Baojuan Sutra Telling
01 · Historical Records
The Hexi precious scrolls are a folk narrative-singing literature current in the Hexi region of Gansu, evolved from the Tang Dunhuang transformation texts and popular preachings and the Song scripture-telling, and widely current in the villages along the Gansu Hexi corridor. The second kind are precious scrolls of Chinese historical and real-life stories, such as The Precious Scroll of Meng Jiangnü Weeping at the Great Wall, derived from the Meng Jiangnü transformation text, and The Precious Scroll of A Fairy Match, derived from the Dong Yong transformation text; the real-life stories include The Precious Scroll of Returning Gold and Getting a Son and The Precious Scroll of Huang Zhong.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Hexi precious scrolls were influenced by promptbooks, fiction, zhugongdiao and drama; their content includes the doctrines of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, and also a great deal of non-religious folk myth, legend, drama and stories of historical figures, mostly expressing such traditional moral teaching as punishing evil and praising good and loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and love. More than seven hundred kinds of Hexi precious scrolls have so far been collected; removing duplicates yields more than a hundred and ten scrolls. A few were created by Hexi folk artists themselves, such as The Precious Scroll of the Immortal Aunt reflecting the struggle and life of the people of Zhangye, The Precious Scroll of Calamity reflecting the great earthquake at Wuwei, and The Precious Scroll of Rescue from Calamity reflecting how the people of Dajing in Gulang suffered military, drought and plague disasters after the great Wuwei earthquake. The first kind are Buddhist in content, such as The Precious Scroll of Mulian Through Three Ages and The Precious Scroll of the Tang Prince Touring Hell. The third kind are allegorical scrolls, such as The Precious Scroll of the Mouse and The Precious Scroll of the Parrot. Among the Dunhuang manuscripts there are two pieces of the Rhapsody on the Swallow, broadly the same in content. The scrolls alternate prose and verse, their wording plain and beautiful, and they may be told and sung from temple fairs and places of entertainment down to family courtyards, deeply loved by the people. Before the chanting begins the chanter washes his hands and rinses his mouth, then lights three sticks of incense and bows toward the west, or a Buddha image, and only when his mind is quiet does he begin. The listeners must be quiet and attentive, not clamorous or moving about, and may relax only when the chanter rests midway.
The Precious Scroll of the Immortal Aunt
A scroll created by Hexi folk artists reflecting the struggle and life of the people of Zhangye.
The Precious Scroll of Calamity
A folk scroll reflecting the great earthquake at Wuwei.
The Precious Scroll of Rescue from Calamity
A scroll reflecting how the people of Dajing in Gulang suffered military, drought and plague disasters after the great Wuwei earthquake.
The Precious Scroll of Mulian Through Three Ages
One of the representative Buddhist precious scrolls.
The Custom of Scroll-Chanting (Xuanjuan)
The ritual of chanting, in which the chanter washes and rinses before lighting incense and bowing, and the listeners are quiet and attentive.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Most of them came from the Central Plains and, in the course of circulation in Hexi, took on much local custom and dialect and colloquial expression. In content they may be divided into three kinds, each of which can be traced to a source in the transformation texts.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Hexibaojuan · Hexibaojuan · Baojuan Sutra Telling · Baojuan Sutra Telling · Baojuan Sutra Telling.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Hexi precious scrolls are not only an important means of traditional moral education for the people; the large amount of historical, cultural and folkloric information they contain is also of very great significance for Dunhuang studies and for the study of the history of popular literature and of folklore culture. In recent years, under the impact of modern culture, the number of those who chant and hear the scrolls has sharply fallen, and the Hexi precious scrolls are already on the verge of being lost and urgently need protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Qiao Yuan 01-0010
- Li Zuobing 03-0780
- Zhang Donghai 05-1991
- Rui Shilong 05-1992
- Daixingwei 05-1993
- Liu Zhengkun
- Zhao Xufeng
- Wang Lijuan
- Pei Luping
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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