Kejiaguwen
01 · Historical Records
Hakka guwen, also called guwen, is the form taken by storytelling-type quyi in the Hakka settlement areas of southern Jiangxi; its origins are tied to the storytelling and daoqing traditions of Hakka migrant society. Yudu stands on the middle reaches of the Gong River and was a transit point for the Hakka ancestors moving south from central Jiangxi toward Fujian and Guangdong; the stories of ancient figures passed down among the villages were worked into books by artists and gradually hardened into long-form storytelling sung in the Hakka dialect, which by the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty at the latest had already reached a considerable scale. In the late Qing and early Republican period, blind artists and part-time storytellers who farmed part of the year would carry the goutong fiddle on their backs and go from village to village, telling stories in ancestral halls, market places and farmhouses; a single book could be told for a dozen nights or more.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hakka guwen is a storytelling form of quyi transmitted in the Hakka-inhabited area of southern Jiangxi centred on Yudu County, Jiangxi Province; it takes its name from the fact that what it narrates has historically been mostly “stories of the ancients”, and is popularly known as “guwen”. Hakka guwen had already taken shape no later than the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty. Its performance uses the Hakka speech of southern Jiangxi, alternating speech and song with the singing predominant; usually a single performer sits and accompanies his own singing, and there are also cases in which several people join in as a chorus. Storytelling in which the performer both plays and sings is convenient to present, and chorus accompaniment is flexible and mobile; the accompanying instrument, the goutong (a two-string fiddle equivalent to the erhu), is tuned in the combinations 5—2, 2—6, 1—5 and 6—3, so that the special colour of the open strings is fully brought out in the melodic phrasing. The body of the repertoire alternates prose-like narration with rhymed singing, and the sung lines are mostly in seven-syllable form. The vocal styles used are metrical forms built on a foundation of tune patterns; there are twenty or thirty tune patterns in common use, and among the functional vocal styles in common use are the “shuban”, skilled in narration and lyrical expression, the “beidiao”, which expresses grief, indignation and sorrow, the “huanban” and “xidiao”, which convey a lively and cheerful mood, as well as the “kuban” and “manban”. Hakka guwen is marked by a distinctive “one tune, many texts” character: a single melody is usually fitted with several different sets of sung words and sung repeatedly, with the plot unfolding stage by stage. The principal accompanying instrument is the goutong (erhu), and there are also cases in which the yugu drum, small drum, bamboo clappers, woodblock, suona and qinqin are added. Hakka guwen belongs to the storytelling type within quyi and is skilled in narration; its plots are intricate and gripping, and the performer uses facial expression, vocal tone and vocal style to express joy, anger, sorrow and happiness and to pass judgement on merit and demerit, right and wrong, thereby presenting the figures of the story with complete vividness before the audience. The traditional repertoire of Hakka guwen includes Gexin Ji (The Cut Heart), Gebao Ji (The Cut Robe), Sitai Ji (The Silk Ribbon), Maihua Ji (The Flower Seller), Longfeng Ji (The Dragon and Phoenix), Pipa Ji (The Lute), Jinzan Ji (The Gold Hairpin), Baishan Ji (The White Fan) and others. There are also short “jingchang” (quiet-scene) pieces, popularly known as the “shiba da” (eighteen pairings). Their content is generally intricate and unexpected, with cause and effect, clear right and wrong, and rich in meaning; their ideas and themes mostly extol such fine traditional virtues of the Chinese nation as doing good and accumulating virtue, honouring ritual and esteeming learning, bearing humiliation and shouldering heavy burdens, and being thrifty in managing the household; at the same time they lash out against such bad social habits and ugly phenomena as breaking faith, growing rich without conscience, vicious deceit, and loving ease and shunning labour, encouraging people to uphold goodness, strive forward and struggle stubbornly, and teaching people to be steadfast and unyielding, thrifty and frugal, and harmonious and affectionate.
Traditional titles
Traditional items among a set of eight, whose plots prize virtue, learning and family loyalty.
The short shibada pieces
Brief quiet-filler pieces nicknamed shibada, used both to settle an audience and to train apprentices.
The gouhu and its tunings
The gouhu's tunings of 5-2, 2-6, 1-5 and 6-3 exploit open strings, with drums, clappers, suona and qinqin sometimes added.
Functional tunes
Its functional tunes cover narration, grief, joy and weeping, the singing built on a repertory of twenty or thirty labelled melodies.
One tune, many texts
Its hallmark is repeating one melody with many different texts as the plot advances in layers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hakka guwen circulates with Yudu County, Jiangxi Province, as its centre, reaching to Tian Village in Gan County and to the other southern Jiangxi counties of Xingguo, Ruijin, Huichang, Ningdu and Shicheng; it also moved out with Hakka migration and influenced the Hakka areas of western Fujian and eastern Guangdong. In former times transmission was by family and by master-disciple apprenticeship, and the short quiet-scene pieces such as the shiba da were the pieces used by apprentices for practice and as openings when going from village to village.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Hakka guwen not only gives the audience the pleasure of artistic enjoyment, but in the course of transmission also brings the broad masses knowledge of many kinds; it carries strong Hakka cultural features and has played an important role in carrying on Hakka culture and spirit and in maintaining the identity of the community. It also has reference value that cannot be ignored for the study of the Hakka language, folk customs and cultural life.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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