Interview

The first interviewee: Mr. Dang Hai-yun , the president of Huangzhong Quyi Association

Q: How long has your association been?
A: Not long, but there is a long history of Quyi.

Q: why do you want to set Quyi Association?
A: with cultural influence, there is no standard of Quyi performance in different places. What’s worse, there is nearly no offspring of Quyi performance. With government official’s request, we founded Quyi Association.

Q: when did you get to know Quyi?
A: after graduated from normal college, I became a musical teacher in our school, as I know a little about music and instruments. To my surprise, local Quyi fans asked me about musical knowledge, I got to know since then.

Q: what difficulty do you meet in the process of study Quyi?
A: well, I have no clear idea of its lyrics, instruments and knowledge.

Q: is there any conflict between your work and studying Quyi/
A: yes, the important point is the time as I have much work to do in school.

Q: how many performances do you organize in a year? Is there any difficulty?
A: in the past, there are about ten times. Now, it’s about four or five times per month. We have many difficulties, such as no fixed place, budget and schedule of performers.

Q: where do the performers in your association come from?
A: well, they are retired workers, teachers and farmers.

Q: do you get any support from relevant institutions?
A: yes, for example provincial cultural bureau, county cultural bureau and etc.

Q: is there any interesting thing in your performance?
A: there are many. Once we performed a drama named “Good Daughter-in-law”, a female audience was deeply moved as her relation with mother-in-law was just like the actress in the drama. Since then on, she apologized to her mother and they lived harmoniously.

Q: where does your budget come from?
A: there are three ways, self-collection, donation and supports from relevant institutions.

Q: how to improve Quyi?
A: firstly, we need to draw people’s attention on it, especially youths; secondly, there should be innovation in Quyi style; thirdly the content of Quyi should be close to our life.

Q: what kind of innovations?
A: we can change lyrics to our modern life and at the same time maintain its tradition and customs.

The second interviewee: Mr. Zhang Wen-cheng, a teacher in Ganjia Primary School

Q: when did your school start Quyi courses?
A: we have the courses since 2001. the courses contain paper cutting, drawing, handwriting and Quyi.

Q: what’s the influence on students?
A: well, students have great interest in studying those courses. Quyi helps them to improve oral expression and acting ability.

Q: do students like Quyi?
A: in my opinion, most students like it and they have great interest. Especially, some smart students study it with very strong desire.

Q: what kind of students like to study Quyi
A: those active and outward students.

Q: are there any farmer study Quyi with you?
A: yes, most of them come to study how to use musical instruments, such as Ee’hu and Sanxian.

Q: will promote the development of Quyi in the future?
A: of course I will. Now I am busy with my work. When I retire, I can put all my effort in it.

Q: how long can a student perform Quyi on stage?
A: about two or three months. We can perform during Spring Festival, family get-together and other festivals.

The third interviewee: Ms. Wang Yan-yun, a Quyi fans

Q: how long since your Quyi team founded?
A: more than 20 years.

Q: how many members in your team? What are their jobs?
A: more than ten people, in which about eight or nine come regularly. Most of them are farmers, and some young people work as migrant labors in other places. In winter, we usually get together to practice.

Q: do you perform regularly?
A: no, we usually perform in spare time, for example Feb 2, Jun 6, Aug 15, Sep 9 and Oct 1 in lunar calendar.

Q: do you contact with other Quyi teams?
A: yes, our team members don’t know much about musical knowledge, thus we go to learn it in Dacai Quyi Team.

Q: is there any taboo in performing Quyi?
A: no, we can perform in lunar festivals, wedding and funeral.

The fourth interviewee: Mr. Dang Yong-shun, a Quyi fans

Q: when did you participate in Quyi team?
A: two years after retiring.

Q: what kind of musical instrument can you use now?
A: Yangqin and Er’ hu.

Q: do you have fixed budget?
A: no, we spend our own money.

Q: have you received support from local government?
A: yes, each rural cultural site gets musical instruments amounts to 5000yuan and we have the training opportunity.

The fifth interviewee: Mr. Li Shun-an, a Quyi fans

Q: how did you learn Quyi?
A: in spare time, I once saw Quyi performance in temple fair. Since then, I couldn’t help loving it and began to learn it on the video disks.

Q: I heard that your team was interviewed by Qinghai TV program, is it right?
A: yes, I am one of best performers in our team.

Q: does any young person learn Quyi with you?
A: yes, there are many. However, most of them don’t participate in our team, as they don’t want to buy musical instrument.

Q: how will you promote the development of Quyi?
A: I want to teach more people Quyi and attract their attention by my performance.

The sixth interviewee: Wang Yong-cai, a pupil in Ganjia Primary School

Q: how long have you studied Quyi with Mr. Zhang?
A: a year.

Q: why do you want to learn it?
A: with my grandfather’s influence, I like Quyi when I was very young. We are lucky to have this course in school. Thus, I began to learn it with Mr. Zhang.

Q: what have you learnt?
A: I have learnt Dajiao, Shehuo Xiaodiao and Minjian Xiaodiao.

Q: is there any difficulty in studying Quyi?
A: yes, I don’t know the meaning of lyric and thus, I can’t remember it.

Q: what kind of person is Mr. Zhang?
A: he is very kind, like my grandpa.

Q: will you study it continuously? Why?
A: yes, I like it. I have great interest.

The seventh interviewee: Shi Fa-peng, a student in Dacai Middle School

Q: when did you began to learn Quyi?
A: when I was five years old.

Q: who is your teacher?
A: my uncle.

Q: I heard that you stopped learning Quyi for a period. Why?
A: because we had exams, I had to stop it and prepare for examination.

Q: why you restudy it later?
A: because I have great interest in it, I pick it up again.