Northeast Dagujqu (Northeast Great Drum)

Northeast great drum is a quyi form current across the northeast with debated origins, said in one account to descend from the Qing-era "xianzi shu" of the northeast and to have absorbed the tunes of Jingdong and Fengtian great drum. Wuchang city under Harbin is one of its key places of transmission, and the form is listed among the national ICH under quyi.

The performance centres on a single singer who beats drum and clappers while reciting, with sanxian lute accompaniment; the singing is bold and rugged, the spoken parts vivid, and traditional pieces are drawn from historical romances, folk tales and heroic legends, steeped in rural colour.

Northeast great drum carries the dialect art and folk-narrative tradition of the region, an important specimen for studying the formation and evolution of northern quyi, and is still loved in the countryside.