Taige

01 · Historical Records

Taige (raised pavilions) originated in god-welcoming festival processions in the Central Plains, later spreading gradually to the southeast coast and the northwest, where it flourished for a time in the Qing dynasty; in the course of transmission it combined with local conditions and formed distinct characteristics. The Zhoucun Xinzi is a distinctive folk performing art form whose origins can be traced back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, with a history of more than four hundred years.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Taige, also known as taijiao (carried roles), taige (raised songs), gaotai (raised platforms), naoge, naoge (head pavilions) and gaozhuang (high costumes), is a folk parade performance form in traditional festival activities. In a taige performance, several children dress as characters from traditional opera and, following the plot, form striking tableaux fixed to the iron pillars and supports of a square pavilion, which bearers then carry forward. Traditional taige tableaux mostly draw on plays such as The Butterfly Lovers, Tianxian Pei (The Fairy Couple), Legend of the White Snake, Journey to the West, Zhaojun Goes to the Frontier, The Blue Bridge Rendezvous, The Yellow Crane Tower and The Fisherman's Revenge. The tableaux stand about 3 to 5 meters high; the pavilions range from three to five tiers, generally with one person on each tier, though some have four people on the bottom tier, five or six in the middle tiers and one on the top tier. In a taige parade, generally four pavilions are used, and at most six or even eight; each pavilion is carried forward by four or eight bearers. Taige fuses painting, opera, colored paper framing and paper sculpture into a single art form; its tableaux are elegant and its scenes spectacular, much loved by the broad masses, and it has flourished among the people for a long time without decline. According to legend, Bixia Yuanjun of Mount Tai was a native of Changshan in Zhoucun, Shandong, and her birthday falls on the third day of the third lunar month. On the birthday of Bixia Yuanjun, the people of Zhoucun welcome her back to her hometown with a series of ceremonies. From the third day to the fifteenth day of the third lunar month each year, Zhoucun holds its annual shehuo sacrificial performance. Inspired by stilts and candle stands, and relying on the region's well-developed loom technology, the people of Zhoucun created the distinctive Zhoucun Xinzi and made it an extremely important performance form in the shehuo that welcomes Bixia Yuanjun. Later, the people of Zhoucun also moved this distinctive art form to the Lantern Festival, adding a highlight to the Zhoucun Lantern Festival. Once formed, the Zhoucun Xinzi spread to Boshan and reached Zichuan, Zhangdian and Linzi, where it was long transmitted without interruption. Xinzi are divided into carried xinzi, cart xinzi and tilting xinzi (juexinzi), and also into single-person, two-person and multi-person xinzi. The Zhoucun Xinzi has always been mostly the “two-person xinzi”, made up of an upper and a lower performer. In performance, two child performers are made up as figures from opera and historical stories — such as Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, Xu Xian and Lady White — and are then bound to the iron core: first, one end of a steel bar (iron rod) is fixed to a solid base; the bar passes close against the body of the lower performer, then extends out from the hand or another part of the body to the leg and lower back of the upper performer; the base is then decorated as flowers and plants or as a divine platform, so that it looks as though the upper performer were standing on the palm of the lower performer or on some other scene — marvelous and full of delight. The performers bound to the iron core hold steady, lithe poses and dance lightly to the accompaniment of gongs and drums, bringing the characters of the story vividly to life.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Zhoucun Xinzi rose through Bixia Yuanjun and was refined through the loom: folklore holds that she was originally a native of Changshan in Zhoucun, with her birthday on the third day of the third lunar month, so the whole district welcomed the goddess around that date; the people of Zhoucun had at hand work like stilts and candle stands, and work as fine as the loom, and combining the two gave birth to the xinzi. Once formed, this art spread to Boshan and reached Zichuan, Zhangdian and Linzi, where it was transmitted without interruption for a long time; today it still appears at the shehuo held from the third to the fifteenth of the third lunar month and at the Lantern Festival.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

With the acceleration of modernization, taige activities have gradually declined; in the countryside the craft of making taige faces a shortage of successors, and related rescue and preservation work is extremely urgent.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Zhao Yunshan 03-1478
• Zhang Genzhi 03-1479
• Liu Wenchang 03-1480
• Zhong Yuwen 03-1481
• Fu Hengyu 03-1482
• Deng Junchao 03-1483
• Liu Duanfu 03-1484
• Li Ming 03-1485
• Peng Niangyao 03-1486
• Chen Fanxing 04-1976
• Tan Haobin 04-1977
• Gongsun Xin 04-1978
• Li Fuxian 04-1979
• Gao Yumin 05-3029
• Hao Laixi 05-3030
• Yao Ruming 05-3031
• Li Yangbo 05-3032
• Liu Qiyue 05-3033
• Liang Erdun 05-3034
• Hu Liangang
• Chen Wenshan
• Sun Kangfu
• Zhou Xingguang
• Huang Xuejun
• Zhang Guoqin

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Taige (Ziboshizhoucun, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗