Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble

01 · Historical Records

Chui-ge, blowing and beating together, is one of the forms of instrumental music of the folk in Hebei Province; it combines percussion with wind playing and has developed out of ancient drum-and-wind music and the nao-song music of the Qing dynasty.

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 chui-ge society of Zixei Town, Dingzhou City, Baoding, is a prominent representative of this form of instrumental performance, with a history of more than two hundred years. The chui-ge band of Zixei includes such instruments as the guan, suona, sheng, transverse flute, haizhui (popularly the “lama horn”), large huqin, drum, small cymbals, hand gong and bangzi, of which the guan (the small guan) and small suona are the principal ones. The size of the whole band can be increased or reduced according to the specific circumstances, forming various different combinations. The performing forms of Zixei chui-ge comprise the seated and the processional. The seated form, that is playing at a pitch, has the band seated around a table or in a row, using mostly two sheng, two guans and two suonas together with gong, cymbals and drum; the processional form, that is playing in the street, has the band arranged with the cloud gong in front and, behind it in order, flute, sheng, suona, drum, cymbals, dang and cymbals. In performance the tempo is fast, the melody varied, the sound high and resonant, and the style hot and ardent, full of artistic power. The repertoire of Zixei chui-ge is numerous, including traditional folk tune patterns, the vocal styles of local opera and folk instrumental tune patterns; its representative pieces include Fang Lv, Da Zao, Chao Tian Zi, Mo Li Hua, Wan Nian Huan and Yi Zhi Hua. The musicians of Zixei chui-ge are good at learning and absorbing various folk minor tunes, local opera melodies and their performing techniques; their performance is free and exaggerated, unrestrained by any set form, and they even sing and dance as they play, with a strong local flavour and a distinctive folk artistic style.

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.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble · Jizhong Sheng and Guan Ensemble.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China the musicologists Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe recorded the instruments and pieces of Zixei chui-ge and published the Collection of Ding County Zixei Village Guan Music, containing thirty-four pieces, which had a wide influence at home and abroad. Zixei chui-ge is transmitted from generation to generation through the chui-ge societies, which have trained a large number of outstanding instrumental performers. Zixei chui-ge takes the blowing of traditional folk songs and modern songs as its content, has a lively and animated performing style, is a typical representative of folk drum-and-wind music in central Hebei, and has high artistic and historical research value. In the middle of the 1990s Zixei chui-ge suffered a break in its line of successors and the loss of physical materials, its transmission fell into a predicament, and the government departments concerned urgently need to begin systematic and comprehensive rescue, protection, collation and discovery work. Wang Ruhai (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in March 1946, a native of Dingzhou City, Hebei Province. He has taken over in full the traditional repertoire and performing techniques of Zixei chui-ge, especially the technique of playing the sheng. His representative works include Da Xiu Xie, Ba Xian Qing Shou, Zhai Mian Hua, Xiao Fang Lv and Da Zao. He still keeps at home the materials for the traditional chui-ge repertoire handed down by his ancestors (gongche notation). Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Zixei chui-ge). He actively carries out teaching activities, teaches at the Zixei chui-ge art school in his village, and trains successors in Zixei chui-ge. Zhang Zhanmin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in June 1963, a native of Dingzhou City, Hebei Province. He is now head of the Dingzhou Zixei chui-ge art troupe and academic vice-principal of the Dingzhou Zixei chui-ge art school. His performing technique is accomplished and his performance delicate; the ka opera he performs is rich and varied in flavour, and he is able to give distinctive interpretation to works of different regions and styles. His representative works include the traditional Zixei chui-ge pieces Fang Lv, Da Zao, Zhai Mian Hua and Ju Da Gang, the guan solo Jiang He Shui, the suona solo Bai Niao Chao Feng, the ka opera Hebei bangzi piece Da Deng Dian, and the Peking opera piece Zhi Dou. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Jizhong sheng-and-guan music (Zixei chui-ge). He has trained more than four hundred pupils in all. He often leads his team to take part in cultural and artistic performances and competitions at national and provincial level and beyond, and has won prizes many times.

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 (Dingzhou, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wang Ruhai · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhang Zhanmin · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗