Yuequ is a form of folk art widely spread in the Cantonese-speaking areas of Lingnan. Xingqiang is the most popular singing style in Yuequ. It was created by the famous actress Xiaomingxing from Sanshui in the 1920s and 1930s. Xiaomingxing's original name was Deng Xiaolian, and she was later renamed Deng Manwei (1911-1942) by Yuequ composer Wang Xinfan. She began to learn Yuequ at the age of eleven and debuted on the opera stage at the age of fifteen. Due to poverty and illness, she coughed up blood while singing in a teahouse and died the next day. With her artistic pursuit of singing and her creative spirit of absorbing and learning from all sides, she formed a distinctive, unique and self-contained singing style in her short life. Later generations respectfully called her "Xingqiang" after her stage name. Xingqiang, based on the traditional Yuequ singing style, not only widely absorbed the strengths of folk wooden fish, dragon boat, and Nanyin rap in the Cantonese-speaking areas, but also paid attention to absorbing the singing methods of Yueou, Nanmoqiang, and Mandangqiang. She was also good at absorbing the tones and rhythms that could be integrated into her own singing style from foreign music, forming a unique singing style. Xingqiang also changed the traditional falsetto singing and pioneered the use of natural female voice, that is, real voice, which is called flat throat in the industry. Xiaomingxing therefore became the leader of the four famous flat throat masters of Cantonese opera at that time, together with Zhang Yueer, Xu Liuxian, and Zhang Huifang, and was hailed as the "flat throat leader". Xingqiang is unique in terms of singing, pronunciation, rhyme and style. When singing, the singing is delicate, low and passionate, soft and sad, graceful and smooth, and very pleasant to listen to. Representative repertoires include "Foolish Clouds", "Midnight Song", "Where is the Soulmate", "Future Dream", "Romance Dream", "Priceless Beauty", "Returning Swallow", "Public Enemy of Mankind", "Dream of the Homeland Returns" and "Autumn Tomb". Xingqiang has become a highly prestigious school of flat-throat singing in Cantonese opera due to its unique singing style. Even modern Cantonese opera masters Xue Juexian and Xin Ma Shizeng have drawn nourishment from it. It is also pleasant to the ears, easy to learn and sing, and has a lasting vitality that has been sung for generations and passed on by successive generations. It has also cultivated a group of contemporary famous Cantonese opera singers such as Li Shaofang, Huang Shaomei, He Ping, and Liang Yurong, which has great significance and far-reaching influence on the development of Cantonese opera singing art. Xingqiang has a certain degree of transmission, and many of its repertoires are still widely circulated today, but it is urgent to collect and organize them systematically, and conduct theoretical research on their artistic style and characteristics. In addition, the songbooks and scores of some of the repertoires have been scattered among the people. If they are not collected, organized and rescued as soon as possible, they will be in danger of being lost. Deng Manwei (1911-1942) Deng Manwei (1911-1942) Xiao Mingxing, formerly known as Deng Manwei, was born in Sanshui, Guangdong. Born in a peasant family, she lost her father at an early age and her family was in financial difficulty. She was adopted by others and only attended primary school for two years. She was raised by her adoptive mother who worked as a servant. Little Star showed her singing talent since she was a child. At the age of 13, she started to learn from a teacher and began to learn big throat. In just half a year, she could sing "-Mu Banshi", "Shandong Xiangma", "Wulang Saves Brother" and other songs in the "Tanghui". In order to better express delicate emotions, she studied the singing of blind teacher Zhong De, and added her own creations, singing Zhong De's "Baoyu" with a "flat throat"...... Details>>> Li Yueyou has loved Cantonese opera since she was a child. In her youth, she participated in performances of county and town art groups many times. She has participated in the Sanshui Quyi Association since 1989 and has won the mass quyi awards organized by the Sanshui and Foshan cultural systems for many times. In October 1997, she participated in the "Xingqiang" seminar and concert hosted by the Sanshui Propaganda Department and Cultural Bureau to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the death of "Little Star". She has been invited to Hong Kong many times to participate in the "Xingqiang" concert organized by the Guangdong Music Research Center, which has been well received by Hong Kong audiences and praised by Mr. Han Zhongxuan, the boss of "Sing Pao" and a senior art critic. In December 1998, during her performance in Hong Kong, she was invited by the only disciple of Xiao Mingxing, Chen Jinhong, to sing a song. More>>>Deng Manwei (1911-1942) Deng Manwei (1911-1942) Xiao Mingxing, formerly known as Deng Manwei, was born in Sanshui, Guangdong. Born in a peasant family, she lost her father at an early age and her family was in financial difficulties. She was raised as an adopted daughter by others since she was a child and only attended elementary school for two years. She was raised by her adoptive mother who worked as a servant. Xiao Mingxing showed her singing talent since she was a child. At the age of 13, she started to learn from a teacher and began to learn big throat. In just half a year, she was able to sing "-Mu Banshi", "Shandong Xiangma", "Wulang Saves Brother" and other songs in the "Tanghui". In order to better express delicate feelings, she studied the singing style of the blind teacher Zhong De, and added her own creations to sing Zhong De's "Baoyu" with a "flat throat"......Details>>> Li Yueyou has loved Cantonese opera since childhood, and participated in performances of county and town art groups many times in her youth. She has participated in the Sanshui Quyi Association since 1989 and has won many awards for mass quyi organized by the Sanshui and Foshan cultural systems. In October 1997, she participated in the "Xingqiang" seminar and concert sponsored by the Sanshui Propaganda Department and Cultural Bureau to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the death of "Xiao Mingxing". She has been invited to Hong Kong many times to participate in the "Xingqiang" concert sponsored by the Cantonese Music Research Center, which has been well received by Hong Kong audiences and praised by Mr. Han Zhongxuan, the boss of "Sing Pao" and a senior art critic. In December 1997, during a performance in Hong Kong, she was praised by the only disciple of Xiao Mingxing, Chen Jinhong, and her daughter...Details>>> Deng Manwei (1911-1942) Xiao Mingxing, formerly known as Deng Manwei, was born in Sanshui, Guangdong. Born in a peasant family, she lost her father at an early age and her family was in financial difficulty. She was adopted by others and only attended primary school for two years. She was raised by her adoptive mother who worked as a servant. Little Star showed her singing talent since she was a child. At the age of 13, she started to learn from a teacher and began to learn big throat. In just half a year, she could sing "-Mu Banshi", "Shandong Xiangma", "Wulang Saves Brother" and other songs in the "Tanghui". In order to better express delicate emotions, she studied the singing of blind teacher Zhong De, and added her own creations, singing Zhong De's "Baoyu" with a "flat throat"...... Details>>> Li Yueyou has loved Cantonese opera since she was a child. In her youth, she participated in performances of county and town art groups many times. She has participated in the Sanshui Quyi Association since 1989 and has won the mass quyi awards organized by the Sanshui and Foshan cultural systems for many times. In October 1997, she participated in the "Xingqiang" seminar and concert hosted by the Sanshui Propaganda Department and Cultural Bureau to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the death of "Little Star". She has been invited to Hong Kong many times to participate in the "Xingqiang" concert hosted by the Guangdong Music Research Center, which has been well received by Hong Kong audiences and praised by Mr. Han Zhongxuan, the CEO of "Sing Pao" and a senior art critic. In December 1998, during her performance in Hong Kong, she was praised by Chen Jinhong, the only disciple of Xiao Mingxing, and...more>>> She has loved Guangdong opera since she was a child, and participated in performances of county and town art groups many times in her youth. She has participated in the Sanshui Quyi Association since 1989, and has won many awards for mass opera organized by the Sanshui and Foshan cultural systems. In October 1997, she participated in the "Xingqiang" seminar and concert hosted by the Sanshui Propaganda Department and Cultural Bureau to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the death of "Xingqiang". She has been invited to Hong Kong many times to participate in the "Xingqiang" concert hosted by the Guangdong Music Research Center, which has been well received by Hong Kong audiences and praised by Mr. Han Zhongxuan, the CEO of "Sing Pao" and a senior art critic. In December 1997, during her performance in Hong Kong, she was praised by Chen Jinhong, the only disciple of Xiao Mingxing, and...more>>>