Nanjing white Bureau

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Nanjing Baiju

Applicant: Qinhuai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Project No.: 774

Project No.: V - 81

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Jiangsu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Qinhuai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Protected by: cultural center of Qinhuai District, Nanjing

Brief introduction of Nanjing white Bureau:

Applicant: Qinhuai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Nanjing white bureau is located in the urban area of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and its surrounding areas, such as Liuhe, Jiangpu, Jiangning, Lai'an and Tianchang in the east of Anhui Province. It was formed in the middle of Qing Dynasty, and has been widely spread in Nanjing and surrounding areas during the reign of Guangxu. Local brocade workers and citizens often meet for entertainment after work, singing Ming and Qing folk songs and Jiangnan ditty. When it comes to the Yulan festival or wedding celebration, the public often invite the better singers of the workers to perform. The singers "accept the invitation but do not accept the goods", and the free singing does not sell money, so it is called "white bureau". Later, the commercial performances that receive rewards are called "red bureau".

Nanjing Baiju uses Nanjing dialect to sing paiqu. The basic form of performance is sitting and singing, that is, setting a long table in the street, lighting incense candles, seven or eight people sitting around, one singing, and the other six or seven people accompanied by huqin, Yueqin, Sanxian, Sheng, Xiao, Nao, cymbal and other musical instruments. During the performance of the red Bureau troupe, the chairs around the hall with embroidered hall name are a little rich. When poor artists perform in the White House, they usually sing in teahouses and wine shops, and then ask for money with a cup of tea, which is commonly known as "wiping the table"; if they take a girl to sing along the street, it is called "Yanghua", while blind artists sing it as "blind silk thread". After 1949, in addition to sitting singing, Nanjing Baiju was also able to perform harmony singing. Its singing style is a folk tune with the structure of up sentence and down sentence.

The singing content of Nanjing white bureau is often related to the current news and the life of the grassroots people. The representative repertoire includes "beating the councillor", "bitter in the machine room", "old man Wang with teapot cover" and so on. There are also some repertoires, such as "Jinling scenery everywhere", "Nanjing custom scenery", etc., which mainly depict the scenery and social features of Nanjing, with strong local characteristics. At present, there is no successor in Nanjing Baiju, and it has become an endangered species, which is in urgent need of protection and inheritance.