Ping Opera (Pingju)

Introduction

A young opera grown from eastern Hebei lotus-flower ballads, sung like plain speech

Pingju, earlier called bengbeng xi, laozi xi or pingqiang bangzi, has used its present name since 1935 and is performed mainly in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the Northeast. Around 1909 Cheng Zhaocai and fellow artists turned the duet lotus-flower ballads of the Luanzhou area in eastern Hebei into staged drama, borrowing from northeastern bengbeng and the Hebei bangzi band, and performed it at the Yongsheng teahouse in Tangshan. Its music uses the banqiang (metrical-variation) system, with clear, speech-like singing and naturalistic acting. Well-known plays include Hua Wei Mei, Yang Sanjie Gaozhuang, Liu Qiao'er and Qin Xianglian.

Timeline

1. 1909OriginCheng Zhaocai's Qingchun troupe performs at the Yongsheng teahouse in Tangshan, and Pingju is born
2. 1919EvolutionCheng Zhaocai writes Yang Sanjie Gaozhuang from a real case
3. 1935EvolutionThe name Pingju comes into official use

Heritage Listings

1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · IV-51 · Luannan County · Hebei and Baodi District · Tianjin
2. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch extension · IV-51 · Shijiazhuang · Hebei