The Great Western Chamber

Introduction

A traditional errenzhuan piece where one clown and one female lead step in and out of the Western Chamber roles

The Great Western Chamber is a traditional piece of errenzhuan, the duet song-and-dance of Northeast China, and the national heritage listing names its Western Chamber among the form's representative works. Errenzhuan is generally thought to have taken shape in the mid-Qing, when the big yangge dances of the northeast met the lianhualuo ballads brought from inside the Great Wall, and it entered the first national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006. A study of the piece finds that its story and characters come mainly from Wang Shifu's Yuan play, with borrowings from the Western Chamber drum ballads and Manchu bannermen's ballads of the Qing. It is played by one clown and one female lead who both narrate and speak for the characters, stepping in and out of several roles. The rescue of the monastery by the White Horse General shrinks to a few lines, the rival suitor Zheng Heng is cut, and the lovers' secret meeting under the rose trellis comes before the writing of the letter. Yingying becomes a bold and outspoken northeastern girl, Hongniang a frank and quick-witted village lass, and the old mistress has far less to do.