Vocal Mimicry

01 · Historical Records

Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing kouji (vocal mimicry) developed considerably: both "mingchun" — performing bird calls in front of an audience — and "anchun" — simulating scenes of everyday life from behind a screen in the "next-door play" form — produced celebrated pieces that have been handed down. He won a gold medal at the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957, prompting a renewed upsurge of interest in practicing kouji in Beijing.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Kouji falls within the impersonation category of acrobatics. Kouji is an art in which performers skillfully use the movements of the lips, teeth, throat and tongue to produce sounds, together with resonance from the nasal and chest cavities, to imitate the calls of birds and the roars of beasts — indeed, the sounds of all things in the world. Kouji has a long history stretching far back into the past. According to the "Biography of Lord Mengchang" in the Records of the Grand Historian, Lord Mengchang escaped danger in Qin thanks to the help of men who could crow like a rooster and steal like a dog — evidence that more than 2,300 years ago kouji performers already possessed the skill of imitating a rooster's crow to announce the dawn, and had reached a level of realism indistinguishable from the real thing. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, "Hundred Birds Zhang," known as "a matchless wonder of Tianqiao (Beijing)," performed a rich variety of bird calls: small birds such as yellow birds, red birds, pearl finches, crested finches and sparrows; large birds such as larks, hwamei (Chinese thrushes), cuckoos, woodpeckers, magpies, black-naped orioles, white storks, egrets and red-crowned cranes. His imitations were so true to life that real birds would answer with their own calls. He could also imitate sounds such as a golden rooster announcing the dawn, a hen brooding her chicks, pigeons cooing in their cote, and ducks sporting in cold water — every imitation remarkably lifelike, demonstrating consummate skill. Over the past hundred years, with the development of the times and changes in the environment, Yin Shilin (stage name "Kai Kou Xiao," or "Laughing Aloud") and his successors Zhou Zhiliang (stage name "Sun Tai") and Zhou Zhicheng carried out sweeping reforms of kouji, integrating mingchun, anchun and the next-door play, stepping out from behind the traditional eight-foot screen and onto the stage to perform face to face with the audience. While imitating sounds with exquisite fidelity, they added facial expression and body language, turning kouji into a performing art that is "vivid in both voice and feeling." Sun Tai's performances of catching cicadas, felling trees, pushing a handcart and the like were delicate and true to life, humorous and moving. Niu Yuliang, Niu Yuming and others, while carrying on the fine traditions of Beijing kouji, took the Zhou brothers as their teachers; through study and practice they continually explored the scientific laws of vocal production and breath control in kouji, developing the "cyclic breathing method" and the "cyclic phonation method," which opened up a broader range of breath support and vocal register for kouji, further enriching its performing techniques and giving audiences an artistic experience excellent to both ear and eye.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Beijing kouji is divided into two branches, "mingchun" and "anchun": mingchun is performed in the open before an audience, centering on imitating bird calls; anchun simulates scenes of everyday life from behind a screen and is also called the "next-door play." During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, the Tianqiao performer "Hundred Birds Zhang" was famous for his bird calls and was hailed as "a matchless wonder of Tianqiao"; later figures such as Yin Shilin (stage name "Laughing Aloud"), Zhou Zhiliang and Zhou Zhicheng combined the two branches, bringing kouji out from behind the eight-foot screen and onto the stage.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Today, as electronic sound technology advances rapidly, traditional kouji has come under severe pressure: successors are few and skills are being lost, making the protection of kouji in its original ecological form especially urgent. Niu Yuliang (per the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1938, a native of Beijing. Kouji performer. In 1953 he became a disciple of the renowned kouji master Liu Wanchun. In 1960 he joined the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. In 1988 he was transferred to the China Acrobatic Troupe. He inherited the outstanding works of such masters as Huamei Yang, Hundred Birds Zhang, Yin Shilin, Sun Tai and Zhou Zhicheng. His vocal production is accurate and his sound imitations spot-on; his performance is delicate, vivid in both voice and feeling. He developed new sources of breath and sound, reforming and innovating the cyclic phonation method and the cyclic breathing method, enabling him to imitate several sounds at once. He created the kouji plays "A Day in the Army Camp" and "Joyful Gongs and Drums," published the book Chinese Kouji and the audiovisual disc "Kouji Teaching and Appreciation." His disciples include Liu Yong, Fang Haoran, Zhao Guangzhen, Zhang Kui, Zhao Limin, Jiang Lianying, Li Lei and Li Xianbi. He is a representative inheritor of kouji, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. In 1958 he became a disciple of the renowned kouji master Zhou Zhicheng, and was also trained by his master's junior fellow apprentice Sun Tai.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Niuyuliang 04-1746

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Vocal Mimicry (Xicheng, Beijing) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Niuyuliang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗