Daoist Music
01 · Historical Records
The Quanzhen halls were established mainly from the 1920s to the 1940s by adherents from Guangdong, and include such Daoist bodies as the Pengying Xian Guan, the Tongshan Tan, the Yunquan Xian Guan, the Qingsong Guan and the Yuanxuan Academy.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Daoist belief and ritual of Hong Kong come from the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province and fall into two large categories, the Zhengyi Daoists and the Quanzhen halls. Quanzhen hall liturgical music is the Daoist music transmitted in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Pengying Xian Guan at Fanling, the Qingsong Guan at Tuen Mun and the Tongshan Tan on Hong Kong Island all have professional chanting teams that perform Daoist ritual and music. Quanzhen hall liturgical music takes jingyun music as its main body, with the accompanying scripture texts running through all kinds of ritual. In chanting, most jingyun are started by the lead chanter and the second chanter, so the melodic mode, the tempo, and — for the scriptures that may be chanted to several tunes — the choice of tune on the spot are all decided in an instant by the second chanter. At the same time, the second and third chanters strike the wooden fish and the stone chime respectively to control the rhythm of the jingyun. The traditional wind instruments of the Quanzhen hall ritual include the suona, the flute and the houguan (a double-reed pipe); the percussion instruments include drums, cymbals and gongs. The instrumental tune patterns used in the ritual may be long or short; such as Da Ka Men, Xiao Ka Men and Yi Ding Jin, they consist mostly of several short phrases, flexibly repeated in cycle with variations to suit the movements of the ritual. Hong Kong Quanzhen hall liturgical music is a religious musical practice of broad practical character, embodying Taoist doctrine and the ideal aspirations of the great body of adherents.
Four chant modes
In its vocal aspect, Quanzhen hall liturgical music can be divided, according to the method of reading and chanting, into different forms such as the recitative form, the chanting form, the chanted form and the sung form.
Three instrumental categories
In its instrumental aspect it can be divided, according to the occasion of performance, into zhengqu, shuaqu and ritual-instrument tunes.
Instrumental tune titles
The instrumental tune patterns used in the ritual may be long or short; such as Da Ka Men, Xiao Ka Men and Yi Ding Jin, they consist mostly of several short phrases, flexibly repeated in cycle with variations to suit the movements of the ritual.
Lead and second chanter
In chanting, most jingyun are started by the lead chanter and the second chanter, so the melodic mode, the tempo, and — for the scriptures that may be chanted to several tunes — the choice of tune on the spot are all decided in an instant by the second chanter. At the same time, the second and third chanters strike the wooden fish and the stone chime respectively to control the rhythm of the jingyun.
Professional chanting teams
The Pengying Xian Guan at Fanling, the Qingsong Guan at Tuen Mun and the Tongshan Tan on Hong Kong Island all have professional chanting teams that perform Daoist ritual and music.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The jingyun melodic modes sung in the Quanzhen hall ritual are influenced by local culture such as Cantonese song, Cantonese opera and Guangdong minor melodies, as well as by the music of other religions such as Confucianism and Buddhism. In its vocal aspect, Quanzhen hall liturgical music can be divided, according to the method of reading and chanting, into such different forms as the recitative form, the chanting form, the chanted form and the sung form; in its instrumental aspect it can be divided, according to the occasion of performance, into zhengqu, shuaqu and ritual-instrument tunes. The forms of Quanzhen hall liturgical music can be summarized into four types: the recitative form, the chanting form, the chanted form and the sung form.
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
Although their lines of belief transmission differ, most venerate Lü Chongyang, one of the “Five Patriarchs of Quanzhen”, and acknowledge that they belong to the Quanzhen Longmen school; the ritual content they transmit is likewise much the same. The transmission and development of this heritage project are closely bound to the historical, social and cultural development of Hong Kong; it is an important witness to the vigorous renewal of Daoist culture in Hong Kong, and has certain artistic, historical and socio-cultural value.
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)
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。