【Intangible Cultural Heritage in Poetry】Pucheng circus

Like a beautiful woman

Coming from among the nomads of the North

Calm, plainly dressed

A horse with memories deep in the steppe

Run and play

Ripe and plump

Like a porter from the Silk Road, a groom

Sit on the floor

In the place where the general will be, an empty place

Pick up pots and pans and beat the wooden wheels

Fit the rhythm of life

That vivid cordiality

It's all natural

Whenever the huqin, that lingering singing voice sounded in the Qiao Shan area

The people of Pucheng rushed to tell each other

"Go! Watch the circus go! ”

So it was a good play in the world

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Pucheng Circus Introduction:

Circus walking is a traditional song art in Pucheng County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, which evolved from the tang dynasty horse gang's rap of horse walking tunes on the way to transport goods, and has a history of more than 1,000 years. Circus instruments are divided into two kinds: wenle music is mostly traditional instruments such as three strings, banhu, erhu, two strings, trombones, etc.; martial arts music has wooden boards, water scoops, bamboo chips, dishes, horse bells, etc., and occasionally accompanied by horse gongs, war drums, and reamers. Circus walking is known as "seventy-two in major key, countless in minor tones", and there are 55 major keys such as "Yangban Daoqing", "Old Dragon Crying Sea", "Slow Five More", "Two Heads Busy" and 59 minor keys such as "Neuus", "Drama Swing", "Picking Flowers", "A String of Bells" and so on. During the performance, the dart flag was displayed on the caravan, the ancient trumpet sounded long, the groom on the rim threw the whip and the horse, and the carriage was blown and sung, which was spectacular. The carriage travels to the performance venue, and the artist gets out of the car to open the field and performs spontaneously. In folk art, circus is a product of the evolution of qu art to drama, which is relatively mature, forming more than 100 plays and folding plays, which are deeply loved by the people. In 2013, Pucheng Circus was included in the fourth batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Shaanxi Province.

About the Author:

Lei Xiuling, a wanderer who wanders the path of words. A native of Linwei District, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, he is a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Prose Literature Association and a member of the Weinan Writers Association.

Circus walking (Photo provided by Weinan Culture and Arts Center)