Qinqiang (秦腔, pinyin: Qínqiāng) or Luantan (乱弹, pinyin: Luàntán) is the representative folk opera of the northwest Province of Shaanxi, China, where it was called Qin thousands of years ago. Its melodies were originated from the rural areas of ancient Shaanxi and Gansu. Pinyin (拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin. ... Pinyin (拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin. ... Shaanxi (Simplified Chinese: 陕西; Traditional Chinese: 陝西; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Shensi, pronounced like Shahn-shee) is a northwestern province of the Peoples Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains... Qin, Qín or Chin (Wade-Giles) can refer to. ... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, or modified as Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

It uses Bangzi as instrument, as it is called Bangzi opera. Bangzi tune is the oldest, most affluent opera tune in China's Four Great Characteristic Melodies. Qinqiang is the representative of the Bangzi opera and the most important origin of other Bangzi operas. Four Great Characteristic Melodies (四大声腔 pinyin: Sìdà Shēngqiāng) in Chinese opera are Bangziqiang, Huangpiqiang, Kunqiang and Gaoqiang. ...

History

Characters

There are 13 kinds of characters in Qinqiang including four kinds of "Sheng" (生, male)(老生、须生、小生、幼生), six kinds of "Dan" (旦, female)(老旦、正旦、小旦、花旦、武旦、媒旦), two kinds of "Jing" (净, painted face male)(大净、毛净) and one kind of "Chou" (丑, Clown), also knowns as " 13 Tou Wangzi" (十三头网子).

Actors

• Wei Changsheng

Repertoire

• Sandixie

External links

• China Qinqiang Website (Chinese)