Jinmenfagu

01 · Historical Records

The Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu appeared in the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty; it originally performed as an accompanying fagu association when the temple goddess made her procession, and it is now current mainly in Beichen district of Tianjin.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Fagu is an important item of the Tianjin folk flower gatherings; it derives from Buddhist music, and it is said that the earliest fagu troupe was the Dajue'an Jinyin fagu association. The instruments of a fagu association consist of drum, cymbals, nao, small cymbals (gezi) and small gongs (dangzi), the drum taking the lead and standing at the centre of the band; the cymbals stand left and right, seven or eight players to each, while the gezi and dangzi have two players each, all behind the drum. In performance all the hand-held instruments must be played in the showy manner called “shua”, and the players take turns performing. The beginning of a performance is called “kai”: the drum is struck several times first, then the head cymbals are struck four times in succession, after which all the instruments play together from their scores. In a procession, however, only the gezi and dangzi play the named tune Chang Yuan Dian in order to keep the steps in time. A fagu has about a dozen suites of named tunes, those in common use being Lao Xi He, Yao Tong Gu and others. There are many folk fagu associations, the better known including the Guajia Temple Qingyin fagu, the Yangjiazhuang Yongyin fagu, the Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu, the Longting Jingyin fagu, the Jiyuan Huayin fagu and the Houjiahou Yongyin fagu. When the Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu turns out, at the head is the ceremonial procession formed of the front colour and the band, directed by the leading gong. The front colour is the formation that, when the goddess makes her procession, warns the people to give way and carries the utensils of daily life; it mainly includes such ceremonial regalia and daily necessities as the great gate flags, the tall illuminating banners, the soft couplets, the hard couplets, the lamp placards, the round cages, the octagonal cases, the clothes chests, the tea buckets, the tea stoves and the wind lanterns, together with the band equipment of drum, cymbals, nao, cha, dang lang, the great lotus and the nine lotus lanterns. Among them forty people carry hand flags to keep the order, and thirty boys carry stools for the performers to use when striking the long pieces. The costumes and props of the Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu association are well preserved; of the ten sets of song scores originally existing, five are now kept. In the first month of the lunar new year the leaders of the various flower associations, after consultation, often hold a courteous exchange of visits with the theme of celebrating the harvest and congratulating the new year. On the third day of the third month, the day of the goddess's annual procession, several flower associations gather at Beicang; the Xiangyin fagu is an accompanying association, so it is arranged to perform on either side of the goddess's sacred palanquin. In the performance the Xiangyin fagu's unique group of coloured lanterns is displayed before the great audience, presenting the magnificent spectacle of a long dragon formed of coloured lanterns. The five-sound percussion of the band plays from various scores, with a variety of performing routines and movements; among them the single striking, the rotary striking and the combined striking are clearly differentiated in their layers, the postures are graceful and very eye-catching. But the conditions of the association are limited and many things cannot be as one would wish; in particular the performing equipment is old and broken, which is regrettable, and funds are urgently needed to repair and renew it.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu is magnificent and spectacular, has the strongest flavour of national folk culture, and is a precious folk cultural relic of the locality.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Jinmenfagu · Jinmenfagu · Jinmenfagu.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present the Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu association has been carried on to the present through the careful maintenance of several generations and has taken part many times in competitions and celebratory events. Tian Wenqi (associated bearer, as recorded in the official archive): male, Han, born in May 1947, a native of Tianjin. At the age of eight he began to learn the art of striking the nao from his elders, and through hard practice gradually became skilled. At sixteen he joined the performance ranks. He later took Feng Zhenfu, the third-generation inheritor, as his teacher and learned comprehensively the striking technique of the various fagu instruments and all the rules of turning out. His movements are standard and his rhythm distinct; his dancing is free and open, tempering hardness with softness. He broke with the old custom of “not passing it outside the family, not passing it to women”, enlarged the membership and enabled the item to develop continuously. He is a representative inheritor of Jinmen fagu (Liuyuan Xiangyin fagu), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. From 1994 to 2012 he served as president of the local fagu association, managing its affairs; besides organizing members for performances and exhibitions and the custody and repair of the association's equipment, he also transmitted the skills and techniques he had mastered to the next generation without reserve.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Fu Baoan 05-2130
• Yang Kuiju 05-2131
• Tian Wenqi 05-2132
• Cao Guihua 05-2133
• Liu Yuxin
• Wu Qiang

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Jinmenfagu (Beichen, Tianjin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Tian Wenqi · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗