Daoist Music
01 · Historical Records
Apart from being carried on for two hundred years in the Zhengyi-school secular monastery, in the 1960s the Taoist priest Wu Yusheng of the Wuqingyun Taoist monastery, without regard to sectarian boundaries, introduced it separately into the Taoist altars and societies of Macao and of Hong Kong, widening the range over which Macao Daoist ritual music is disseminated. From the 1960s onward, as Macao's economy transformed and urbanisation intensified, traditional religious ceremonies were gradually simplified and rituals in the ritual halls no longer flourished; the number of Zhengyi-school Taoist priests therefore fell sharply, and Macao Daoist ritual music, with its distinctive local character, faced a crisis of being lost.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Macao Daoist ritual music is religious music that blends the Zhengyi school of Macao with the Quanzhen school of Guangdong. There are more than five hundred Daoist tunes in all, and among the ritual music of Daoist communities in various places it ranks among the foremost for the number of its pieces.
Ritual CD recording
A CD of Daoist music recorded by the Macao Taoist Association in order to rescue this heritage.
Macao Daoist Ritual Music
A monograph compiled by the Macao Taoist Association, containing the more than five hundred scores recorded by Associate Professor Wang Zhongren when he came to Macao to carry out the transcription work.
Macao Daoist Orchestra
Immediately after its establishment in 2002 the Macao Taoist Association began its protective work, formed the Macao Daoist Orchestra, set up the ritual affairs team of the association and held Daoist music appreciation concerts.
Transcription project
In 2006 Associate Professor Wang Zhongren, formerly head of the Daoist music research office of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music and at the same time music adviser and tutor of the Singapore Taoist Orchestra, was specially invited to come to Macao to transcribe Daoist music, and more than five hundred scores were recorded in all.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Macao Daoist ritual music blends the Zhengyi school of Macao with the Quanzhen school of Guangdong; there are more than five hundred Daoist tunes in all, and among the ritual music of Daoist communities in various places it ranks among the foremost for the number of its pieces. In the ritual services, masters such as the gaogong and the jianzhai lead the singing and the instrumental performance; while singing the rhymed melodic lines with their mouths, they hold a drum and a small gong in their two hands respectively and strike out varied drum patterns and gong patterns.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
To preserve and rescue this precious national cultural heritage of Macao, the Macao Taoist Association, established in 2002, immediately launched a series of protective measures: it opened classes in Taoist culture and ritual protocol, established the Macao Taoist Orchestra, formed the ritual affairs team of the Macao Taoist Association, held Daoist music appreciation concerts, recorded a CD of the Xuanmen morning and evening hall scripture of daily practice, and in 2006 specially invited Associate Professor Wang Zhongren, formerly head of the Daoist music research office of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music and at the same time music adviser and tutor of the Singapore Taoist Orchestra, to come to Macao to transcribe Daoist music, recording more than five hundred scores in all. In addition, the volume Macao Daoist Ritual Music has been compiled and is about to be published. Wu Bingzhi (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Taoist name Dajin; male, Han, born in February 1959, native of the Macao Special Administrative Region. He now works in the Labour Affairs Bureau of the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. He received the Taoist registers at the Temple of the Celestial Master of the Han lineage on Mount Longhu, Jiangxi, in 2000, and in 2001 helped to found the Macao Taoist Association together with fellow Taoists, serving as its president. As the gaogong and jianzhai master of the ritual hall he leads the singing and the instrumental playing of the ritual music; while singing the rhymed melodic lines with his mouth, his two hands play the drum and the small gong respectively, striking out varied drum and gong patterns in accordance with the scores. Besides leading the Macao Taoist Orchestra in propagating the Dao and promoting the Dharma at home and abroad, he has co-authored and published Macao Daoist Ritual Music and Macao Daoist Ritual Music (Continuation). He is a representative inheritor of Daoist music (Macao Daoist ritual music), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth national-level batch. He graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University in 1981 with a bachelor's degree.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Yubao 03-0894
- Li Manshan 03-0895
- Shi Jitong 03-0896
- You Wuzhong 03-0897
- Zhang Minggui 03-0898
- Wu Bingzhi 04-1537
- Feng Yingzhan 05-2153
- He Chunsheng 05-2154
- Wu Lixun 05-2155
- Zhan Heping 05-2156
- Zhang Jintao 05-2157
- Huo Dezhong 05-2158
- An Baohui 05-2159
- Wu Huyong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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