In mid-February, in the town of Bitter water in Yongdeng County, Lanzhou City, 33-year-old Deng Xin beat the Taiping Drum. Photo by Jiumei Danzeng
Lanzhou, February 18 (Xinhua) -- In mid-February, in bitter water town, Yongdeng County, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, 33-year-old Deng Xin struck the Taiping Drum, and the red drum was either pushed overhead or swung behind him, and the drum whip beat a burst of drums, which was majestic and penetrating.
Lanzhou Taiping Drum is a kind of Han inspiration with a strong northwest style, mainly spread in Lanzhou, Gansu Jiuquan and other places, because it contains the beautiful meaning of celebrating Taiping, it is one of the most popular performance forms of the local people during the Spring Festival. Lanzhou Taiping Drum is known as the "world's first drum" reputation, and together with the Ansai waist drum, Weifeng gong drum, Kaifeng pan drum, Fengyang flower drum and known as the "Chinese Five Drums". In 2006, Lanzhou Taiping Drum was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
On February 19, 2019, the actors performed a Taiping drum performance in the Lanzhou Waterwheel Expo Park on the banks of the Yellow River to celebrate the Lantern Festival. (Data map) Photo by Yang Yanmin
Deng Xin studied under Miao Zhengfa, a national non-hereditary heir of Lanzhou Taiping Drum, and has been practicing drums for more than 20 years. Taiping drum and social fire performances are local customs, and Deng Xin often followed the drum team to walk the streets and alleys when he was young.
Miao Zhengfa recently said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service and China News Network that Lanzhou Taiping Drum is a kind of original ecological inspiration of the Han nationality with a history of more than 600 years, and every time there is a large-scale celebration activity, the Taiping Drum performance is the climax of the entire activity, and the sonorous and powerful drum beat and unique performance style have strong northwest characteristics and artistic boldness.
"Taiping drum does not use wooden drumsticks, but uses hemp rope and leather strips and cloth strips to twist into a drum whip, and the basic forms of hitting are squatting, riding, jumping, lifting, turning over, and the playing method is divided into single whip and double whip. There are two types of performance methods: marching style and venue type. Miao Zhengfa said that in order to facilitate the performance, the craftsmen added two rings to the middle of the drum body, improving the original 48-kilogram drum to 9 kilograms, in addition, there is a more lightweight and compact "juvenile drum".
On June 30, 2021, the launching ceremony of Lanzhou Taiping Drum Education and Protection Practice Base was held in Lanzhou New District. (Infographic) Photo by Gao Zhan
Miao Zhengfa, 68 years old, like his apprentice Deng Xin, "met" Taiping Drum at an early age. Decades of companionship, the deeper the feelings for the drum, due to his age, Miao Zhengfa has stopped dancing drums, but he has changed his way to express his love.
In addition to teaching and innovating the performance form of the Taiping Drum, Miao Zhengfa also collected and sorted out relevant videos and text materials, and actively campaigned for the inheritance and protection of the intangible cultural heritage. Today, Bitterwater Town has 2 national intangible cultural heritage projects, 2 provincial intangible cultural heritage projects and 5 municipal intangible cultural heritage projects.
Miao Zhengfa also said that the Bitter Water Taiping Drum was established in the form of a non-governmental organization and spread throughout the 12 administrative villages of Bitter Water Town, and won many honors. In 1991, he participated in the "China International Gong and Drum Festival" and the Chinese Culture and Art Festival officially organized by Shanxi Province and won the gold medal; in 2000, the Yongdeng County Taiping Drum Art Troupe, represented by the members of the Bitter Water Taiping Drum Team, went to Jiangsu to participate in the "Chinese Drum King" competition and won the title of "The First Drum in the World".
It is also under the promotion of Miao Zhengfa and other non-hereditary inheritors that the local Taiping drum team has more than 100 members at the most, and when they dance the drums in a uniform manner, the momentum is like the rushing Yellow River, and the bravery of the Northwest Hanzi is fully displayed. At the same time, taiping drums have gradually moved from the streets and alleys to the "stage".
In order to further inherit and protect the Taiping Drum, local officials also set up relevant courses in schools. Yang Zhifa, a 13-year-old student at Bitter Water Street Primary School in Bitter Water Town, signed up to study a year ago and practiced related movements every week under the leadership of professional teachers.
"I have joined the Junior Taiping Drum Team, and I have also exercised while learning drums." Yang Zhifa said that he will continue to insist on learning, hoping to dance a set of smooth and neat movements as soon as possible. (End)