Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble

01 · Historical Records

The Lidongzhuang old music society is current in Lidongzhuang village, Wen'an County, Langfang City, Hebei Province. It springs from Ming-dynasty temple music: during the Jiajing reign the abbot of the Guanyin temple in Lidongzhuang village taught Buddhist music to the villagers, and it has been handed down unbroken in the village ever since, with a history of more than five hundred years. The band establishment of the music society has not been fixed since the middle and later Qing dynasty; it generally comprises two guans, one flute, at least ten sets of sheng, one frame of small gongs, one pair of small cymbals, and drums, cymbals, nao, clappers and dangzi.

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. In performance the musicians sit around a long table, those playing the guan occupy the centre, and the percussion instruments are played separately. In ensemble playing the drum is in the middle, and the players of cymbals, nao, dangzi and small cymbals sit on either side of the drummer. When playing pieces in a changed mode (also called the “reversed mode”) such as Pi Pa Ling and Ci Cao, the modulation is achieved basically without changing instruments; this reversed mode is rare in Hebei Province. The sheng and guan lead the band in performance, and there is no limit to the number of sheng. The guan is the principal instrument among the instruments, and the others play in unison with it. Among the percussion instruments the drum governs the others. Among the pieces surviving at Lidongzhuang the large suites include Da Zou Ma, Jin Tang Le, Si Ji E Lang, Qing Chui Shan Po Yang, Guan Gong Ci Cao and the reversed-mode Guan Gong Ci Cao, together with Yu Fu Rong, Ku Cheng, Tao Jun Ling, Zhang Gong Gan Zi and Liu Shui San Gui Zan; the short pieces include Shan Dong Ge, Di Luo Jin Qian, Xian Zi Ling and Pi Pa Ling, together with the reversed-mode Pi Pa Ling and Xian Zi Ling.

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.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Lidongzhuang old music society plays mainly on the fifteenth of the first month, at temple-fair celebrations and at funerals; it has a rich repertory, complete suites and players of superb skill, and its mode of transmission is comparatively strict. Because the transmission of the music society has always been carried on in a relatively closed state, it has been preserved to this day in its original condition, providing precious material for the study of traditional Chinese Buddhist music and of folklore. Today the ageing of Lidongzhuang's musicians is serious and young people are unwilling to learn traditional art, so the continuation of the music society has become a major difficulty, and the departments concerned need to take measures to carry out active protection work around this traditional folk music. Shao Shutong (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in May 1945, a native of Wen'an County, Hebei Province. In 1962 he took Shao Shuping and Shao Zhongqing of the Lidongzhuang old music society as his masters, and, following the way of study by ancient music scores, learned by oral transmission from master to pupil the skills of blowing the guan, of percussion and so on in the music society. His command of the instrument is deep and his breath ample; his representative works include more than forty scattered pieces such as Da Zou Ma, Jin Tang Le, Qing Chui Shan Po Yang, Guan Gong Ci Cao and the reversed-mode Guan Gong Ci Cao. His beating is compact, and he can use skillfully such performing techniques as the zheng mode and the reversed mode. He is fully skilled in the sheng, guan, flute and gong of the civil section and the drum, clappers, cymbals and nao of the martial section. For many years he has organised more than twenty members of the village to study ancient music at home, and every year, on major festivals, has given free performances for his village and the surrounding villages and towns, so that the art of ancient music has been publicised and promoted. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Lidongzhuang old 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

1. Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble (Wenan, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Shao Shutong · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗