The Zaomu jujube wood gangzi luantan – also known as the xiaodiao or zabadiao style of singing – is a provincial intangible cultural heritage item of East China's Shandong province.
Based in Dawangxi village, Dawang town – in Guangrao county, administered by Dongying city – it's also popular in surrounding counties such as Qingzhou and Shouguang.
It got its name from performers holding clappers made of jujube wood – similar to the clappers in other traditional Chinese operas – and various musical instruments accompanying them.
Its tunes were freely hummed by unknown artists throughout history, with a graceful and melodious singing style. After more than 500 years of rise and fall, it has been known as "nine styles of singing, eighteen tunes, and seventy-two styles of crooning."
Nowadays, this ancient folk art has been enriched by local people, becoming a unique carrier for publicizing policies including rural vitalization measures. In 2009, it was included in the second batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage.
A Zaomu gangzi luantan performance takes place in Dongying. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
