Jingdong dagu is an art form of drum music and recitative, performed in the East Beijing dialect. It is performed by a band consisting of one singer who beats the drum and sings while standing and accompanists like Sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) player, Chinese dulcimer player and other instrument players. Born in the mid-Qing Dynasty, Jingdong dagu has different names in different ages and regions in history, such as Jingdongqie dagu, Letingdiao Recitative, Pinggudiao dagu, Pinggu Recitative, Letingdiao dagu, Sipingdiao dagu, Leting dagu (which is different from Leting dagu came from and was popular in Leting County of Hebei province), Tiepian dagu, Tieban dagu, Chengde local dagu and so on. Jingdong dagu, originated in Sanhe City and Xianghe County of Hebei Province (to the east of Beijing), and Baodi District of Tianjin City, is popular in Langfang City, Chengde City, Baoding City, Tangshan City, Huai'rou District of Beijing Municipality and Baodi area of Tianjin Municipality. It was performed in small artistic performance venues after it was introduced into Tianjin at the beginning of the twentieth century, focusing on narrating and singing long stories. In the early 1930s, Liu Wenbin, a native of Baodi District of Tianjin, performed the Case of Liu Yong (or Liu Gong An) via Tianjin Commercial Radio, making it very popular among the general public. From then on, Jingdong dagu's influence was gradually extended, and spread into such regions as Beijing and Tangshan City.

Before 1949, there were many famous artists of Jingdong dagu, such as Deng Diankui, Yu Qi, Wang Xianzhang, Liu Junhai, Fu Shiting, Zhang Shicheng, Shi Jinrong��Wang Peichen, Wei Xigeng, Liu Wenbin, Qi Wenzhou, etc. There are abundant traditional repertoires and works, including short-length arias like Mrs. Wang Cursing The Thieves Who Stole Her Chicken (or Wang Po Ma Ji), A Mouse Suing A Cat (or Hao Zi Gao Mao), The Eighth Sister Yang's Spring outing (or Yang Ba Jie You Chun), Han Xiang presenting Birthday gift (or Xiang Zi Shang Shou), Whipping the Reed (or Bian Da Lu Hua), Sister-in-Law (or Xiao Gu Xian); medium-length arias: Legend of The Horse Gang(or Xiang Ma Zhuan), Biography of Baozhen g(or Bao Gong Chu Shi), Wang Dingbao Pawning the Dowry of His Fianc��e(or Wang Ding Bao Jie Dang)��Ge Hong Xia Conquers the North (or Ge Hong Xia Sao Bei), Case of Liu Yong (or Liu Gong An); and long-length arias like The Great Eight Sworn Brothers (or Da Ba Yi), The Eight Sworn Brothers (or Xiao Ba Yi), Yang Warriors in the Northern Song Dynasty (or Yang Jia Jiang), Hu Warriors During the Reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty(or Hu Jia Jiang), The Legend of Double Combinations (or Shuang He Ji), Rebelling against Empress Wu Zetian (or Fan Tang). In 1933, when Yu Jingyuan, an artist from Xiang He County, was performing Biography of Shilan (or Shi Lan Zhuan) via Renchang Radio of Tianjin, he called his performance as "Jingdong dagu", thus the name of "Jingdong dagu" became publicly recognized.

After 1949, the most famous artist of Jingdong dagu is Dong Xiangkun, an amateur actor from Baodi District of Tianjin. He narrated and sang Jingdong dagu in mandarin instead of the East Beijing dialect yet on the basis of retaining its traditional singing style. Furthermore, he improved and standardized its singing style and continuously created works to adapt to the development of time, which gained the favor of the masses deeply. Because of Dong Xiangkun and others' unremitting efforts, the development of Jingdong dagu moved toward the peak and its influence spread out various areas in the north during 1960s and 1970s.

Since the 21st century, such performances have been hardly available as a result of the shortage of successors. The development of Jingdong dagu is confronted with an unprecedented crisis. Thus, it needs to be protected and preserved without delay.

Inheritor(s):

Dong Xiangkun