On GuZi

Name of Chinese national intangible cultural heritage: Shuo GuZi

Applicant: Gongan County, Hubei Province

Item No.: 779

Project No.: V - 86

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: quyi

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Gongan County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Gongan County Cultural Center

Introduction to shuokuzi

Applicant: Gongan County, Hubei Province

Shuoguzi, also known as "shuoguzi", "changguzi", "Gongan shuoguzi", is popular in Gongan County, Songzi City and its surrounding areas in Hubei Province. It comes down in one continuous line with the popular folk rap art guzici in Song Dynasty, and has a history of hundreds of years. After several changes in the spreading process of GuZi CI after Song Dynasty, it gradually developed into GuZi in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. In Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty, shuokuzi had been widely spread among the people in Hubei Province. In order to meet the needs of the audience, it continuously absorbed the artistic elements of other forms of Quyi in the process of inheritance, accompanied by drums and suona, and combined with the local dialect, and finally formed a stereotyped shuokuzi style.

Speaking of drum is mainly based on speaking, with singing in speaking, supplemented by action performance. During the performance, the story is told by beating drums and reciting in local dialect. The tone is slightly exaggerated, resulting in a special sense of rhythm. The last three words of the last sentence of each paragraph are sung with a Tuqiang, and there are suona tunes. Artists often "shake the burden" here to make the finishing point and set off a small climax. Performers can adjust their identities according to their needs, freely enter and leave between the characters and artists, sometimes speaking in the first person, sometimes speaking in the third person from an objective standpoint. Traditional rap forms can be divided into three types: one is the form of one-man show, in which the performer talks and sings alone and accompanies by himself; the other is the form of up and down hand, in which one plays drums and storytelling and the other accompanies with suona; the third is the form of double sum, in which one plays drums and storytelling and two accompanies. In the routine performance, the second form is the most common.

Shuo GuZi's words are easy to understand, vivid, humorous and full of local flavor. Its libretto can be rhymed, prosaic, or rhymed and scattered alternately. Generally, it is composed of seven character sentences, sometimes five character sentences or roughly symmetrical long and short sentences. The content of shuokuzi's traditional repertoire is rich, which can be divided into several categories: one is based on the stories of street talk and jokes, the other is folklore, and the third is historical romance and martial arts novels. His representative repertoire includes Taohuawu, landlord, Yang Jiajiang, diaolongshan, bamuitu, shuanghuaji, etc. Besides, there are also a number of humorous book cap passages.

It is said that GuZi is a lively and artistic folk art form, which has the research value of folk custom and art. At present, it has no successors and is in trouble, so it is in urgent need of protection and support.