Taige

Ⅹ-87Folk CustomsFuding, FujianBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Taige originated in god-welcoming temple-fair processions in the Central Plains region and later spread gradually to the southeastern coast and the northwest. It enjoyed a period of popularity in the Qing dynasty; as it spread, it combined with local conditions in each place, giving rise to different characteristics.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Taige (lifted pavilions) is also known by such names as taijiao, taige, gaotai, naoge, naoge, and gaozhuang, and is a form of folk procession performance in traditional festival activities. In taige performances, several children dress as figures in traditional opera costume and, following the plot, form splendid tableaux, which are fixed to iron pillars and supports on a square pavilion platform and carried along by bearers. Traditional taige tableaux are mostly drawn from such repertoire works as The Butterfly Lovers (Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai), The Marriage of the Fairy (Tianxian Pei), Legend of the White Snake (Baishe Zhuan), Journey to the West (Xiyouji), Zhaojun Goes Beyond the Frontier (Zhaojun Chusai), Meeting at the Blue Bridge (Lanqiao Hui), Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou), and The Fisherman's Revenge (Dayu Shajia). The tableaux stand roughly three to five meters high; the pavilions have three to five tiers, generally one performer per tier, though some have four performers on the bottom tier, five or six in the middle, and one on top. In a taige procession, four pavilions are generally used, and at most six or even eight; each pavilion is carried forward by four or eight bearers. Taige fuses painting, opera, colored paper-work, and paper sculpture into a single art; its tableaux are graceful and its scenes spectacular. It has long been loved by the broad masses and has flourished in folk tradition without decline. The tiezhi transmitted in Shacheng Town, Fuding City, Fujian Province, is commonly known as 'gang' or 'ge', and is one of the traditional folk activities of the fishing families of Shacheng at the Lantern Festival. In its early form it had a bamboo-and-wood structure with a single tier two to three meters high, and was carried by bearers in performance; this was called the 'flat pavilion' (pingge). It later developed into a branch-like form welded from steel tubes or iron bars which, after artistic working and decoration, was fixed to the cart shaft, with the performance taking place as the cart moved along. The multi-tiered Fuding Shacheng Tiezhi can reach seven or eight meters in height; the sections between tiers are called 'crossing branches' (guozhi), abbreviated as 'zhi' (branch). In a single tiezhi, a steel bar serves as the central pole, with two steel bars branching from the base up to the upper tiers; according to the needs of the content, the bars are shaped in various forms, after which figures and props are fixed tier by tier. The performers sit at the supporting branches holding props, acting out simple episodes or acrobatic movements; the tiezhi cart is pushed forward with a band playing accompaniment behind it — this is called 'moving the tiezhi' (ban tiezhi). The tiezhi performance is splendid and dazzling, forming a spectacular sight against the backdrop of the night.

From flat platform to multi-tiered frame

Bamboo-and-wood at first and carried by hand, it later became a steel branching frame fixed to a cart.

Overlapping boughs and steel skeleton

Up to seven or eight metres tall, its tiers are called boughs, braced by a central steel rod splitting into two above.

Pushing the frame in performance

Actors sit at the supports with props, performing simple scenes as the frame is pushed forward with band accompaniment.

Lantern scenes of a fishing village at night

Known locally as gang or ge, it is a Lantern Festival custom of the Shacheng fishing village, glittering after dark.

Mazu's procession and new subjects

His representative works include Dream of the Red Chamber, the True and False Monkey King and Mazu's Procession.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Moving the tiezhi to celebrate the Lantern Festival is a traditional folk custom that the people of Shacheng find hard to give up; it has continued locally for several hundred years. Fuding Shacheng Tiezhi has absorbed artistic elements of traditional opera, dance, and acrobatics, becoming the most locally distinctive style of folk art among Fuding's many folk activities, and can provide reference for research in ethnic art, folklore, and related disciplines.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

With the acceleration of modernization, taige activities are gradually declining, and in the countryside the craft of making taige now lacks successors; the related rescue and preservation work is imperative. Liu Duanfu (from the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born January 1965, native of Fuding City, Fujian Province. Since 1982 he has studied the design, making, and performance of tiezhi under the elders of his family, and has mastered every technique. While inheriting the traditional craft, he has continually improved performance materials, enriched performance content, and expanded the performance area, making the mode of performance more flexible; the tiezhi he makes is highly artistic and entertaining and has won praise from all quarters. Representative works include Dream of the Red Chamber, The True and False Monkey King, The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Chang'e Flying to the Moon, Mazu's Patrol of Her Realm, and Harmonious Development. Representative inheritor of Taige (Xinzi, Tiezhi, Piaose) (Fuding Shacheng Tiezhi), an item of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. He has also organized discussion sessions and training in Shacheng Town, attaching importance to the training of successors.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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