Qianshansimiao Music
01 · Historical Records
Its instrumental pieces are mainly shengguan music; many of its tune patterns are the same as the shengguan tunes circulating among the folk of southern Liaoning, while the traditional chanting tone belongs to the northern rhyme and has a long history, though its starting date is still unknown. Around the 1920s some monks went to Yingkou, Changchun and Harbin to found temples, bringing the southern rhyme to the northeast as well; from then on the southern rhyme circulated widely in the temples, and over time fewer and fewer monks in the northeast temples were able to chant and sing the traditional northern rhyme.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qianshan Buddhist music is divided into two parts: chanting and instrumental music. The northern rhyme is tune-pattern music, in which most of the patterns are ones popular in the Tang and Song dynasties, such as "Wang Jiangnan" and "Gua Jin Suo". The Qianshan Buddhist northern rhyme was not originally unique to Qianshan, but because it lies in the northeast it naturally came under the influence of northeastern folk music in the course of transmission, forming a distinctive musical personality. In terms of melody the northern rhyme is divided into zanzi and sanyun, of which the sanyun part has now been collected almost in its entirety, while very few zanzi have been gathered - an estimated eighty or more, though only about thirty have been collected so far, such as "Doubao: All Under Heaven as One", "Gua Jin Suo" and "Wufang Jie". Qianshan Taoism uses the northeastern new rhyme; not only the Qianshan Taoist temples but all Taoist temples of the northeast use the northeastern new rhyme.
Cry of the Luan and Feng
For Qianshan Buddhist shengguan music only a few lay Buddhist practitioners can still play, and most pieces are lost; no more than twenty survive to this day, such as "Cry of the Luan and Feng", "Melodies of the Heavenly Venerable" and "The Three Refuges".
Melodies of the Heavenly Venerable
For Qianshan Buddhist shengguan music only a few lay Buddhist practitioners can still play, and most pieces are lost; no more than twenty survive to this day, such as "Cry of the Luan and Feng", "Melodies of the Heavenly Venerable" and "The Three Refuges".
The Three Refuges
For Qianshan Buddhist shengguan music only a few lay Buddhist practitioners can still play, and most pieces are lost; no more than twenty survive to this day, such as "Cry of the Luan and Feng", "Melodies of the Heavenly Venerable" and "The Three Refuges".
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Qianshan temple music is current in the Buddhist temples and Taoist shrines of Qianshan, Anshan City, Liaoning Province. Buddhist music is divided into chanting and instrumental parts; the instrumental pieces are mainly shengguan music, many of whose tune patterns are the same as the shengguan tunes circulating among the folk of southern Liaoning, and the chanting tone belongs to the northern rhyme. Taoist music, by contrast, uses the northeastern new rhyme, which is used not only at Qianshan but in all Taoist temples of the northeast. In the 1920s some monks went to Yingkou, Changchun and Harbin to found temples, bringing the southern rhyme to the northeast as well; from then on the southern rhyme circulated widely in the temples, and fewer and fewer monks in the northeast temples were able to chant and sing the traditional northern rhyme.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For Qianshan Buddhist shengguan music only a few lay Buddhist practitioners can still play; most of the pieces are lost, and no more than twenty survive to this day, such as "Cry of the Luan and Feng", "Melodies of the Heavenly Venerable" and "The Three Refuges". The northeastern new rhyme is still basically complete, but some long rhythmic patterns, being little used, are no longer known by most Taoist priests, and some of these patterns are now sung by no one at all. Hong Zhenren (from the official record of the associated inheritor): male, Han nationality, born in March 1952, native of Anshan City, Liaoning Province. In 1989 he succeeded to the leadership of the Qianfo Music Ensemble; leading the ensemble he is frequently invited to play at the consecration ceremonies and Dharma assemblies of Buddhist and Taoist temples all over China, and has many times gone abroad, travelling in turn to Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and other places to spread Qianshan temple music. He is a representative inheritor of Qianshan temple music, a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hong Zhenren 03-0857
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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