Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble
01 · Historical Records
Records show that by the late Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty the Zhangzhuang music society had already taken on the appearance of pure and orthodox Daoist transmitted music.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Besides wind instruments such as the sheng, guan and flute, Jizhong sheng-and-guan music also uses such percussion instruments as cloud gongs, drums, nao, cymbals and clapper bells. The pieces of sheng-and-guan music fall into three kinds: suites, short pieces and independent sets of percussion music; of these the suites are of great length and complex structure, and form the main part of the whole performing repertory. The music society current in Zhangzhuang, Xin'an Town, Bazhou City, Hebei Province is popularly called the “old Daoist scripture” and belongs to the music transmitted by the Zhengyi school of Daoism. Li Duqi, the last music-transmitting Daoist of the Guandi temple in Zhangzhuang village, is now over eighty and can still blow the dayuanzi in the orthodox mode, the xiaoyuanzi in the orthodox mode, the xiaofan bei mode and the like. The flute used by the Zhangzhuang music society is in E, and the rhythm of its pieces proceeds rather quickly. In performance the number of players may be large or small, and they generally form two lines, with the “gaogong” who specially chants the scriptures placed in the middle at the end of the two lines. In ordinary times the music society plays mainly at funerals and other folk activities, and every stage of the observance calls for the corresponding piece, such as Qu Shui Xiao Zan at the “fetching of water” and Jin Ran Shen Deng at the “viewing of the lamps”. The instruments used by the Zhangzhuang music society are divided into civil and martial sections; the civil section is made up mainly of melodic instruments, including the small guan, flute, sheng and cloud gong; the martial section is made up mainly of percussion instruments, including the drum (hand drum), cymbals, nao, small cymbals (small plates) and the like. Representative pieces of the Zhangzhuang music society include Yu Bao Du, Er Jie and Hu Po Miao Er. At present traditional folk activities grow fewer and fewer, and the living space of the music society is shrinking day by day.
Qu Shui Xiao Zan
In ordinary times the music society plays mainly at funerals and other folk activities, and every stage of the observance calls for the corresponding piece, such as Qu Shui Xiao Zan at the “fetching of water” and Jin Ran Shen Deng at the “viewing of the lamps”.
Jin Ran Shen Deng
In ordinary times the music society plays mainly at funerals and other folk activities, and every stage of the observance calls for the corresponding piece, such as Qu Shui Xiao Zan at the “fetching of water” and Jin Ran Shen Deng at the “viewing of the lamps”.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jizhong sheng-and-guan music is current in nearly thirty counties and cities south of Beijing, west of Tianjin and north of Cangzhou and Dingzhou; it is a drum-and-wind music peculiar to the Jizhong Plain, popularly called a “music society” by the people, and, because it is led by the guan and accompanied by the sheng and other instruments, also called “sheng-and-guan music”. Jizhong sheng-and-guan music is found all over the Jizhong Plain; the farmers of this region form societies by village, borrowing instruments to meet, and play in local sacrificial rites, funerals and other folk activities, handing it on from generation to generation in their own distinctive way. Locally, every year on the fifteenth of the first month when lanterns are let off, the nineteenth of the second month, the birthday of the Great Sage of the South Sea, the fifteenth of the seventh month when lotus lanterns are floated, and the fifteenth of the ninth month when fire is offered to the god of fire, the music society opens its altar and plays. It is rooted in the locality and serves the folk customs of the neighbourhood, strengthening the simple and honest folk character of the Zhangzhuang area and bringing out fully the music's function of moral instruction.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The music society originally had four volumes of gongche scores, of which one survives, a Qing-dynasty recopy containing 145 tune patterns and five incomplete pieces; it has some reference value in the study of traditional music. Since its founding the Zhangzhuang music society has never been influenced by any other musical form and has kept its original shape complete, making it an important reference and a body of material for the study of ancient Chinese folk Daoist music. As the old artists pass away one after another, the performing technique of the Zhangzhuang music society is on the verge of being lost and urgently needs rescue and protection. Shang Xuezhi (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947, a native of Bazhou, Hebei. He can play skillfully all the instruments used in the Gaoqiao music society and is especially good at blowing the sheng; his intonation is precise and his style antique and elegant, reaching a high artistic level. The sheng and flutes he makes are sold in Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Tianjin and elsewhere, and enjoy high fame. In 2005 the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts and the BBC of Britain interviewed and filmed Shang Xuezhi. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Gaoqiao music society). Hu Deming (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947, a native of Bazhou, Hebei. He is skilled in playing the sheng and the drum, with accurate pitch, high and ringing melody, a bright musical sense and a plain, antique style; his representative pieces include Shang Zi Diao Qing Chui, and he has been interviewed and recorded many times by music experts from the United States, Britain and at home. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Shengfang music society).
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Feng Yuechi 02-0302
- Cai Yurun 02-0303
- Shangxuezhi 02-0304
- Hu Deming 02-0305
- Xia Laofei 03-0849
- Liu Qin 03-0850
- Wang Ruhai 03-0851
- Hu Guoqing 04-1528
- Shi Junping 05-2083
- Shao Shutong 05-2084
- Cai Baoheng 05-2085
- Zhang Zhanmin 05-2086
- Jia Tingxin
- Lizhanglin
- Pan Desen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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