Ningxia Xiaoqu
01 · Historical Records
In the middle of the twentieth century Ningxia Xiaoqu gave rise to Ningxia zuochang (seated singing), an independent form of the genre.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ningxia Xiaoqu is a quyi performing form current among people of the Han, Hui, Manchu and other nationalities in Yinchuan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and in Yongning County, Helan County, Zhongning County, Tongxin County, Pingluo County, Huinong District of Shizuishan City, Wuzhong City, Guyuan City, Lingwu City, Yanchi County and other places. It is commonly called “xiaoquzi” (little tunes), and is also known as “Ningxia storytelling”. As early as the beginning of the Qing dynasty, itinerant xiaoqu artists had already flowed into the Ningxia area from Shaanxi, Gansu and other places and were performing there. It is generally held that Ningxia Xiaoqu gradually turned into a storytelling form in the course of localising the imported form of sung performance: that form took in local artists and local musical tunes, and adopted the local accent for its spoken and sung performance. Ningxia Xiaoqu alternates speech and song in the Ningxia local accent, song predominating, with spoken passages in addition. The traditional way of performing is usually for one performer to stand and sing short items, striking a bangzi (wooden clapper) himself, while another plays a sanxian for accompaniment; or for two performers to sit and sing medium and long items in collaboration, one accompanying the spoken and sung performance on a sanxian that he plays himself or on a huqin, the other holding jianban (wooden clappers) or a bangzi to mark the beat, accompanying and joining in the refrain. Its vocal music is of the tune-pattern type, and the structure of its vocal style is the repetition of a single tune. The commonly used melodies include the Changgong (Farmhand) tune, the Fangyang (Shepherding) tune, the Fangfengzheng (Kite-flying) tune, the Luotuotuo (Camel-leading) tune, the Xiaobaicai (Little Cabbage) tune, the Biandou Kaifang (Flat Bean in Flower) tune, the Moli (Jasmine) tune, the Taipingnian (Peaceful Year) tune, the Wugeng (Fifth Watch) tune, the Gejiucai (Cutting Chives) tune, the Lianhualuo (Lotus Falling) tune, the Nigu Sifan (Nun Longing for the Secular World) tune, the Zou Xikou (Going West of the Pass) tune and dozens more. The lyrics take the form both of regulated verse in seven-syllable lines and of mixed verse of short and long lines. Performance costume is mainly everyday Han dress or traditional Hui dress. The artistic expressive power of Ningxia Xiaoqu is very rich: it is not only good at narration but also at expressing feeling. Traditional items include medium and long pieces such as Zhu Xuesheng and Yang Xuesheng, Fragrant Plum Girl, Miss Liu, Ma Zhongying Attacks Ningxia and Crying at the Great Wall, and short pieces such as Thinking of My Lover, Embroidering the Purse, The Son-in-Law, The Farmhand's Lament and The Woman of the Fireworks.
Ningxia storytelling and sitting-singing
Popularly called the little tune or Ningxia storytelling, the genre gave birth in the mid-twentieth century to the separate sitting-singing form.
Common tunes
A few of several dozen stock tunes in a labelled-melody style built on repeating single tunes.
Long and medium titles
Medium and long traditional pieces, alongside short ones about love, sewing and hired labour.
The singer 'Dan' of the Xianfeng reign
By the Xianfeng reign the local singer Dan, born Guo Jian, toured Yinchuan and Yongning with his sister singing the little tune in local speech.
Performance dress
Performers wear Han everyday dress or Hui traditional costume, singing standing with clappers or seated as a pair.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
By the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty the local Ningxia artist Dan (real name Guo Jian) was already singing “xiaoquzi” in the local accent around Yinchuan City and Yongning County, together with his younger sister. Ningxia Xiaoqu is an important form of entertainment for the people of the region in which it circulates, and it plays an important part in enriching their spiritual and cultural life; its traditional items carry the feelings of production and life, the thoughts and emotions and the aesthetic tastes of the multi-ethnic people of that region, and they hold the traditional values of the local populace.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The items of Ningxia Xiaoqu fall into two classes, medium and long pieces and short pieces: pieces of medium and long length such as Zhu Xuesheng and Yang Xuesheng, Fragrant Plum Girl, Miss Liu, Ma Zhongying Attacks Ningxia and Crying at the Great Wall are mostly sung seated by two performers to the accompaniment of the sanxian or the huqin, while short pieces such as Thinking of My Lover, Embroidering the Purse, The Son-in-Law, The Farmhand's Lament and The Woman of the Fireworks are sung standing by a single performer striking a bangzi. Performance costume is mainly everyday Han dress or traditional Hui dress, the vocal style is of the tune-pattern type with single-tune repetition, the commonly used melodies include the Changgong (Farmhand) tune, the Fangyang (Shepherding) tune, the Fangfengzheng (Kite-flying) tune, the Luotuotuo (Camel-leading) tune, the Xiaobaicai (Little Cabbage) tune, the Moli (Jasmine) tune, the Taipingnian (Peaceful Year) tune, the Wugeng (Fifth Watch) tune, the Zou Xikou (Going West of the Pass) tune and dozens more, and the lyrics take both the form of seven-syllable regulated verse and the form of mixed verse of short and long lines. The Yinchuan City Culture and Art Centre (Yinchuan City Mass Arts Centre) is responsible for the survey and the teaching work of the item. In the middle of the twentieth century Ningxia Xiaoqu also gave birth to Ningxia zuochang (seated singing) as an independent form of the genre, and the two are still handed down in parallel among the same body of artists.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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