Daoist Music

01 · Historical Records

In the 1970s the twentieth-generation inheritor Feng Minggui, the twenty-first-generation inheritor Guo Zhiying and others collected and organized a great deal of scattered and valuable Daoist scriptures, tunes and instruments. After the 1980s, members of the music ensemble repeatedly went to the Hebei Provincial Daoist Association and to places such as the "Shifangyuan" and the "Jinque Palace" to conduct Daoist cultural exchange, collecting and organizing a batch of ancient Daoist music and folk traditional music, and made a great effort to promote Daoist culture.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Huazhangmeng Daoist music is traditional music current in Huazhangmeng Village, Dingzhou City, Hebei Province. For a long time many villagers of that village have believed in Daoism. During the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, the Daoist priest of Dingzhou City God Temple, Guo Jiaming, passed Daoist music to the Daoist believers of Huazhangmeng and founded a Daoist music band, which now has a history of more than a hundred years. Huazhangmeng Daoist music belongs to the Quanzhen school of Daoist music; it comprises both vocal and instrumental music, with such performance forms as solo singing, unison singing, solo playing and ensemble playing. Its melodies are deep and refined in tone, clear, quiet and serene, lingering and ethereal, and deeply moving. Performance by the Daoist music band is generally called "doing a ritual" or "conducting a ceremony", and is given by 10 to 30 Daoist priests. All the priests wear caps and robes and form three columns; the left column holds the large guan zi, the suona, the sheng, the erhu, the low-register huqin, the danggan, the nao and the cymbals. The middle column holds the Dharma bells, and the drummer holds the drum. The right column holds the small suona, the small guan zi, the transverse flute, the zhonghu, the banhu, the large cymbals and the small cymbals. Huazhangmeng Daoist music has always used the traditional "gongche" tablature. Its representative pieces include "Fengdu Zhong", "Sandian Jiu", "Sanbao Zan", "Qinghua Zan", "Songling Wen", "Baoshang Tai", "Daguan Diao", "Sanhang Ban" and the like.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Huazhangmeng Daoist music comparatively completely inherits ancient Daoist music and is closely connected with the local art of blowing and singing; in its musical form and content it is pervaded by the basic beliefs and aesthetic thought of Daoism. It is an indispensable part of Daoist ritual, serving to colour the religious atmosphere; at the same time it also gives artistic expression to the local Daoist believers' longing for a safe and happy life, and has certain historical, cultural, religious and artistic value.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music · Daoist Music.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Huazhangmeng Daoist music has for a long time been passed on through oral transmission from master to apprentice. Feng Yingzhan (official archive entry of the associated inheritor): A man of the Han ethnicity, born in April 1971, native of Dingzhou City, Hebei Province. After years of hard effort he has now comprehensively inherited the traditional repertoire and performance style of Huazhangmeng Daoist music, and his skills on instruments such as the guan zi, the suona and the sheng grow steadily more refined. The traditional pieces he performs include "Daguan Diao", "Baoshang Tai", "Qingshou", "Qinghua Zan", "Sandian Jiu", "Sanhang Ban" and the like. In performance he continually enriches and fills out this ancient music, and, while preserving the authenticity of the old music, has increased the number of instruments used in Huazhangmeng Daoist music performance from seven or eight kinds to more than a dozen. Representative inheritor of the Daoist music (Huazhangmeng Daoist music) national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth national-level batch. He has also established places for the transmission of Daoist music and has devoted himself carefully to training inheritors.

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

1. Daoist Music (Dingzhou, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Feng Yingzhan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗