Yangge Dance

Ⅲ-2Traditional DanceZhaoyang, BeijingBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Xiaohongmen "di yangge" is a traditional yangge dance transmitted in the Xiaohongmen area of Chaoyang District, Beijing; its full name is the "Taiping Tongle Yangge Shenghui" (Sacred Society of Peace-and-Joy Yangge).

02 · Core Techniques & Process

On the society flag preserved to the present there are the words "Zu'anmenwai Hongsicun Taiping Tongle Yangge Shenghui chengqi yu Qianlong er nian" — the Sacred Society of Peace-and-Joy Yangge of Hongsicun outside Zu'an Gate, sincerely founded in the second year of the Qianlong reign. This yangge society has strict rules, customs and rituals. Most members of the society are Manchu, and they are all male. Xiaohongmen di yangge is performed mainly at New Year festivals and various celebratory events. The yangge troupe consists of 21 people: two each in the roles of tuotou, xiao'erge, wenshan, wushan, yuweng and qiaofu; four each of the gong beaters and the drum beaters; one who beats the large horn (large gong); two flag bearers; and two who carry the tent (the longhuang prop). Di yangge performance is mainly dance, supplemented by singing. In the past the society often performed at large-scale celebrations and sacrificial activities, for instance at the "ji tian cang" (Offering to Heaven for a Bumper Crop) activity held on the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month in Hongsicun, which prayed to heaven to bless the fields with a good harvest; after the "tian cang" ceremony (adding to the granary, that is, putting more grain in so that the granary will not stand empty) was completed, di yangge had to be performed. At present the society carries on only the festival celebrations; the sacrificial activities were not continued. In the past the Xiaohongmen di yangge performance combined singing and dancing. At present very few members can sing, and singing has been dropped from the performance. According to senior artists, Xiaohongmen di yangge once had 64 sets of performance routines, but only 22 have been preserved.

The rules and rites of the Taiping Tongle society

The society observes strict rules, customs and etiquette; the inheritor Zhao Fengling learned them under Lu Derui, became head in 1999 and later committed its props, costume and procession rules to writing.

The twenty-one-member line-up

The troupe of twenty-one comprises two each of the ascetic, young servant, civil fan, martial fan, fisherman and woodcutter, four each of gong and drum, one great gong, two flag bearers and two litter bearers.

The Heaven's Granary rite

The society formerly performed at the Heaven's Granary rite on the twenty-fifth of the first month; today only the festival performances survive, not the sacrificial rite.

Sixty-four routines, twenty-two surviving

Elders recall sixty-four routines of which twenty-two remain; the performance was once sung as well as danced, but few can sing it now and the singing has fallen out of use.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xiaohongmen di yangge centres on Hongsicun Village in Xiaohongmen Township, Chaoyang District. The full name of the society is "Taiping Tongle Yangge Shenghui"; most members are Manchu and all are male, and the troupe appears in public at New Year festivals and various celebratory events. The old society flag still bears the words "Zu'anmenwai Hongsicun Taiping Tongle Yangge Shenghui chengqi yu Qianlong er nian" — the Sacred Society of Peace-and-Joy Yangge of Hongsicun outside Zu'an Gate, sincerely founded in the second year of Qianlong.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

A large quantity of yangge lyrics are still kept in the society, but there are no musical scores for them, and they are close to being lost. Zhao Fengling (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1946, native of Beijing. At nineteen he formally became a disciple of Lu Derui to learn the rules and principles of the Xiaohongmen di yangge society, and became the front leader. In 1999 he formally became the head of the Xiaohongmen di yangge society. In 2005 he took Dong Shugui, Zhang Shuqing and Zheng Jinli as disciples. After retiring in 2006 he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the transmission and development of di yangge, wrote out the rules and principles of the di yangge society, and recorded and organized into written materials such matters as the use of props, costume and dress, and the rules of procession in the society. Representative inheritor of Yangge (Xiaohongmen Di Yangge), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fourth national-level batch.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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