Ji'nan non heritage east house square stilts are highly respected by residents for their history of stilts.
Qilu Evening News reporter at Yue
East house stilts each performance is very popular.
stilts are popular in the north as a kind of folk street performance art. In East house square in Ji'nan, there is a century old stilt troop composed of fans of community residents. From the stilts of late Qing Dynasty to today's stilt Art Troupe, east house square stilts as a non-material cultural heritage has become a festival performance praised by the Jinan people.
a lot of stilt movements have a certain degree of difficulty
7 p. m. every night, Zhang Yanchao will do a lot of effort in the activity room of the East Shai Fang District, and join the east house stilt Art Troupe for two years. The stilts basic movements, such as handstand, overhead and split, are very familiar to him now. "I was mainly responsible for three roles in the performance, matchmaker, son, silly boy, the matchmaker was tied to stilt legs, the length of more than 1 meters, this height did not move on the ground, and in some words, forty or fifty centimeters long stilling legs." He said.
Zhang Yanchao's performance of the "son" tells the story of the son of the prince on the butterfly, there are six difficult martial arts movements, the top is the handstand on the hand, the head and hand support the ground stand, the front rollover also called "Zhang Gentou", walking on stilts to turn the heels, the difficulty can be known. In addition, there are "discount" and "toad" actions. These successive movements need to be completed in four or five minutes. In addition to these characters, the characters of the east house stilts include Wu Song and Shi Xiu, the green snakes and the white snakes, the fishermen, the donkey, and the stories of the journey to the West and the eight immortals. Each program is short and pithy, and the whole show is performed. The essence of stilts is condensed in just 40 minutes.
120 years ago, the name of the famous Quartet
often have foreign enthusiasts to learn
Ji'nan stilts and drums more than one, but East house stilts are the longest history of a history, as early as 120 years ago has been famous. The 76 year old Dong Wenchen, chairman of the east house square stilts, is a stilt family. Dong Wenchen said that during the Qing Dynasty, Dong she Fang set up a stilt meeting. "My father's brother, five brothers, would step on stilts. The seven brothers of my generation play, and the sisters will step on some basic movements." Now his son Dong Huaxin is the head of the east house square stilt Art Troupe. The 16 year old grandson followed him to perform stilts, which was handed down to the seventh generation.
in the early years of the Republic of China, other fans in other places came to Ji'nan east house to learn stilts, Dong Wenchen said, that was the most active time on stilts, "even when the Lantern Festival, everyone went from the south gate to the city, as long as the stilts were not in the city, and the city doors were not opened."
20 years after the silence of the reconstituted
54 years old
in the 90s of last century, as the east house area began to relocate, the original residents were dispersed to the other three or four communities, and the stilts of East house stilts had been silent for 20 years. In August 2013, Dong Wenchen, Li Chuanyun, Wang Liguo and other stilt enthusiasts invested in the purchase of clothing and props, launched the east house stilt Art Troupe, and later added the martial arts team, members reached eight or nine and ten people soon. In 2014, east house square stilts became the intangible cultural heritage of Ji'nan. At the beginning of the month of the month six to fourteen, the stilt team moved out and performed along Baotu Spring, Quancheng Road, Daming Lake and Baihua Zhou.
talking about the future of stilt, the most expected of the players is to have more young people to participate. "The age of the members is big, the average is 54, the largest is 76 years old. Now there are seven children in the team, the youngest is 7, and all are their own children." Li Chuanyun said.