''Errentai'', also known as ''Errenban'', ''Dawanyi'er'', ''Shuangwanyi'er'', and ''Bengbeng'', is a genre of Chinese opera performed by two singers. It is popular in Fugu County and

Shenmu County Shenmu () is a county-level city in the north of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the northwest and Shanxi province, across the Yellow River, to the southeast. Under the administration of Yulin City, Shenmu is endowed with p ...

in northern Shaanxi,

Hequ County Hequ () is a county in the northwest of Shanxi province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west and Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China ...

in northwestern Shanxi, Kangbao County in northwestern

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

, and areas near Baotou, Hohhot, and the

Ordos Plateau The Ordos Plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin or simply the Ordos, is a highland sedimentary basin in northwest China with an elevation of , and consisting mostly of land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular bend of the Y ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

. In 2006, ''errentai'' was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage by the government of China.

History

''Errentai'' traces its history back to the 18th century during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

. It originated in Shanxi and later spread to western

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

, and

. The songs are derived from folk songs; as such, different styles are developed in different areas.

Performance

''Errentai'' is performed by two singers, one acting in the '' dan'' (female) role and another in the '' chou'' (male clown) role. Traditionally both roles were portrayed by men, but the ''dan'' role is typically portrayed by actresses today. The performers would sing back and forth. Stage props include handkerchiefs,

folding fan A handheld fan, or simply hand fan, is any broad, flat surface that is waved back-and-forth to create an airflow. Generally, purpose-made handheld fans are folding fans, which are shaped like a sector of a circle and made of a thin material (su ...

s, rattle sticks and paper or silk stripes. The musical instruments used include the '' dizi'' (transverse flute), '' sihu'' (four-stringed fiddle), and ''

yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...

'' (hammered dulcimer). The wood block (梆子; ''bangzi'') and ''sikuaiwa'' (四块瓦, a percussion instrument) are also sometimes used.

References

Chinese opera Culture in Inner Mongolia Culture in Shanxi Culture in Hebei Culture in Shaanxi {{China-music-stub

History

Performance

See also

References