Zhoushan Gong and Drum

01 · Historical Records

After 1949 this form of folk music was formally named "Zhoushan gong and drum music" with the participation and collation of professional music workers. At the World Youth Festival held in Moscow in 1957, Zhoushan gong and drum music won the gold medal in the world folk music competition. From the 1960s and 1970s of the twentieth century onward, owing to the development of the market economy and the diversification of forms of cultural entertainment, this regional form of cultural expression gradually became marginalised.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Zhoushan gong and drum music has a complete set of instruments, of which the two principal instruments are the ranked gong set, made up of thirteen gongs, and the ranked drum set, made up of five drums; its performing style is distinctive, its contrasts of loudness are marked, and its sonic colouring is rich. Representative traditional repertoire of Zhoushan gong and drum music includes Zhoushan Luo Gu (Zhoushan Gong and Drum), Ba Xian Xu (Sequence of the Eight Immortals), Yu Jia Le (Fisherman's Joy), Sha Diao (Sand Mode) and Chao Yin (Tide Sound); all of them have been included in the Collection of Chinese Folk and Popular Instrumental Music, Zhejiang Volume, and many more pieces have been recorded onto discs.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Zhoushan City lies in the north-east of Zhejiang Province, east of Hangzhou Bay and south of the mouth of the Yangtze. Its rich marine resources are the basis of production and life for the local people, while its particular mode of production and its living customs have nurtured a distinctive folk art, of which Zhoushan gong and drum music is the representative. Zhoushan gong and drum music is led by the ranked gong set and the ranked drum set: the ranked gongs consist of thirteen gongs of differing sizes, the ranked drums of five drums, and there are further wind instruments such as the suona, dizi and sheng and stringed instruments such as the erhu and pipa; performance is divided into seated and processional forms, with marked contrasts of loudness and rich sonic colouring. In former times it appeared mainly at folk weddings and funerals, temple fair celebrations and fishermen's sea-sacrifice rites; the "Gao family troupe" replaced the originally monotonous performing form with a vertical ranked gong set of eleven gongs of differing sizes, and created the "five-tone ranked drums".

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In former times Zhoushan gong and drum music appeared mostly at folk weddings and funerals in the villages, at temple fair celebrations and in fishermen's sea-sacrifice rites. As the old performers died off one after another and a number of later art successors abandoned the art for commerce, Zhoushan gong and drum music has fallen into a situation of a break in the succession of hands and urgently needs protection. Gao Rufeng (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in 1937, a native of Zhoushan, Zhejiang. He comes from a family of gong-and-drum players, received genuine transmission from his elders, is skilled in a number of sizhu wind instruments and percussion instruments, and chiefly plays the martial drum (the high-pitched jing gong). The "Gao family troupe" studied assiduously, replacing the originally monotonous performing form with a vertical ranked gong set of eleven gongs of differing sizes, and created the "five-tone ranked drums". Representative works include Hai Shang Luo Gu (Gongs and Drums on the Sea) and others. Representative inheritor of Zhoushan gong and drum music of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Gao Rufeng 02-0285

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Zhoushan Gong and Drum (Zhoushan, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Gao Rufeng · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗