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Daoqing and Yugu Fish-Drum Ballads

One bamboo drum, two clapper slips

Introduction

Ballads sung to a bamboo fish drum and clapper slips, grown from Daoist song

Daoqing and yugu is the family of quyi in which a singer holds a bamboo fish drum (yugu) and clicks a pair of clapper slips, alternating speech and song to tell a story; favourite subjects are immortals such as Han Xiangzi and Zhuangzi, and historical legends. Its main forms include Jinhua daoqing (V-78), northern Shaanxi daoqing (V-79), the yugu daoqing of Xiao county (V-105), Hunan yugu (V-124), Guilin yugu (V-125) and Sichuan zhuqin (V-76). Daoqing began as songs that Daoist priests sang while preaching; from the Song the fish drum and clappers accompanied it, and by the mid-Ming professional performers were telling long narrative daoqing.

Timeline

Mid-Ming to present
1550 · OriginBy the mid-16th century narrative daoqing was a profession of its own: in 1547 Tian Rucheng listed the fish drum among the shows at the Hangzhou tidal-bore festival, and the Jin Ping Mei cihua mentions hired daoqing singers.1743 · EvolutionZheng Banqiao drafted his Ten Daoqing Songs in 1729 and finished them in 1743; they were sung in Beijing and elsewhere for generations and many literati wrote imitations.1930 · EvolutionIn the 1930s the Sichuan zhuqin performer Jia Shusan created the solo form that became the influential Jia school; in the Republican period Luo Zhanglin was the leading master of Jinhua daoqing.2008 · ImpactIn 2008 Jinhua daoqing, northern Shaanxi daoqing and Sichuan zhuqin entered the second national list, followed by yugu daoqing (2011), Hunan and Guilin yugu (2014) and Tunliu daoqing and Tianmen yugu (2021).
  1. 1550OriginBy the mid-16th century narrative daoqing was a profession of its own: in 1547 Tian Rucheng listed the fish drum among the shows at the Hangzhou tidal-bore festival, and the Jin Ping Mei cihua mentions hired daoqing singers.
  2. 1743EvolutionZheng Banqiao drafted his Ten Daoqing Songs in 1729 and finished them in 1743; they were sung in Beijing and elsewhere for generations and many literati wrote imitations.
  3. 1930EvolutionIn the 1930s the Sichuan zhuqin performer Jia Shusan created the solo form that became the influential Jia school; in the Republican period Luo Zhanglin was the leading master of Jinhua daoqing.
  4. 2008ImpactIn 2008 Jinhua daoqing, northern Shaanxi daoqing and Sichuan zhuqin entered the second national list, followed by yugu daoqing (2011), Hunan and Guilin yugu (2014) and Tunliu daoqing and Tianmen yugu (2021).

Heritage Listings

  1. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: V-76 Sichuan zhuqin [no. 769 · Chongqing Three Gorges Quyi Troupe and Chengdu Art Theatre] · V-78 Jinhua daoqing [no. 771 · Jinhua and Yiwu · Zhejiang] · V-79 Northern Shaanxi daoqing [no. 772 · Yan'an and Qingjian · Shaanxi]
  2. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · V-105 Yugu daoqing · no. 1129 · Xiao county · Anhui
  3. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: V-124 Hunan yugu [no. 1298 · Hunan] · V-125 Guilin yugu [no. 1299 · Guilin · Guangxi]
  4. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · 2021: V-129 Tunliu daoqing [Tunliu · Changzhi · Shanxi] · V-137 Tianmen yugu [Tianmen · Hubei]