Drum-Ballad Storytelling (Gushu)

Introduction

Long tales sung to drum, clappers and strings: the regional dagu and guci

Gushu is the family of quyi in which a performer beats a book drum and clappers, accompanied by sanxian, zhuihu and other strings, and tells long serial tales and short pieces in seven- and ten-syllable verse. Its main forms include xihe dagu (V-5), Shandong dagu or lihua dagu (V-4), Northeast dagu (V-6), Henan zhuizi (V-20), Wenzhou guci (V-13) and northern Shaanxi storytelling (V-14); jingyun dagu and meihua dagu have their own record. It continues the Ming shuochang cihua; literati drum ballads by Jia Fuxi appeared in the Ming-Qing transition, and in the Daoguang reign Ma Sanfeng reshaped muban dagu into xihe dagu, while Henan zhuizi took shape at about the same time.

Timeline

1. 1640OriginIn the Ming-Qing transition Jia Yingchong (Jia Fuxi, c. 1589-c. 1671) wrote the Mupi sanke guci, one of the earliest surviving literati drum ballads; guci continue the shuochang cihua printed in the Chenghua reign and found in a Ming tomb at Jiading near Shanghai in 1967.
2. 1830EvolutionIn the Daoguang reign Ma Sanfeng, a muban dagu singer from Gaoyang, replaced the wooden clappers with iron ploughshare plates and added the large sanxian, laying the foundation of xihe dagu; Henan zhuizi took shape at about the same time.
3. 1910EvolutionIn the early 20th century drum-ballad singers from Hebei came to Tianjin in large numbers along the Daqing River, known as the Xihe, and their posters fixed the name xihe dagu; city story halls became a new stage for gushu.
4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 fifteen gushu forms, among them xihe, Shandong, Northeast and muban dagu and Henan zhuizi, entered the first national list; by the fifth batch in 2021, 42 listed items belonged to this family.

Heritage Listings

1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: V-4 Shandong dagu · V-5 xihe dagu · V-6 Northeast dagu · V-7 muban dagu · V-8 Laoting dagu · V-9 Lu'an dagu · V-10 Jingdong dagu · V-11 Jiaodong dagu · V-12 Heluo dagu · V-13 Wenzhou guci · V-14 Northern Shaanxi storytelling · V-19 Xianxiao · V-20 Henan zhuizi · V-22 Luogushu · V-23 Shaoxing lianhualao
2. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2nd batch, 2008: V-61 Hubei dagu, V-62 Xiangyuan gushu, V-63 Pingxiang chunluo, V-64 sanxian shu, V-65 Yingge liushu, V-66 Pinghu bozi shu, V-67 Ningbo zoushu, V-85 Shandong luozi, V-86 shuoguzi); 2008 extensions of V-4, V-5, V-6, V-10 and V-11
3. 2011National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · 2011: V-98 Zhangzi gushu · V-101 Zezhou sixian shu · V-103 Yongkang guci · V-104 changxinwen · V-106 sanbanggu · V-111 Luonan jingban shu) · 2011 extensions of V-13 (Pingyang) and V-20 (Linzhang
4. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: V-117 tanchang · V-119 Lishui guci · V-120 Hakka guwen · V-121 Yongxin xiaogu · V-122 Shandong huagu · V-123 tiaosangu) · 2014 extensions of V-5 (Tianjin) and V-85 (Jinxiang
5. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · 2021: V-130 Lingchuan gangban shu · V-131 Subei dagu · V-134 Duchang gushu · V-135 Jiangxi lianhualao · V-136 Shanzhou luogu shu) · 2021 extension of V-8 (Luannan