Jiao Ruixia
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Jiao Ruixia, Female, Han, from Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Meihu (Ⅳ-99). The tradition is documented in Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Meihu in Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi: The performance forms of Meihu are of two types. The first is the quasi-dramatic form that still retains open-air ('ditanzi') singing, mostly excerpt plays such as Meeting at the Ancient City (Gucheng Hui) and The Imperial Princess Takes the Veil (Huanggu Chujia), sung right through with very little spoken dialogue. Since the late Qing dynasty, with the expansion of its area of circulation, five branches of quzi opera appeared. By the 1940s, the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life and creating such works as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Jiao Ruixia is anchored in the documented technical standards of Meihu in Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Meihu in Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi: Meihu belongs to the tune-pattern system and is also called 'quzi xi', 'qingqu', 'mi huzi' or 'donglu quzi'; it is now generally known as 'Meihu'. It is the second largest local opera genre of Shaanxi Province, circulating mainly in Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as well as in southern Shanxi, western Henan, northern Sichuan and the Shaanxi-Hubei border area, and is especially widespread in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. The vocal system and melodies of Meihu absorbed much of the folk tunes of the Guanzhong area from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and it broadly passed through two stages of development, the family stage play and the theatre stage play. By the end of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty it had entered a period of prosperity; in Fengxiang County alone as many as twenty-two Meihu troupes appeared. The sheng, dan, jing and chou role types of Meihu are all complete; its basis is chiefly the life, labour, love, marriage and funerals of the broad labouring masses, and its traditional repertoire is very rich. The second is the stage form: its repertoire includes full-length plays such as The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju) and The Late-Blooming Rose (Chi Kai de Meigui), as well as excerpt plays such as Zhang Lian Sells Cloth and Madam Du (Du Shiniang). It mixes spoken dialogue, singing and acting, uses tune patterns freely, has a vocal style that is gentle and delicate, beautiful and moving, and is skilled at expressing depth, pathos and sorrow. The costumes of Meihu are plain, its make-up is bold and coarse-lined, its performance movements are true to life and lifelike, and its overall style is comparatively modern. It is rich in melody, and there is a saying that it has 'seventy-two great tunes and thirty-six minor tunes'. The great tunes are mainly for singing sorrowful plots; the minor tunes are mainly for singing joyful plots. Its accompanying instruments are led by the sanxian (three-stringed fiddle), supported by the banhu and the haidi, with the erhu, the daqin and both Chinese and Western string and wind instruments gradually added later. Its percussion instruments and gong-and-drum patterns all borrow from the local full-length operas with slight modification. It is skilled at portraying modern life; it is a very 'down-to-earth' local opera with strong artistic appeal. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Twelve Sickles": By the 1940s the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life, and created and performed works such as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country. "Everybody Likes It": By the 1940s the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life, and created and performed works such as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country. "The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju)": The second is the stage form: its repertoire includes full-length plays such as The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju) and The Late-Blooming Rose (Chi Kai de Meigui), as well as excerpt plays such as Zhang Lian Sells Cloth and Madam Du (Du Shiniang). It mixes spoken dialogue, singing and acting, uses tune patterns freely, has a vocal style that is gentle and delicate, beautiful and moving, and is skilled at expressing depth, pathos and sorrow. "The Late-Blooming Rose": The second is the stage form: its repertoire includes full-length plays such as The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju) and The Late-Blooming Rose (Chi Kai de Meigui), as well as excerpt plays such as Zhang Lian Sells Cloth and Madam Du (Du Shiniang). It mixes spoken dialogue, singing and acting, uses tune patterns freely, has a vocal style that is gentle and delicate, beautiful and moving, and is skilled at expressing depth, pathos and sorrow.
Twelve Sickles
By the 1940s the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life, and created and performed works such as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country.
Everybody Likes It
By the 1940s the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life, and created and performed works such as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country.
The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju)
The second is the stage form: its repertoire includes full-length plays such as The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju) and The Late-Blooming Rose (Chi Kai de Meigui), as well as excerpt plays such as Zhang Lian Sells Cloth and Madam Du (Du Shiniang). It mixes spoken dialogue, singing and acting, uses tune patterns freely, has a vocal style that is gentle and delicate, beautiful and moving, and is skilled at expressing depth, pathos and sorrow.
The Late-Blooming Rose
The second is the stage form: its repertoire includes full-length plays such as The Flame Steed (Huoyan Ju) and The Late-Blooming Rose (Chi Kai de Meigui), as well as excerpt plays such as Zhang Lian Sells Cloth and Madam Du (Du Shiniang). It mixes spoken dialogue, singing and acting, uses tune patterns freely, has a vocal style that is gentle and delicate, beautiful and moving, and is skilled at expressing depth, pathos and sorrow.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Jiao Ruixia was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Meihu, with Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Meihu in Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi as its declared area, and Shaanxi Xiqu Research Institute as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Since the late Qing dynasty, with the expansion of its area of circulation, five branches of quzi opera appeared. By the 1940s, the Minzhong Theatre Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region boldly innovated, beginning to use traditional Meihu opera to portray modern life and creating such works as Twelve Sickles and Everybody Likes It; from then on Meihu was carried to every part of the country.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li Yingjie | Yuncheng, Shanxi | 03-1099 | Other regional school |
| Pan Guoliang | Linfen, Shanxi | 05-2428 | Other regional school |
| Li Ruifang | Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi | 05-2429 | Same declared area |
| Jiao Ruixia | Xiquyanjiuyuan, Shaanxi | — | This page |
| Yan Huifang | Yuncheng, Shanxi | — | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。