle counties and the surrounding districts. Linxia was formerly the seat of Hezhou Guard, a hub of the ancient Tang-Tubo road and of the tea-and-horse trade; Neo-Confucian academies and the vogue for amateur music-making among the people both flourished in the Ming and Qing, and literati would regularly form associations to play and sing. Hence Hezhou Pingxian is also known as "pingdiao" or "pingxianzi", and the singing was commonly performed in teahouses, in courtyards and at temple-fair gatherings. Since the late Qing and early Republican period the texts have circulated among performers in the form of hand-copied manuscripts, some of which were collected into local documentary compilations. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centre of Linxia City and the Linxia Prefecture Cultural Centre are the present bodies carrying out surveys and teaching, promoting rescue-oriented protection by recording the vocal styles of old performers and collating manuscript examples of the tune patterns.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present fewer than ten Hezhou Pingxian performers remain in the whole of the Linxia area, many singing texts have been lost, and the state of endangerment gives cause for alarm; forceful measures are urgently needed to protect the genre.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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