Gong and Drum Art

01 · Historical Records

In the Hancheng marching-drum performance the drummers wear battle helmets on their heads and battle skirts that cover the saddle at the waist, and in a horseman's crouching stance they strike the drums with their faces turned upward. When the farmers, who day by day face the yellow earth with their backs to the sky, beat gongs and drums to sacrifice to the gods, wearing sloped battle helmets on their heads and yellow waistcoats over their bodies, a sense of the sacred arises at once.

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. Hancheng marching drums are popularly called “kua-gu-zi” and are a form of folk drum music widely current within the territory of Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province. At the performance site the ranks of drums are drawn up, the command flags wave, a hundred drums sound together and their noise shakes the sky, revealing a magnificent momentum. The uninhibited drumming postures and the vigorous, fierce drum beats are like the Yellow River roaring and galloping hooves of ten thousand horses, causing a tremendous shock to the heart. When they reach the height of their performance, the drummers are as if intoxicated and entranced, leaping and dancing wildly, entering the best state of “drunken drums and drunken cymbals”. In history Hancheng marching drums were used as drum music for sacrificing to the gods; at New Year and festivals and whenever praying to the gods for rain, the stirring sound of the drums could always be heard. In recent years the introduction of the flower-pole team has made the Hancheng marching-drum performance richer and more mature.

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. Hancheng marching drums have a long history; according to legend, after the Yuan dynasty destroyed Jin, Mongol horsemen beat gongs and drums in Hancheng to celebrate their victory, and the people of Hancheng followed suit and imitated them; through long transmission and development this folk drum music with a strong local character took shape. Hancheng marching drums are an outstanding rarity among the local folk gong-and-drum arts, and have high artistic and cultural value. More than a dozen gong-and-drum teams with thoroughly polished skills are active locally in different settings; outstanding drummers, gong players and cymbal players keep appearing, and have successively been given fine titles by the people such as “drum king” and “gong king”.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present Hancheng marching drums still face major problems in the training of performance teams and in funding, and the transmission work has also been neglected, so that inheritors are steadily decreasing; it is therefore necessary to step up protection so that this ancient folk drum music is better transmitted and carried forward. Cheng Qinxian (per the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in December 1947, a native of Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province. He began to serve as a drum-team conductor in the 1980s, winning honour for Hancheng marching drums in various large-scale gong-and-drum performances. He can commit more than twenty Hancheng marching-drum gong-and-drum patterns to memory, studies the full score assiduously, and has thoroughly mastered the performing techniques of the drum, gong, nao and other instruments, becoming an all-round performer of Hancheng marching drums. On the basis of inheriting the traditional marching-drum performance technique, he arranged five marching drum passages expressing different emotions, forming a set of fine pieces for the marching-drum performance. Representative inheritor of the gong-and-drum music (Hancheng marching drums) item of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has trained more than two hundred disciples, including Yang Yufang, Li Guiqin, Xue Fengqin and others.

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

1. Gong and Drum Art (Hancheng, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Cheng Qinxiang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗