Taige

Ⅹ-87Folk CustomsLangfang, HebeiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Taige (raised pavilions) originated from deity-welcoming festival gatherings in the Central Plains region, and later spread to the southeastern coast and the northwestern region; it was highly popular for a time during the Qing dynasty, and in the course of its transmission it combined with local conditions in different places, developing distinct characteristics. The Chongge Hui (double-pavilion gathering) of Geyucheng in Anci District, Langfang City, Hebei Province, was introduced from Shanxi during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty and has a history of more than two hundred years.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Taige — also called 'taijiao' (raised corners), 'taige' (raised songs), 'gaotai' (high raises), 'naoge' (挠阁), 'naoge' (脑阁, head-borne pavilions), and 'gaozhuang' (high displays) — is a folk procession performance form in traditional festival activities. In a taige performance, several children dressed as ancient-costumed opera figures are arranged into elaborate tableaux according to the plot, fixed to iron pillars and brackets on a square pavilion, which bearers carry as they walk. Traditional taige tableaux are mostly drawn from plays such as The Butterfly Lovers, The Marriage of the Heavenly Fairy (Tianxian pei), The Legend of the White Snake, Journey to the West, Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier, The Blue Bridge Meeting, The Yellow Crane Tower, and The Fisherman's Revenge (Daiyu sha jia). The tableaux stand about 3 to 5 meters high, and the pavilions have three to five tiers, generally with one person per tier; some have four on the bottom tier, five or six in the middle tier, and one on the top tier. In a taige procession, four pavilions are generally used, and at most six or even eight may be used, each carried forward by four or eight bearers. Taige fuses painting, opera, colored paper craft, and paper sculpture into one, with elegant forms and spectacular scenes; it is loved by the broad masses and has long remained prevalent among the people. In performance, the opera figure tableau is made up of two tiers of actors, with the lower tier being the main one. The lower 'base' must therefore be a strong, good-performing male actor playing a male role, while the upper 'second-section person' is a child of about ten years old with good looks and performing ability, playing a female role. The prop that holds up the child is called the 'xinzi' (core rod): an iron double shoulder-strap back frame with an iron rod protruding from the middle. The 'base' carries the 'xinzi' on his back; the lower body of the child above is fixed to the iron rod, and the child wears adult opera costume, waving both arms with graceful bearing. In order to steady the 'second-section person' above, the 'base' must keep his body balanced while performing at the same time, so his dance steps and movements are highly refined and the skill difficulty is extremely high. A 'xinzi' for a two-person performance weighs sixty to seventy jin; for three- or four-person performances the 'xinzi' is heavier and the difficulty increases accordingly — it cannot be performed except by a strongman, so each 'xinzi' has two or three substitute actors during a performance. Today the Chongge Hui has fourteen iron 'xinzi' in all, and its performance repertoire includes Hong Lian Qing, Mu Ke Zhai, Sun Wukong Thrice Beats the White Bone Demon, Zhu Bajie at the Gao Family Village, Painted Skin, Tao Shu Zhi, The Fisherman's Revenge, Flowers as Matchmakers (Hua wei mei), Magistrate Tang Interrogates the Titled Lady (Tang Zhixian shen gaoming), Du Shiniang, Qin Xianglian, Lü Dongbin Teases the Peony, The Legend of the White Snake, and The Milky Way Match (Tian he pei), among others. The seated-singing form of the Chongge Hui no longer exists; most of the seated-singing tune patterns have been lost, with only a few surviving fragments such as Yangzi Jiang, Wu Shi Fei Xia, Spring Scenery, Summer Scenery, and The Fisherman's Joy remaining. Relevant authorities need to organize efforts to excavate and rescue them.

The base bearer and the two-storey child

A strong male performer carries the iron frame on his shoulders as the base, while a child of about ten plays the female role above.

A procession of four to eight platforms

A procession uses four platforms, sometimes six or even eight, each borne by four or eight men.

Rotating replacement bearers

A two-man rig weighs sixty or seventy jin and gets heavier with more bearers, so each platform keeps two or three replacements.

Dramas preserved by the Heavy Pavilion Guild

The guild's fourteen iron platforms present scenes from a long list of operas and legends, from White Snake to Monkey King.

The few surviving sung tunes

The seated singing has disappeared and only a handful of tunes survive, awaiting rescue.

The crowds that follow the procession

Since its revival the heavy pavilion parade draws layered crowds that move with the procession, the liveliest part of local festivals.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Since its revival, the Geyucheng Chongge Hui has passed on and developed the traditional taige procession craft well; it is deeply loved by the local people, and wherever it goes crowds surge like tides, presenting a spectacular scene.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

With the acceleration of modernization, taige activities are gradually declining, and a situation has arisen in rural areas in which the craft of making taige has no successors; related rescue and protection work is extremely urgent. The Geyucheng Chongge Hui displays in concentrated form the state of folk art in the Langfang region and provides rich material for the study of local folk culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Taige (Langfang, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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