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Qinshu (Dulcimer Ballads)

Bamboo beaters on the dulcimer, the story shared among the singers

Introduction

Seated performers sing story ballads to their own yangqin and fiddles

Qinshu is a quyi form of sung storytelling led by the yangqin hammered dulcimer: performers usually sit together and play yangqin, zhuiqin fiddle, sihu and other instruments themselves, singing more than speaking, in medium and long stories. The main forms are Shandong qinshu (V-21), Xuzhou qinshu (V-73), Sichuan yangqin (V-75), Enshi yangqin (V-74), the Yicheng and Quwo qinshu of Shanxi (V-99, V-100), and Caijiawa wuyin dagu (V-128), which shares its wuyin dagu ancestry with Beijing qinshu. Shandong qinshu grew out of 'zhuangjia shua' ditty singing around Heze in southwest Shandong and took up the yangqin by the mid-Qing; it has southern, northern and eastern schools. The costumed staging of its eastern school later grew into Lü opera.

Timeline

Mid-Qing to present
1750 · OriginBy the mid-Qing, 'zhuangjia shua' singing around Heze in southwest Shandong replaced its qin and zheng accompaniment with the yangqin (butterfly dulcimer), sihu, zheng, pipa and clappers, with performers seated and sharing the singing: the beginning of Shandong qinshu.1901 · EvolutionIn February 1901 eastern-school singer Shi Dianyuan and his partners at Shijia village in Le'an staged the qinshu piece Wang Xiao Drives the Donkey in costume; called 'costumed yangqin', the form was named Lü opera in 1952.1951 · EvolutionWuyin dagu existed by the Qianlong reign; one branch reached Anci (now Langfang) and another, via Xinglong in Hebei, reached Miyun as Caijiawa wuyin dagu. In the 1940s Guan Xuezeng sang the Anci branch, also called danqin dagu, in Beijing speech, and it was named Beijing qinshu in 1951.2006 · ImpactShandong qinshu entered the first national ICH list in 2006; Xuzhou qinshu, Enshi yangqin and Sichuan yangqin followed in 2008, Yicheng and Quwo qinshu in 2011, and Caijiawa wuyin dagu in 2021.
  1. 1750OriginBy the mid-Qing, 'zhuangjia shua' singing around Heze in southwest Shandong replaced its qin and zheng accompaniment with the yangqin (butterfly dulcimer), sihu, zheng, pipa and clappers, with performers seated and sharing the singing: the beginning of Shandong qinshu.
  2. 1901EvolutionIn February 1901 eastern-school singer Shi Dianyuan and his partners at Shijia village in Le'an staged the qinshu piece Wang Xiao Drives the Donkey in costume; called 'costumed yangqin', the form was named Lü opera in 1952.
  3. 1951EvolutionWuyin dagu existed by the Qianlong reign; one branch reached Anci (now Langfang) and another, via Xinglong in Hebei, reached Miyun as Caijiawa wuyin dagu. In the 1940s Guan Xuezeng sang the Anci branch, also called danqin dagu, in Beijing speech, and it was named Beijing qinshu in 1951.
  4. 2006ImpactShandong qinshu entered the first national ICH list in 2006; Xuzhou qinshu, Enshi yangqin and Sichuan yangqin followed in 2008, Yicheng and Quwo qinshu in 2011, and Caijiawa wuyin dagu in 2021.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · V-21 Shandong qinshu · no. 257 · nominated by Shandong Province · extended 2008 to Heze and 2011 to Yuncheng County
  2. 2007Beijing Municipal List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · Beijing qinshu
  3. 2008National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · 2008: V-73 Xuzhou qinshu [no. 766 · Xuzhou] · V-74 Enshi yangqin [Enshi] · V-75 Sichuan yangqin [no. 768 · Sichuan Quyi Troupe · Sichuan Institute of Music and Dance · Chengdu Art Theatre · extended 2011 to the Chongqing Quyi Troupe]
  4. 2011National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage3rd batch · 2011: V-99 Yicheng qinshu [Yicheng County · Shanxi] · V-100 Quwo qinshu [Quwo County · Shanxi]
  5. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · V-128 Caijiawa wuyin dagu · no. 1426 · nominated by Miyun District · Beijing