Nanyin

01 · Historical Records

Migrants from the Central Plains carried their musical culture into the Minnan region centred on Quanzhou during the Former Han, Later Han, Jin, Tang and Northern and Southern Song dynasties, and fused it with local folk music, giving rise to Nanyin, a cultural performing form that preserves the legacy of ancient Central Plains music. In Quanzhou Nanyin performance the pipa and sanxian are placed on the right and the dongxiao flute and the erxian on the left, while the person holding the clappers sits in the middle and sings; this performing format descends in a single line from the Han-dynasty xianghe song format described as “silk and bamboo answering each other, the one holding the beat-plate sings”. The texts of the pieces draw mainly on Tang-dynasty chuanqi tales, huaben story texts and the characters of Song, Yuan and Ming drama; works such as Shanxianjun, Chuhanguan, Gongjundunyue and Yinsonggesao are widely circulated.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Nanyin, also called xiangguan or Quanzhou Nanyin, is one of the oldest surviving musical genres in China. Its gongche notation forms a self-contained system and is a survival of the notational forms of ancient Chinese music. The bent-neck pipa held horizontally, the ten-hole nine-section dongxiao flute, the erxian, the sanxian and the clappers struck to keep the beat all follow the surviving designs of ancient instruments. The Nanyin repertory numbers more than 2,000 instrumental and vocal pieces, and embodies material from the qingshang music of the Jin, the great suites and faqu of the Tang, yanyue and Buddhist music, and the ci and qu music and operatic music of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties onward. Singing insists on clear articulation of the words and on carrying the rhymes home to a proper close. Nanyin melodies are beautiful, the tempo slow, the manner archaic, deep and refined, the feeling restrained and heartfelt. Quanzhou Nanyin forms a complete musical system made up of three main parts, dapu (great scores), sanqu (free pieces) and zhitao (finger suites), popularly called zhi, pu and qu. The zhi, that is the zhitao, also called a taoqu (suite), is a relatively complete suite that has lyrics, a score and fingering indications (that is, pipa fingering). Each suite consists of two to seven free pieces grouped by the musical categories guanmen and gunmen, making up 50 major suites in all; the principal ones are Zilai, Yizhixiang, Chenshanghuadeng, Xingangbosui and Weijunchu. The pu is a titled instrumental suite to which pipa fingering is attached; that is, a titled instrumental suite with no sung text, played chiefly on the pipa, the dongxiao flute, the erxian and the sanxian. Each suite comprises three to more than ten tune patterns, 16 major suites in all. Their subject matter is mostly the scenery of the four seasons, flowers, birds and insects, or galloping steeds; the best known are the four suites Si (Sishijing, Four Seasons of Scenery), Mei (Meihuacao, Plum Blossom Exercise), Zou (Bajunma, Eight Steeds) and Gui (Bainiaoguichao, A Hundred Birds Returning to the Nest). The qu, that is the free piece, also called cao qu (rough piece), is sung only and never spoken. It has both score and lyrics, and is normally accompanied by four main instruments: the pipa, the dongxiao flute, the erxian and the sanxian. Its content falls roughly into three classes: expression of feeling, description of scenery and narration. Quanzhou Nanyin has a deep popular base. As a cultural form that cultivates the mind and provides self-amusement, it is closely bound to the life of the Minnan people, and almost every place where Minnan people live has a folk Nanyin society. Besides Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Xiamen in the Minnan area and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Quanzhou Nanyin has spread to the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and other countries, becoming a spiritual tie that maintains the sense of homeland among overseas Chinese and Taiwan compatriots, and it has also played a positive part in strengthening national identity.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Nanyin is sung in the archaic speech of standard Quanzhou dialect, and its pronunciation preserves the phonological character of ancient Central Plains Chinese.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Nanyin.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Wu Shi'an (per the official record of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han nationality, born in 1949 in Xiamen, Fujian. He is skilled in playing the Nanyin dongxiao flute and the qudi flute, has mastered the performing techniques of the nanpa, sanxian, erxian and percussion instruments, and has made a thorough study of Nanyin vocal styles and tune patterns. He has visited Japan, France, the Philippines and other countries many times on behalf of the province and the city, and has served as vice-chairman of the Fujian Provincial Quyi Federation and as music adviser to the Taiwan Han-Tang Music Bureau, among other posts. Representative inheritor of Nanyin for the second national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage; first-grade performer of the Xiamen Nanyin Ensemble. Wang Xiuyi (per the official record of the associated inheritor): A woman of the Han nationality, born in November 1957 in Xiamen, Fujian. She is expert in pipa playing, with accomplished and distinctive technique, and has memorized a large number of instrumental pieces and vocal works; her playing is free and controlled, and she has taken part in many performances at home and abroad. She has been engaged as art adviser and music adviser by a number of Nanyin societies at home and abroad, and has trained a group of Nanyin artists in the mainland, in Hong Kong and Macao and in Southeast Asia; she has also collected precious historical materials on Nanyin, and in 2005 she collated and edited the Complete Collection of Nanyin Finger Scores, filling the gap left by the fact that the Xiamen Nanyin finger scores had never before been published in book form. Representative inheritor of Nanyin for the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. The Nanyin music and dance drama The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, in which she played pipa as lead, won the tenth Wenhua New Production Award of the Ministry of Culture, and Plum Blossom Exercise won a gold medal at the first International Chinese Music Festival.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Huang Shuying 02-0324
• Su Tongmou 02-0325
• Wu Yanzao 02-0326
• Ding Shuiqing 02-0327
• Su Shiyong 02-0328
• Xia Yongxi 02-0329
• Wu Shian 02-0330
• Yang Cuie 03-0858
• Wang Xiuyi 03-0859
• Chen Lian 05-2092
• Zhuo Shengxiang
• Li Baiyan

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Nanyin (Xiamen, Fujian) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wu Shian · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Wang Xiuyi · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗