Huayin Lao Qiang: China’s Ancient Rock and Roll
This year’s Chinese Culture Festival in Hong Kong stirs the wilderness and wonders within audiences through the sound of Huayin Lao Qiang — a little-known folk opera tradition hailed as “China’s ancient rock and roll.”
Sense of Wander: ★★★★☆
Zhang Ximin and the Huayin Lao Qiang Troupe from Shaanxi Province, China, took the stage in Hong Kong, mesmerising audiences with their unique roaring vocals and unbridled folk rhythms.
HONG KONG — From the delicate, flowing melodies of silk-and-bamboo (sizhu) ensembles and nanyin to the evocative storytelling of Peking opera, Chinese performing arts have always carried more than sound and sight alone. They have never been merely entertainment, but vessels of memory and culture, intertwined with nature, poetry, ritual, and the rhythms of everyday life.
Amid this vast heritage lies Huayin Lao Qiang (華陰老腔), a little-known folk opera tradition from Shaanxi Province. Characterised by its bold, high-pitched vocals and percussive intensity, it has often been hailed as “China’s ancient rock and roll.”
As part of this year’s Chinese Culture Festival in Hong Kong, audiences were invited into the world of this time-honoured opera traditions through the concert Taisheng and Huayin Lao Qiang: Big Uncle, Second Uncle Are All His Uncles.
It opened with Zhao Taisheng, Principal Sanxian of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and recipient of Artist of the Year (Music) at the 2024 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. Zhao began with Strings and Dance in Harmony, a dialogue between music and movement that introduced the millennia-old Donkey Dance of northern Shaanxi. Through nimble footwork and playful gestures, the dancer captured the donkey’s spirit with charm, while Zhao’s three-stringed lute echoed with light, teasing melodies that made the scene come alive.
In Act II, Zhao Taisheng brings to life the time-honoured Donkey Dance tradition of northern Shaanxi. Image courtesy of China Daily.
The evening’s climax, however, arrived when Zhang Ximin, designated inheirtor of Huayin Lao Qiang, took the stage alongside fellow artists of the Shaanxi Huayin Lao Qiang Troupe.
Their entrance was a spectacle in itself. Walking down the aisles with instruments in hand, clad in vibrant kungfu-style costumes of red, yellow, orange, blue, and white, they seemed less like performers and more like neighbours dropping by to play — relaxed, familiar, and full of life.
Then came the sound. Huayin Lao Qiang hit immediately with its raw, unrestrained energy. For a first-time listener, it can feel overwhelming, like being swept into the chaos of a village festival. The singing — passionate, piercing, and sometimes bordering on a howl — is charged with emotions. Yet within that roar-like singing lies something both ancient and intimate.
Nowhere was this spirit clearer than in the song Sun Round, Moon Bent, Both in the Sky, with its iconic lines: “Big uncle, second uncle, are all his uncles; high tables, low stools, are all made of wood.” Simple yet vivid, the words echo everyday life, carried on waves of sound that blur the line between singing and shouting.
Each performer brings their music to life: the yueqin (moon lute), banhu (two-stringed fiddle), luo (gong), bangzi (wooden clapper), and bells. Together, they create a clattering, pulsating rhythm that is imposing yet playful, chaotic yet mesmerising. But perhaps the most surprising of all is the use of a long wooden bench, tilted diagonally and struck with a jingmu (woodblock), as if to remind us that in village life, anything can become music.
Sanxian musician Zhao Taisheng (right) performs alongside Zhang Ximin (left), the designated inheritor of Huayin Lao Qiang. Image courtesy of China Daily.
Huayin Lao Qiang has its roots in the land and its people. Traditionally performed by farmers, its origins are believed to stretch back over two millennia to the Western Han dynasty (202 B.C–9 A.D), when Huayin served as a military granary linked by waterways to the capital Chang’an. Boatmen, coordinating their labour, struck wood against their boats as they sang. Over centuries, these work songs evolved into banqiangti — the Banqiang style — a flexible system of rhythm and melody that continues to shape Chinese opera.
Listening to Lao Qiang today feels like standing on a windswept plain, with voices of history roaring across the open space, . It’s not refined like classical music, nor does it aspire to be. Its power lies in its boldness — raw, lusty, resilient, and full of life. When the performers sing as if shouting to the world, they channel a spirit of freedom, indulgence, and joy untainted by formality.
Often called “a living fossil of ancient Chinese music,” Huayin Lao Qiang was among the first bath to be inscribed on China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2006. In recent years, the Shaanxi Huayin Lao Qiang Troupe has carried this folk opera across the world, earning it the nickname “ancient oriental rock music.”
In an age flattened by filters and algorithms, perhaps we could use a little more of this kind of rock and roll — raw, unbridled voices, howls that go outside the box, and music that stirs the wilderness and wonder within us.
The concert culminates with Gale, a famous piece of Shaanbei storytelling, where Zhao Taisheng and Huayin Lao Qiang join forces with a jazz ensemble, fusing traditional rhythms with a contemporary, equally unbridled spirit. Image courtesy of China Daily.
Wanderer’s tips — For those curious about Huayin Lao Qiang, check out this YouTube video featuring Zhang Ximin, the representative inheritor of this folk opera tradition.
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Taisheng and Huayin Lao Qiang: Big Uncle, Second Uncle are All His Uncles Concert was staged at Tsuen Wan Town Hall on August 17, 2025.