Yangge Dance
01 · Historical Records
The formation of Yangxin guzi yangge is closely bound up with the military-camp culture of the Wuding Prefecture area (today Huimin) in the Ming and Qing periods. In old times a barrack was set up outside the city wall, and every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month soldiers and people shared in celebration, the soldiers holding weapons, banners and canopies and dancing in formation; the scene was magnificent and the movements vigorous and beautiful. Folk artists imitated its formations and blended them with local gong-and-drum music and flowered umbrellas, gradually evolving into the Yangxin guzi yangge of today, whose backbone is running in formation.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Not far to the east of Lingxiao Pavilion (20 li) lay Wuding Prefecture (today the seat of Huimin County, the reputed home of the ancient strategist Sun Wu); a barrack was stationed outside the city wall, and every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month soldiers and people shared in celebration. The soldiers, holding weapons, banners and canopies, danced in a magnificent and spectacular scene, with bold and uninhibited postures, vigorous and open movements and a strong rhythm; at the height of the dance, people from all walks of life, Buddhist monks and Daoist priests joined in as well, and so today's Yangxin guzi yangge gradually took shape. The principal roles of a guzi yangge troupe are umbrella, drum, stick and hua (female role). Because the dance consists chiefly in running through the various battle-formation patterns, a yangge troupe cannot have fewer than 32 people, and may number from scores to hundreds or even several hundreds. The whole course of the dance is basically a stylized ancient military drill, namely "reviewing the troops, naming the generals, deploying the formation, opening battle, withdrawing the troops". According to senior artists, what guzi yangge performs is the story of the ancient strategists Sun Bin and Pang Juan going to war; the first martial umbrella role plays Sun Bin. The principal accompanying instruments of guzi yangge are the large drum, the large gong, the small gong, the bo (cymbals), the large chao and the small chao. The large drum, one metre in diameter, is the core accompanying instrument of the whole dance. The drum patterns mainly comprise the fast "three-point", the slow "five-point" and the medium-tempo "seven-point"; these differ from the guzi yangge of other parts of Shandong, and have given rise to the distinctive dance style of Yangxin guzi yangge.
Review, muster, array, engage, withdraw
The five phases of the dance, essentially a stylised ancient military exercise; a troupe numbers no fewer than thirty-two and may reach several hundred.
Umbrella, drum, staff and flower
The main role types, whose numbers and arrangement are governed by the need to run out battle formations.
Three-point, five-point and seven-point patterns
The three principal drum patterns, fast three-point, slow five-point and medium seven-point, distinct from other Shandong Gushzi Yangge and shaping Yangxin's singular dance style.
The Sun Bin and Pang Juan narrative
Elders say the dance enacts the war between the strategists Sun Bin and Pang Juan, the first martial umbrella playing Sun Bin, whence the name martial Yangge.
Lingxiao Pavilion
A local saying that the Lingxiao Pavilion predates the great Yangge; the nearby tradition was called martial Yangge in the Qianlong era and anchors its regional identity.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yangxin "guzi yangge" is an important school of "guzi yangge", the representative folk dance of Shandong Province. It is transmitted chiefly in Yanghu Township, Wendian Town, Liupowu and Laodian Township of Yangxin County and in the neighbouring counties. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty it was called "martial yangge" by the local people. Among the local senior artists there is a saying: first came Lingxiao Pavilion, then came the great yangge.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yangxin guzi yangge is an important school of Shandong guzi yangge in the northern part of the northern Shandong plain. Its formations and movements completely preserve the sequence of the ancient military drill — "reviewing the troops, naming the generals, deploying the formation, opening battle, withdrawing the troops" — which gives it distinctive reference value for research into the relationship between folk dance and ancient battle formations and military folklore. At present the form is sustained mainly by the village yangge troupes of the Yanghu Township and Wendian Town area.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhou Hehua 02-0332
- Yu Zhenjiang 02-0333
- Yang Kesheng 02-0334
- Wu Yingmin 02-0335
- Wang Fa 02-0336
- Juhongjun 02-0337
- Li Zengheng 02-0338
- He Junyi 03-0899
- Yao Daxin 03-0900
- Zhao Fengling 04-1541
- Qin Mengyu 04-1542
- Ding Shisuo 05-2182
- Sheng Yubin 05-2183
- Yu Xin 05-2184
- Wei Jianming 05-2185
- Liu Jianping
- Xiujianguo
- Lizhangxi
- Ba Hengjin
- Zhao Chenghai
- Wang Yuanqing
- Song Jianliang
- Yuan Guilin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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