Duanguqiang
01 · Historical Records
According to old performers, the custom began in the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty (627-649), coming from the Tang ruler Li Shimin, who had made a vow and called upon the god of the river. It is specifically divided into five stages: 1. setting up the altar; 2. displaying the drum and opening the altar; 3. inviting the spirit; 4. paying court to the spirit and making offerings; 5. bowing at the altar and seeing the spirit off. The fishermen of Weishan Lake divide a Duan'guqiang performance into the five stages of setting up the altar, displaying the drum and opening the altar, inviting the spirit, paying court to the spirit and making offerings, and bowing at the altar and seeing the spirit off. In former times the performance was usually held on the day of the lake sacrifice; the host of the rite had first to set up an incense table and lay out offerings, the performers beat the drum and sang the texts for inviting the spirit, and then passed into the main body of the singing; when it was finished the rites for seeing the spirit off were performed. According to old performers, the custom began in the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty and came from the Tang ruler Li Shimin, who had made a vow and called upon the god of the river.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Duan'guqiang is a ritual custom by which the fishermen of Weishan Lake pray and make offerings, trace back history, bless birthdays and seek good fortune, and celebrate a good harvest in the course of production and daily life. The music of Duan'guqiang is in the linked-tune form; the structure of its vocal styles is based on the repetitive metrical-tune form, making it a composite form that combines the metrical-tune and linked-tune systems, and its metrical-tune section rests on two tune patterns, [Ten-Syllable Rhyme] and [Seven-Syllable Rhyme]. The chief characteristic of its vocal styles is a modal structure based on alternation between the "gong" and "zhi" degrees of the pentatonic scale; the melodic motion has comparatively wide leaps, the drawn-out cadences are long and winding, and it has a distinctive waterside style. Duan'guqiang has a great many repertoire works; it is a composite art based on narrative singing with song and dance interspersed. The texts of Duan'guqiang are chiefly in seven-syllable and ten-syllable lines, the spoken passages incorporate vocabulary of the northern Jiangsu dialect, and the vocal styles, with their long drawn-out cadences and abundant tremolo, combine with the rolling, single-stroke and rim-stroke playing of the duangu drum to form the waterside style in which the drum leads and the voice follows. It is a composite art based on narrative singing with song and dance interspersed and has a great many repertoire works; besides "Wei Zheng Dreams of Beheading the Little White Dragon", there are also such multi-act plays as "Zhang Xiang Fights over the Dowry" and "Liu Wenlong Takes the Imperial Exam".
The five ritual stages
The five stages are setting the altar, opening the drums, inviting the gods, the offering, and escorting the gods away.
The drum and its strokes
The round sheepskin drum is held by the handle and struck on the head or rim, its rolls and single strokes leading the singing.
Yang Chengxing and the village troupe
The inheritor Yang Chengxing, born in Weishan in 1978, can perform dozens of serialised plays and trains pupils through his village troupe.
A composite musical structure
Its music combines repeated metre sections based on the ten- and seven-character tunes with linked tunes, in a pentatonic gong-zhi modal shift.
Two stock plays
Two regularly performed serialised plays, one on a village marriage, one on a scholar's examination journey.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Duan'guqiang originated in the lakeside areas of Weishan Lake within Weishan County, Shandong Province. Because its transmission is purely oral and imitative, no historical document has yet been found that records it. Its repertoire works and its vocal styles, however, carry a strong flavour of the northern Jiangsu dialect, and appear to share a common origin with the "xianghuo diao" (incense-tune) of the northern Jiangsu countryside. In Weishan County, Duan'guqiang is transmitted in the lakeside townships of Weishan Island, Nanyang, Liuzhuang and Liangcheng, and the singing groups mostly exist as village theatre troupes attached to fishermen's settlements. Transmission from performer to performer is oral and imitative, and no historical document recording it has been found; but its repertoire works and its vocal styles carry a strong flavour of the northern Jiangsu dialect, and appear to share a common origin with the "xianghuo diao" of the northern Jiangsu countryside. Singing may begin on the lake, at the bow of a boat or in the yard of a fishing village, hence the names "bow-of-the-boat play" and "lake play".
Other submitting regions for the same item: Duanguqiang.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It carries a great deal of important cultural information and primordial memory of the lake area, preserves lakeside folk art and folk customs that are on the verge of being lost, and testifies to the history and culture of the Weishan Lake area, possessing sociological, anthropological and folklore-studies value. Yang Chengxing (as recorded in the official file on associated inheritors): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in January 1978, a native of Weishan County, Shandong Province. His voice is resonant and high, his vocal style bold and unrestrained and full of deep flavour; he is gifted in Duan'guqiang performance and can act out several dozen multi-act plays. When playing male roles he is bold and unrestrained with deep flavour; when playing female roles he is graceful and beautiful, delicate and understated. His performance style is honest and unadorned, combining strength with gentleness. The Duan'guqiang village theatre troupe he organised takes apprentices and passes on the art the whole year round. Representative inheritor of Duan'guqiang among the national-level intangible cultural heritage projects in the fifth batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Chengxing 05-2526
- Ding Lixin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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