Minjian Shehuo Performance

01 · Historical Records

Folk shehuo is a popular self-entertainment activity performed during the Spring Festival; it originated in the ancient worship of the earth god and the fire god. It originated in the Shang and Zhou eras and, through long development, emerged by the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty from among the many varieties of local shehuo to become the most influential branch of Yang County shehuo, with a history of more than three hundred years to the present day. From the late Qing and the Republican era to the early years of the People's Republic, Yang County suspended-platform shehuo reached its height; after the 1960s it entered a period of tortuous development.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

"She" refers to the god of the earth; "huo" is the ancestral founder of fire, the legendary fire god. Historically a country founded on agriculture, China used its land for cultivation and its fire for cooking food and keeping warm; both were the material basis of people's survival and development. In antiquity, primitive thinking led people to believe that fire too had a "spirit," and they came to worship it as a divine object of special significance, thus forming the idea of venerating fire. From the ancient worship of the earth god and the fire god grew the custom of sacrificing to she and huo. As society developed and people's understanding deepened, elements of entertainment were gradually added to these sacrificial rites, which in the end developed into a folk entertainment activity of great scale and rich content. By performance form, shehuo falls into two categories: tableau shehuo and performance shehuo. Tableau shehuo includes the procession forms of cloth shehuo, back-carried shehuo, horse shehuo, cart shehuo, core-frame shehuo, mountain shehuo and mask shehuo, which mainly display character modelling and craftsmanship; performance shehuo includes ground-platform shehuo and stilt shehuo, which mainly stage combat performances in courtyards. Shehuo draws on folk legends and dramatic stories for its themes; one or a group of figures presents one story, and one story constitutes one "turn" of shehuo. The performers paint shehuo facial make-up, wear shehuo costumes and carry shehuo staffs. In a shehuo procession a scout on horseback goes first, followed by the shehuo association banner, the firearm (cannon) squad, the flag squad and the shehuo troupe, with the gong-and-drum band bringing up the rear. Reform and opening up brought new vitality to the art of folk shehuo; under the new conditions the traditional art has been carried forward and has become a folk cultural activity that the masses greatly enjoy. Yang County suspended-platform shehuo, also called "Yang County high-core-frame shehuo," is a Spring Festival folk activity peculiar to the towns and villages of Yang County in southern Shaanxi. Yang County shehuo gathers the finest elements of all kinds of folk shehuo; its performance form has dramatic characters standing on tall platform frames, and it is transported mainly by people carrying it on their shoulders, with the frames having five or six storeys and standing about twelve metres high, carried along by several dozen people in a mighty and imposing manner. The facial make-up of suspended-platform shehuo uses exaggerated artistic techniques, and the pigments used in the make-up are specially made by folk methods and do not harm the skin. In the processions, suspended-platform shehuo prizes competing in height and swapping play scripts, going to every length to be as fiery and lively as possible and drawing everyone out of their houses, which is why it has become the folk art activity with the largest number of participants.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yang County suspended-platform shehuo, also called Yang County high-core-frame shehuo, is a Spring Festival folk activity peculiar to the towns and villages of Yang County in southern Shaanxi; locally it takes a place name rather than the name of a trade. Within the county, the high-core-frame form has dramatic characters standing on tall platform frames as its performance form and relies on people carrying it on their shoulders for transport; the frames usually have five or six storeys and stand about twelve metres high, carried along by several dozen people, looking mighty and imposing as they advance. This apparatus is not the exclusive property of any single family: from the late Qing and the Republican era to the early years of the People's Republic, Yang County suspended-platform shehuo reached its height, and in the period after the Republican era and before the 1960s the table societies and fire associations of every village all marched within the same set of rules for carrying and bearing; Yang County shehuo has long been said to gather the finest elements of all kinds of folk shehuo, with the special skills of every school brought together in one place, the competition being precisely who can blend stage make-up and the high platform together. The gongs and drums are divided into procession drums and stationary-ground drums, each with its own routines, so that when the carrying stops at a stationary ground a passage can at once be beaten to warm up the scene.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance · Minjian Shehuo Performance.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Yang County suspended-platform shehuo blends many elements of traditional drama, dance, music, fine art and acrobatics, and is also precious material for the study of the folk customs, cultural psychology and conditions of life of the people of the upper Han River region; it has important historical and cultural research value and far-reaching influence. Li Jianzhong (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han nationality, born in January 1966, a native of Yang County, Shaanxi Province. Influenced by his family, he loved suspended-platform shehuo from childhood; he is well versed in the musical routines of its gongs and drums, and has deep attainments in both the procession drums and the stationary-ground performance drums of suspended-platform shehuo. He has actively improved traditional shehuo: on the premise of ensuring safety, he boldly designed and assembled four-storey shehuo frames, so that performers and props are joined storey by storey and link together as one integrated whole, giving a visual effect that is all the more thrilling, exciting and ingenious. He has directed the training of eight suspended-platform shehuo cores, more than thirty table shehuo and a performing body of over a hundred people, and carried out regular performances; he has taken part many times in performance events held by the province, city and county, and has been warmly welcomed by the broad masses. He is devoted to the transmission of the skills of suspended-platform shehuo, and currently has three apprentices. He is a representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects — folk shehuo (Yang County suspended-platform shehuo).

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Du Tonghai 03-1470
• Zhao Xiwen 03-1471
• Li Junfang 04-1967
• Yang Fengshan 05-2992
• Zhao Zhigao 05-2993
• Lvchunjing 05-2994
• Sun Shulin 05-2995
• Li Jianzhong 05-2996
• Pei Baolin

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Minjian Shehuo Performance (Yang, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Li Jianzhong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗