Pingyaoshagexiren
01 · Historical Records
Shage opera figures were already popular in the Jinzhong region during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Shage opera figures now kept in the Qingxu Temple in Pingyao County, Shanxi Province, are the work of Xu Liting, a folk artisan of the Liuhe Zhai paper-craft shop in Pingyao, made in the 32nd year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1906); at the time the labor cost for each cabinet was 2,000 wen.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Shage opera figures take their name from clay-sculpture opera figures, made through multiple craft techniques, that are placed inside wooden cabinets screened with green gauze. Originally there were 36 cabinets; 28 survive today, containing more than a hundred opera figures in different poses. Each wooden cabinet stage, about 70 centimeters high, displays three or four opera figures about 50 centimeters high — some civil and some military, some seated and some standing, covering all four role types of sheng, dan, jing and chou; the forms are graceful, the faces expressive, and the costumes lifelike. Most of them choose brilliant scenes from the plays, capturing the instant of the moment: some singing with open mouths, some fighting with swords and spears; the props are exquisite, full of wit and charm, and utterly fascinating. The horizontal plaques inside the cabinets are all inscribed with the titles of the plays, and in some cases these are also carved into the floorboards of the wooden cabinets. Shage opera figures were generally funded by exchange-shop (piaohao) merchants and made by famous folk artisans. During the community festivities of the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival each year, they were specially displayed on both sides of the passageway inside the Jinjing Market Tower in the center of the county town for visitors to enjoy. The making of Shage opera figures must go through the processes of conceiving a dramatic scene, designing the stage layout, building the wooden cabinet and its internal divisions, and decorating with inscribed wall panels before it can be completed. In their making, gold-splashed xuan paper, silver foil, raw silk, clay, wood, sorghum stalks, grain straw, silk fabric, fur and hide, cotton cloth and hemp rope serve as materials, while writing brushes, scissors, carving knives and pliers serve as tools; the figures are built up in sequence: a frame is raised and the posture set, clay heads and limbs are made, the facial masks are painted, the head and limbs are attached, the costume is fitted onto the body, carved or painted appliques are pasted on, the backdrop is painted, and props are added. The pigments used are mineral pigments and the like; the colors are brilliant and do not fade easily. With their distinctive style, vivid modeling and complex craft, Shage opera figures have become rare physical material for the study of traditional folk fine art and theatrical art.
Seventy-centimetre stages, fifty-centimetre figures
Each stage some seventy centimetres high holds three or four fifty-centimetre figures of every role type, the play title written on the lintel and sometimes carved in the floor.
Thirty-six stages, twenty-eight surviving
Named for clay theatre figures set in gauze-hung wooden stages, the set numbered thirty-six, of which twenty-eight and over a hundred figures survive.
Armature, clay head and painted face
From gold-flecked paper, silver foil, raw silk, clay, wood, sorghum stalk and silk, craftsmen build an armature, model head and limbs, paint the face and dress the figure.
Xu Liting and the Liuhe studio
The set in Pingyao's Qingxu Temple was made in 1906 by Xu Liting of the Liuhe paper workshop at 2,000 cash per stage, usually commissioned by draft banks.
Lei Xianyuan's copies and teaching
The fourth-batch inheritor Lei Xianyuan, 1929-2018, mastered the whole process and helped recreate eight lost stages, his works including Loyalty Defends the Realm and Broken Bridge.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shage opera figures are the product of a combination of the paper-craft trade and the prevailing taste for opera appreciation in the Jinzhong area; their distribution was centered on Pingyao County, and similar works were once also made in Qi County, Taigu, Jiexiu and other counties where Shanxi merchants concentrated. The Pingyao County Culture and Tourism Development Center is now the protecting institution, and the 28 cabinets of Shage opera figures held in the Qingxu Temple are the most important physical testimony to this craft.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Lei Xianyuan (associated inheritor, according to the official archival record): He was proficient in the craft of making Shage opera figures, with rich practical experience ranging from conceiving scenes, designing postures and building frames to clay-modeling heads, faces and limbs, and on to painting facial masks and costumes and making backdrops and props. After retiring, he devoted himself to studying the craft of Shage opera figures, improving and refining the art of paper-craft, and passed on all his skills to his second son, Lei Wangsheng. He also collaborated with others to reproduce the eight sets of Shage opera figures that had been lost. His representative works include Zhongbaoguo, Shatuoguo, Shisanguan, Simazhuang, Duanqiao (Broken Bridge), Pidian, Huanghelou (Yellow Crane Tower) and Manchuanghu. Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1929, died in August 2018, native of Pingyao County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of Pingyao Shage opera figures, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project (fourth batch).
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lei Xianyuan 04-1816
- Shao Yuewen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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