(b Xi'an, 1895; d Xi'an, 1977). Chinese priest and instrumentalist. Master of the ceremonial instrumental ensemble music known as Xi'an guyue, ‘drum music’ (or ‘ancient music’) of Xi'an. Given to the Chenghuang miao temple in Xi'an in 1911 in the wake of the chaos surrounding the fall of the Qing dynasty, he soon mastered the complex instrumental ensemble music of the temple, performing rituals there through the troubled following decades. In 1946 he established a research association for the music; although practice of such music was severely limited after the Communist Revolution in 1949, he continued to transmit the music, in part through his collaboration with the local scholar Li Shigen on the large repertory of scores in traditional gongche notation. Early scores were lost in the Japanese bombing of the temple in 1942, and it suffered further in the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Although the Chenghuang miao ensemble was formally discontinued in 1977 with the death of An, many other groups, both in the city and in the nearby villages to the south, were reviving by the mid-1980s.
Leader of an important performance in Beijing in 1961, he was a master of the several types of drum used in the long ritual suites (see illustration), and a fine exponent of the double frame of pitched gongs (shuang yunluo). He is much venerated, both for his musical mastery and for his generosity in sharing it with other groups.
See also China, §IV, 4(i).
Li Shigen: ‘Xi'an Chenghuang miao Daopai guyue’ [The Daoist style of drum music in the Chenghuang miao temple of Xi'an], Yinyue yanjiu (1984), no.3, 85–92
Wu Wenbin: ‘Jiechude Xi'an guyue yanzoujia An Laixu xiansheng’ [Master An Laixu, outstanding performer of Xi'an drum music], Jiaoxiang (1992), no.4, 30–31
S. Jones: Folk Music of China: Living Instrumental Traditions (Oxford, 1995, 2/1998 with CD), 227–45
Xi'an Drums Music, Hugo HRP 758-2 (1993)
China: Folk Instrumental Traditions, AIMP VDE 822-823 (1995)
STEPHEN JONES