Taige

Ⅹ-87Folk CustomsWuchuan, GuangdongBatch 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. In 1992 and 1997, Wuchuan Piaose twice went to the capital to take part in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. In 2003, Wuchuan Piaose tableau works won the gold medal at China's First Exhibition of Cultural Relic Reproductions and Folk Crafts.

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. Wuchuan Piaose, transmitted in Wuchuan City, Guangdong Province, is a comprehensive modeling art integrating drama, music, fine art, magic, and acrobatics, renowned for its characteristics of height, refinement, peril, wonder, and ingenuity. Its modeling is distinctive and its artistic forms are varied; its content is mostly historical stories and mythological tales, and a single piaose tableau is like a small moving stage. Wuchuan Piaose is performed every year on the sixteenth and seventeenth days of the first lunar month, when the Lantern Festival is celebrated; the procession stretches for several li and the scene is magnificent. The piaose figures are supported by a concealed 'color branch' (segeng); the performers are generally between six and twelve years old. Figures sitting or standing on the small stage atop the cabinet are called 'ping', while the figure compositions that rise into the air are called 'piao'. Wuchuan Piaose has taken part in cultural exhibitions in Maoming, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, in Haikou, Hainan Province, and in Luxi, Yunnan Province, among other places; with its vigorous artistic vitality, it has driven and promoted the improvement of piaose creation and performance in the surrounding areas, and has given profound inspiration to the development of folk art in other provinces and cities.

Screens and floating figures

Figures seated or standing on the counter stage are screens; those rising into the air are floats.

Lantern Festival on the sixteenth and seventeenth

The parade runs for miles on the sixteenth and seventeenth of the first lunar month.

The hidden pole and young actors

A concealed pole carries the figures, and the actors are usually between six and twelve.

Thirty-six boards, one screen nine floats

The inheritor designed as many as thirty-six boards, pushing the form from one screen with one float to nine floats.

Mu Guiying woos the bride and the Eight Immortals

His Mu Guiying design won first prize at the 1991 Spring Festival Gala; Eight Immortals crossed the sea twice for Hong Kong.

Tours beyond the county

It has exhibited in Maoming, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Haikou and Luxi.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

In western Guangdong, Wuchuan Piaose establishes its name in the two words ping and piao: figures sitting or standing on the small stage atop the cabinet are ping, while those that rise into the air are piao; in the past there was mostly one ping and one piao, but today this has developed into one ping with several piao, and even several ping with several piao. The representative inheritor Li Ming has designed more than thirty-six panels (ban) of piaose, pushing the form from one ping and one piao to one ping and nine piao.

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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. Wuchuan Piaose formerly consisted mostly of one ping and one piao, but has now developed into one ping with several piao, and even several ping with several piao. Li Ming (from the official file of the associated inheritor): he mastered the entire set of production techniques and designed more than thirty-six panels (ban) of piaose, developing the form in particular from the traditional one ping and one piao to one ping and nine piao, displaying superb craftsmanship. He devoted himself to the transmission of Wuchuan Piaose, teaching the disciples Sun Kangfu, Yang Rongjin, and Ke Daocheng, among others. Male, Han ethnicity, born August 1931, died March 2017, native of Wuchuan City, Guangdong Province. Representative inheritor of Taige (Xinzi, Tiezhi, Piaose) (Wuchuan Piaose), an item of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. The piaose work 'Mu Guiying Chooses a Husband' that he designed took part in the 1991 CCTV Spring Festival Gala and won first place for its performance; 'The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea' was twice selected to be sent to Hong Kong for the handover celebration procession.

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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