1. Introduction Subei Dagu is also known as Suqian Dagu, and is commonly known as "telling big stories" among the people. In the early 1990s, it was named Subei Dagu in the compilation of the "Chinese Quyi Chronicle", a national key art research project. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Subei Dagu was formed in Suqian and Suining in northern Jiangsu, and was mainly spread in Suqian, Xuzhou, Huaiyin, Lianyungang, southern Shandong, eastern Henan, northeastern Anhui and other vast areas. It is a local folk art form that is deeply loved by the people and is rapped in the Suqian dialect. 2. Historical evolution According to historical records, in the early Qing Dynasty, influenced by the northern pear flower drum, Subei Dagu was formed in Suqian and Suining. After its formation, it quickly developed to the surrounding areas and became the largest type of music with the largest number of artists in Suqian, Xu, Huai, and Lian in northern Jiangsu. Due to its different singing styles, teachers and artists' regions, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, ten major schools had been formed. The family tree running characters are set to 30 characters, and it has been passed down to the 22nd generation (Jing character). There are more than 60 long-form repertoires for singing, and many famous singers have emerged, such as Wu Xiangguo from Suqian, Ni Laoduan and Zhang Shaopin from Suining. From the early years of the Republic of China to the Anti-Japanese War (1911-1937), more than 50 traditional repertoires appeared. There has also been development in singing art, from the original emphasis on singing and rapping, to the emphasis on speaking, singing and acting. And there are many famous artists, such as Chen Kejun, Chen Keling, Xu Anguo from Suqian, Zhang Jiazhong and Su Junsheng from Suining, Li Hengchun and Sha Shuitian from Pixian, and Bai Xiuyun from Sihong, who are known as the "Eight Generals of the Drum Arena" of Subei Drum. From the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War to before the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of drum artists flowed south and developed to the south of the Yangtze River. For example, Song Xianzhu from Suqian, Liang Bangzhou from Suining, etc. settled in Shanghai to sing, and Sha Pangui, Li Sihe, etc. sang and settled in Nanjing. Although they suffered from wars for years during this period, in order to survive, drum artists worked hard to improve their repertoire and acting skills, and two major schools of art were formed in the north and south. The southern school was represented by Chen Keling, Chen Maotian and his son from Suqian, and Zhang Jiacheng from Suining. They focused on lyrics and singing, and their singing was elegant and beautiful. The northern school was represented by Feng Yukun and Li Baoquan from Pixian. They focused on speaking and performance, and their singing was rough and high-pitched. Their speaking was depressed, raised, and ups and downs, and they were good at performance. After the founding of New China, the cultural authorities registered drum artists, organized learning and training, and issued certificates for performance. After 1951, various places successively established quyi associations, quyi federations, quyi teams and other organizations. At that time, the largest number of drum artists were in Suqian, Suining, Pixian, Sihong and other counties. Quyi organizations in various places have excavated and sorted out more than 160 traditional repertoires of northern Jiangsu drum, and have compiled and performed more than 30 new repertoires. There have also been new developments in performance and singing. Liu Hanfei from Suqian reformed the singing of the drum, changing the original single, dry, long-term without music score and tending to be sad into a fixed tone and music score that can express various emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. During the Cultural Revolution, quyi organizations in various places were abolished. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, quyi organizations in various places were restored one after another, and Subei drum achieved unprecedented development. After the cultural department of Suqian City re-registered the artists, they were assessed and issued certificates for performance, and a group of new students were recruited. In 1980, there were 60 certified drum artists in Suqian County at that time, and 80 people sang without certificates. The Suqian Quyi Troupe recruited 20 new students at one time in 1980. In 1984, the 1st to 6th episodes of "Gao Huaide's Soldiers Go to Hedong" sung by Suqian drum artist Liu Hanfei, "The True and False Qin Qiong", "Double White Robes", "Locking Five Dragons", and "Soldiers Swallowing Six Kingdoms" sung by Sihong young artist Liang Zhonghua were recorded into 20 million records by China Record Company, Qilu, Jiangsu Audio and Video Publishing House, Beijing, Shanghai and other record companies, and distributed in various places, especially in Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. After 1985, a group of new talents such as Song Zhixi and Niu Chongxiang reappeared in the Suqian Quyi Troupe. Niu Chongxiang, with fierce and accurate pronunciation, elegant singing, and good at studying, had performed nearly 100 shows by 1990. Since 1992, more than 30 long books, including "Five Beauties in Spring and Autumn", "Lingxiao Law", "Eastern Han Dynasty", "Zhanjunshan" sung by Niu Chongxiang and "Five Plums Against Tang", "Gao Huaide's Soldiers Go to Hedong", "The Story of Jiulong" sung by Liu Hanfei, totaling about 1,000 hours, have been distributed by Shandong Qilu Audio and Video Publishing House and Anhui Cultural Audio and Video Publishing House in the form of 40 million cassettes and 20 million VCD discs, which are sold well in Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui. 3. Performance and singing Northern Jiangsu drum is performed by one person, with both speaking and singing. Its accompaniment instruments are two crescent boards (copper or steel) and a big drum. During the performance, the actor plays two crescent boards with his left hand and beats the drum with his right hand. When speaking, he does not use the board, but sometimes beats the drum. When singing, he beats the board and the drum. Northern Jiangsu drum is sung in Suqian dialect, with ten-character sentences, seven-character sentences, five-character sentences and three-character sentences. In the ten-character sentence, three, four and three are called positive ten-character sentences, and three, three and four are called negative ten-character sentences. Subei drum originally had no fixed musical score. Artists from different places sang in different styles according to the voice characteristics of their own regions, but the basic singing styles include four-sentence tune and Duozikou (fast flowing water). Four-sentence tune has four sentences and sometimes, depending on the plot, the middle sentence is paused without dragging the tune, and the tune becomes six or eight sentences. Duozikou is generally composed of upper and lower sentences, with ten sentences in one paragraph, which are sung in one breath and dragged at the end. 4. Representative works: Subei drum mainly consists of long books. According to statistics, there are more than 280 traditional long books and more than 60 newly-written books, such as: "Golden Spear Northern Song Dynasty", "Talking about Tang", "Yue Tang", "The Biography of Yue", "Five Beauties in Spring and Autumn", "Ling Xiao Han", "Five Plums Against Tang", "The Biography of Flying Dragon", "Double White Robes", "True and False Qin Qiong", "Soldiers Swallow the Country", "Luo Tong Sweeps the North", "Sanqing Fan Lihua", "Lin Hai Xue Yuan", "Fire King Kong", "Drum Behind the Armed Workers", "Gunshots by the Lake", "Wild Fire Spring Breeze Fighting the Ancient City", "Ruan Lanxiang", "Sea Defense Bandit Annihilation Record", "Taiyuan Guerrillas", "Gao Huaide's Soldiers Go Down to Hedong", "True and False Qin Qiong", "Double White Robes", "Lock Five Dragons", "Soldiers Swallow Six Kingdoms", etc. 5. Inheritance status: Subei drum is passed down by teachers, and a very small number of them are passed down by fathers (commonly known as father-son legs). There are ten major schools of Subei drum, but the running characters are the same, namely Zhang, Sha, Yang, Han, Shao, Li, Gao, Lan, Chai, and Gui. The running characters in the family tree are: Zhi, Yi, Wu, Shang, Dao, Cheng, Jiao, Yan, Quan, Zhen, Cheng, He, De, Zheng, Ben, Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, Xin, Qing, Jing, Teng, Xuan, De, Yi, Xin, Wu, Cheng, Neng, thirty characters. Among the schools, Shamen is the most prosperous. The most influential Shamen descendants include Liu Hanfei and Niu Chongguang from Suqian. Zhang, Sha, and Yang are distributed in Suqian, Suining, and the east of Xuzhou. Gao, Lan, Chai, and Gui are distributed in the west of Xuzhou. Han, Shao, and Li are distributed in Huaiyin area. 6. Representative inheritor Liu Hanfei was born in Suqian in March 1941. He has a college degree, is an associate research librarian, a member of the Chinese Quyi Artists Association, a director of the Jiangsu Quyi Artists Association, and the chairman of the Suqian Quyi Artists Association. Liu Hanfei is the eighth-generation inheritor of Subei drum. He has loved folk art since childhood. After graduating from Shanghai Institute of Light Industry in 1960, he was not assigned a job in time during the Cultural Revolution, so he learned from Subei drum artist Liu Baoshan. He successively studied under the famous Subei drum singer Zhang Jiacheng, Liang Bangzhou from Shanghai, and three old gentlemen Sha Pangui, Li Sihe and Song Xianzhu from Nanjing. He has sung dozens of books, including "Five Plums and Seven Guns Against Tang", "Gao Huaide's Soldiers Go to Hedong", "Yuntai Zhonghan", "Eastern Han", "Luo Tong Sweeps the North" and more than ten other books. He is famous for his elegant singing, strong suspense, clear speech, good performance and beautiful singing. A large number of his works have been made into records, tapes, VCD discs and other publications, and are deeply loved by the masses in the bordering areas of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui.