Gong and Drum Art
01 · Historical Records
Yichang tang-diao has a long history; apart from the relevant records in the 《Chu Ci》, the Eastern Han and Song dynasty artefacts excavated in this area can also serve as important corroboration. During the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, Yichang tang-diao absorbed various folk art elements centred on opera, and on this basis was further developed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Although the instruments used vary from place to place, they consist mainly of high-volume percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, naos and cymbals; the rhythm is stirring and sharply marked, the performance scenes are grand, the artistic style is marked by imposing momentum, martial vigour and ardent warmth, and it is performed mainly at various folk auspicious celebrations and ceremonial occasions. It changes the vocal parts of opera into wind-and-percussion pieces with accompaniment by instruments such as the suona and the jinghu, and at the same time constantly merges in folk song-and-dance music, greatly enriching its own musical forms. Yichang tang-diao now preserves more than a thousand tune patterns, including some “cai-diao”, “cha-diao” and “da-diao” music; the most representative are the Tujia tang-diao of Changyang and Wufeng counties, the Han Chinese Zigui Yanglin tang-gu and the “cai-diao” of the Yiling District. Yichang tang-diao has two forms, the single piece and the suite, and the suite is the representative work of tang-diao; such performance routines are applied mainly to specific ceremonial procedures. For example, the “cai-diao” used at wedding and marriage banquets is led throughout by the “master of ceremonies” calling out the ritual orders, with fixed procedure from welcoming the guests, taking their seats and serving the dishes through to closing the banquet and seeing the guests off, and it must be performed strictly according to the procedure. Yichang tang-diao is mostly in a six-note scale form, centred on the yu pitch, and its melodies most often end on the zhi and shang pitches. Its performing methods have many original features: for example the 【Lao Shao Pei】 of the suona requires either a higher register or an altered melody in the playing, and the beat-marking and interpolation in the percussion accompaniment are also distinctive, and so on.
Scattered and suite forms
Yichang tang-diao has two forms, the single piece and the suite, and the suite is the representative work of tang-diao, applied mainly to specific ceremonial procedures.
Cai-diao banquet procedure
The “cai-diao” used at wedding and marriage banquets is led throughout by the “master of ceremonies” calling out the ritual orders, with fixed procedure from welcoming the guests, taking their seats and serving the dishes through to closing the banquet and seeing the guests off; it must be performed strictly according to the procedure.
Regional branches
Yichang tang-diao now preserves more than a thousand tune patterns, including some “cai-diao”, “cha-diao” and “da-diao” music; the most representative are the Tujia tang-diao of Changyang and Wufeng counties, the Han Chinese Zigui Yanglin tang-gu and the “cai-diao” of the Yiling District.
Suona Lao-shao-pei
The performing methods of Yichang tang-diao are original: the 【Lao Shao Pei】 of the suona requires either a higher register or an altered melody in the playing, and the beat-marking and interpolation in the percussion accompaniment are also distinctive.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Gong-and-drum music is a relatively common form of folk instrumental performance in China; it is widely distributed, and is found in Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shanghai, Henan, Hubei, Shanxi and other places. Yichang tang-diao is popularly called “tang-gu”, “zuo-tang-diao”, “zuo-tang chui-da” and the like; it is a form of folk music current over a wide area of Yichang City, Hubei Province, and takes its name from the fact that it is mostly performed in the seated “zuo-tang” manner. It is the finest part of tang-diao in western Hubei and is applied very widely at local weddings, funerals, festivals and other folk activities.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art · Gong and Drum Art.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yichang tang-diao is rare living material in the study of the history of ethnic music, and is also an important reference for research in psychology, folklore and related fields. At present, under the impact of marketisation, the survival of Yichang tang-diao is in crisis; locally there are few young people who consciously take up and carry on this traditional folk art form, and measures for protection and transmission are urgently needed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Yaowen 03-0882
- Zhao Manzong 05-2134
- Zhang Shushe 05-2135
- Wu Mingchang 05-2136
- Yang Renhe 05-2137
- Liu Qingyun 05-2138
- Liu Zhen 05-2139
- Li Xingguang 05-2140
- Wangdaozhang 05-2141
- Cheng Qinxiang 05-2142
- Wang Guohai
- Xuezongfeng
- Hong Yuqing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。