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Shidiao and Xiaoqu (Ditty Songs)

One clap of the clappers, and the ditty begins

Introduction

Regional art songs sung to clappers and plucked strings, from Ming–Qing popular tunes

Shidiao and xiaoqu, also called qingqu or zaqu, are quyi forms in which singers, seated or standing, perform popular ditties and linked tune suites in local dialect to pipa, sanxian, yueqin, yangqin and wooden clappers, mostly short pieces. The main forms include Sichuan qingyin (V-77), Tianjin shidiao (V-29), Yangzhou qingqu (V-25), Changde sixian (V-27), Fengyang flower-drum singing (V-36) and the Hakka bamboo-clapper songs (V-138). Most grew out of Ming–Qing popular tunes and settled into professional forms in the towns in the late Ming and early Qing; Li Dou's Yangzhou huafang lu, printed in 1795, already names Yangzhou xiaochang singers.

Timeline

Late Ming and early Qing to present
1650 · OriginIn the late Ming and early Qing, Sichuan 'xiaoqu singing' (later Sichuan qingyin) and Yangzhou 'xiaochang' (Yangzhou qingqu) grew from Ming–Qing popular tunes into quyi sung by specialist performers.1795 · EvolutionLi Dou's Yangzhou huafang lu, printed in 1795, records Yangzhou xiaochang singers such as Li Dianchen, Chen Jingxian and Liu Tianlu.1952 · EvolutionFengyang flower-drum singing had become mainly seated and doorway singing after the mid-Qing; in the early 1950s it dropped the small gong, kept only the small drum, and was renamed 'double-stick drum' after its drumsticks.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 nine forms including Yangzhou qingqu, Tianjin shidiao and Fengyang flower-drum singing entered the first national ICH list; Sichuan qingyin, Nanjing baiju, Guangxi wenchang and others followed from 2008.
  1. 1650OriginIn the late Ming and early Qing, Sichuan 'xiaoqu singing' (later Sichuan qingyin) and Yangzhou 'xiaochang' (Yangzhou qingqu) grew from Ming–Qing popular tunes into quyi sung by specialist performers.
  2. 1795EvolutionLi Dou's Yangzhou huafang lu, printed in 1795, records Yangzhou xiaochang singers such as Li Dianchen, Chen Jingxian and Liu Tianlu.
  3. 1952EvolutionFengyang flower-drum singing had become mainly seated and doorway singing after the mid-Qing; in the early 1950s it dropped the small gong, kept only the small drum, and was renamed 'double-stick drum' after its drumsticks.
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 nine forms including Yangzhou qingqu, Tianjin shidiao and Fengyang flower-drum singing entered the first national ICH list; Sichuan qingyin, Nanjing baiju, Guangxi wenchang and others followed from 2008.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · 2006: V-15 Fuzhou chiyi [Fuzhou] · V-18 Lanxi tanhuang [Lanxi] · V-25 Yangzhou qingqu [Yangzhou · no. 261] · V-26 Jinge [Zhangzhou] · V-27 Changde sixian [Changde] · V-28 Yulin xiaoqu [Yulin] · V-29 Tianjin shidiao [Tianjin] · V-30 Xinjiang quzi [Changji] · V-36 Fengyang flower-drum singing [Fengyang County · no. 272]
  2. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: V-77 Sichuan qingyin [Chengdu Art Theatre · no. 770] · V-81 Nanjing baiju [Qinhuai · Nanjing] · V-82 Wulin diao [Hangzhou] · V-84 Wenzhou lianhua [Lucheng and Yongjia · Wenzhou] · V-87 Guangxi wenchang [Guilin] · V-88 Chedeng [Chongqing Quyi Troupe] · V-90 Hancheng yangge [Hancheng]
  3. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · 2011: V-107 Qiyang xiaodiao [Qiyang] · extension of V-77 Sichuan qingyin to the Chongqing Quyi Troupe
  4. 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · 2014: V-126 Ningxia xiaoqu [Yinchuan]
  5. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · 2021: V-133 Nanchang qingyin [Donghu · Nanchang] · V-138 Bamboo-clapper songs [Xingning · Meizhou · no. 1436]