Taiyuan Lianhualao: Inheritance Through Dialects

Accompanied by the crisp sound of bamboo clappers, the performance with local dialects and tunes brings wonderful punchlines and bursts of laughter to audiences This is the performance scene of Lianhualao, a national intangible cultural heritage of Taiyuan.

Cao Qiang, a national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, performs Lianhualao [Photo via the Publicity Department of the CPC Taiyuan Municipal Committee]

Lianhualao, an ancient musical genre, is widely popular throughout Shanxi Province. Since the 20th century, its development and performance has been flourishing in Taiyuan, therefore, it is often referred to as "Taiyuan Lianhualao".

This art form was introduced to Shanxi Province around the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Over centuries of development, it is often performed with solo singing accompanied by bamboo clappers. It is also performed in pairs or by many people. The rhymed lyrics are basically sung in seven quatrains, and the traditional program includes Wu Nv Xing Tang Zhuan.

Li Liangen in the first half of the 20th century is known as an early Lianhualao artist in Shanxi Province. In the early 1960s, Cao Qiang, a crosstalk actor of the Taiyuan Quyi Federation, began to learn Lianhualao from Li Liangen and devoted himself to exploring and organizing the artistic materials of Lianhualao. His own Lianhualao performance, based on real-life experiences, is humorous and witty, forming a school of its own.

Cao Qiang, a national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, performs Lianhualao [Photo via the Publicity Department of the CPC Taiyuan Municipal Committee]

Wang Mingle, a post-90s disciple of Cao Qiang, a national intangible cultural heritage inheritor, has spared no effort to promote Taiyuan Lianhualao as a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage. Wang Mingle not only explores subjects from real-life for creation, but also actively promotes Lianhualao online, putting Lianhualao program into his own Tik Tok account to gain more attention. "I hope that more people will engage in this art, so that Taiyuan Lianhualao will not be lost in our generation, and this is my biggest aspiration." Wang Mingle said.