Dongjing Music
01 · Historical Records
According to the dongjing texts kept by members of the local dongjing societies, Qiongdou dongjing music was already popular in Lizhou in the auspicious ninth month of the ninth year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming dynasty (1636), and has a history of more than 300 years to the present. In the thirty-fourth year of the Guangxu era of the Qing dynasty (1908), local people such as Han Pingchu and Zhou Baozheng travelled specially to Baina village, Ninglang County, Lijiang, Yunnan, to learn dongjing music; after they returned in the second year of the Xuantong era of the Qing dynasty (1910) they began to transmit and spread dongjing music. This heritage item has been passed down to the present through father-to-son and master-disciple transmission. In 2008 the Qiongdou Dongjing Ancient Music Orchestra was founded in Xichang, with more than ten grassroots branches, including Lizhou, Taihe, Gaojian, Chuanxing, Madao, Jingjiu and Xixi.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qiongdou dongjing music is a traditional ceremonial music whose main content is the chanting and singing of the Great Cave Immortal Scripture of Wenchang, Supreme Jade Purity, Limitless Total Truth. It has been influenced by Daoism and Confucianism and has formed musical characteristics distinctive in its own right. Qiongdou dongjing music is transmitted chiefly by oral instruction from person to person; in every rural market town of Xichang City, Sichuan Province, there are organizations that chant dongjing music, such as Longshan Garden, Leshan Garden, Dashan Garden and Xiaozhong Garden. Qiongdou dongjing music uses five-tone notation; its tunes are simple and antique, elegant, gentle and lyrical, and it falls mainly into two large categories, the vocal and the instrumental. The vocal part (commonly called the 'jingqiang') is the main content of dongjing music and mainly comprises four modes: the praise mode, the lament mode, the harmony mode and the great mode. The praise mode generally uses four-character rhymed text; the lament mode has old lament, new lament and lament proper; the harmony mode generally uses seven-character lines of four sentences; the great mode generally uses five-character lines of eight sentences. There are in addition the song-reading mode and the recitation mode. The instrumental part is further divided into tune pieces and percussion scores; the tune pieces use the flute, the vertical bamboo flute, the xun, the sheng, the erhu, the large python-string fiddle, the guzheng, the pipa, the ruan, the wooden fish, the silver gong and so on. The percussion scores use large tune patterns performed in ensemble by gongs, drums, large cymbals and large jiao cymbals, producing a sense of roaring waves and solemn grandeur; performing a complete set of dongjing takes five to seven days. Qiongdou dongjing music extols the elimination of evil and the following of good, and the five human relationships and the eight virtues; it holds that the cultivation of the person is the foundation and the nurture of life its use. It fuses Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, refined and popular music into one, and is an embodiment in dongjing music of the Confucian system of ritual music and its view of music. It not only has strict ritual procedure but also a detailed division of ritual offices and a system for the use of music; together with its varied chanting modes and tune patterns it forms a complete and harmonious body of dongjing music, of high artistic, social and cultural value.
Village Dongjing societies
In every rural market town of Xichang City, Sichuan Province there are organizations that chant dongjing music, named Longshan Garden, Leshan Garden, Dashan Garden, Xiaozhong Garden and the like.
Four chanting modes
The vocal part (commonly called the 'jingqiang') is the main content of dongjing music and mainly comprises four modes: the praise mode, the lament mode, the harmony mode and the great mode. The praise mode generally uses four-character rhymed text, the harmony mode generally uses seven-character lines of four sentences, and the great mode generally uses five-character lines of eight sentences; there are in addition the song-reading mode and the recitation mode.
Tune pieces and percussion scores
The instrumental part is further divided into tune pieces and percussion scores: the tune pieces use the flute, the vertical bamboo flute, the xun, the sheng, the erhu, the large python-string fiddle, the guzheng, the pipa, the ruan, the wooden fish, the silver gong and so on; the percussion scores use large tune patterns played in ensemble by gongs, drums, large cymbals and large jiao cymbals, producing a sense of roaring waves and solemn grandeur.
Qiongdou Dongjing orchestra
Founded in Xichang in 2008, with more than ten grassroots branches, including Lizhou, Taihe, Gaojian, Chuanxing, Madao, Jingjiu and Xixi.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In every rural market town of Xichang City, Sichuan Province there are organizations that chant Qiongdou dongjing music, such as Longshan Garden, Leshan Garden, Dashan Garden and Xiaozhong Garden; it is transmitted chiefly by oral instruction from person to person, through father-to-son and master-disciple succession. It uses five-tone notation, performing a complete set of dongjing takes five to seven days, and it has strict ritual procedure, a detailed division of ritual offices and a system for the use of music; in 2008 the Qiongdou Dongjing Ancient Music Orchestra was founded in Xichang, with more than ten grassroots branches, including Lizhou, Taihe, Gaojian, Chuanxing, Madao, Jingjiu and Xixi.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Dongjing Music · Dongjing Music.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Han Dingsheng (official archive record of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han people, born in November 1935 in Xichang City, Sichuan Province. He has comprehensively and systematically mastered the traditional repertoire and techniques, including the chanting of the scriptures, the chanting styles, the bowed strings, the percussion and the chanting and instrumental performance of the Great Cave Immortal Scripture of Wenchang. In addition to his work he actively carries out dongjing music performance and teaching activities. Since 2007 he has taught dongjing music in the Qiongdou Dongjing Ancient Music Orchestra of Xichang City, serving as the lead chanter, and has concurrently served as lead chanter at Xiaozhong Garden of Rongguang Temple. Representative inheritor of Qiongdou dongjing music in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. Born into a dongjing family, he learned Qiongdou dongjing music from the elders of his family from childhood; he is a third-generation inheritor of dongjing music (Qiongdou dongjing music). He has taken part in more than eight hundred dongjing music performances within and outside the province and has won prizes many times.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Han Dingsheng 05-2144
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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