Puxian Opera
01 · Historical Records
In the Southern Song period, under the influence of Song zaju, the Xinghua zaju appeared in the Putian and Xianyou area of Fujian, combining song, dance, recitation and spoken dialogue to stage stories. In the early Ming dynasty, Xinghua zaju absorbed artistic elements of the vocal styles of Kunshan, Yiyang, Yuyao and Haiyan, forming the Xinghua register, used to perform xinghua opera. In the Ming and Qing dynasties this operatic form developed further. In 1954 xinghua opera was formally renamed Puxian opera.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Puxian opera was originally called xinghua opera and is one of the oldest surviving opera genres in China. Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera. In the performance system of Puxian opera there are conventional movements with a strong local colour, such as Snake-Stepping (Qianbu She), Sparrow-and-Bird Leap (Que Niao Tiao), Skirt-Sweeping the Floor (Sao Di Qun), Touching the Snail (Mo Tianluo) and Seven Slides (Qi Xia Liu), and some movements still carry traces of glove-puppet performance. The vocal structure of Puxian opera belongs to the tune-pattern system; it has more than one thousand musical tune patterns and more than three hundred gong-and-drum formula. Moreover, Puxian opera has also influenced the folklore, language, social psychology, habits of daily life and culture and art of the Putian and Xianyou areas. Since the beginning of the new century, for various reasons Puxian opera has lost talent severely and lacks successors; its traditional performance art is on the verge of being lost; its facial makeup, costumes and musical vocal styles are being assimilated by imported genres and other art forms; and its artistic distinctiveness is weakening.
Wang Kui
Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera.
Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan)
Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera.
Liu Zhiyuan
Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera.
Cai Bojie
Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera.
Mulian Opera
Puxian opera has more than five thousand traditional plays extant; works such as Wang Kui, Scholar Zhang Xie (Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan), Liu Zhiyuan and Cai Bojie preserve to some extent the artistic character of Nanxi, while Mulian Opera, performed over seven consecutive days, clearly preserves performance forms of the earliest period of Chinese opera.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Puxian opera is mainly popular in the Putian and Xianyou area of Fujian and is also circulated in the xinghua-dialect areas of central and southern Fujian.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Puxian opera has a long and deep source, is broad and profound, and is rooted in the soil of the folk; it has accumulated a large quantity of theatrical art elements from every historical period from the Song to the Qing, transmits a wealth of information, and is a 'living fossil' for the study of the artistic forms of ancient Chinese opera. This ancient genre is in a state of surviving or perishing on its own, and urgently needs effective measures of support and protection. Huang Baozhen (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, Han, born in 1934, native of Putian, Fujian Province. She is skilled at weaving individual expression into traditional stylised acting, which displays well the characteristic of Puxian opera in characterisation; her voice is full, round and beautiful, and her singing carries feeling as well as sound. Representative works include Sending Her a Thousand Li (Qianli Song) and Spring River (Chun Jiang). Representative inheritor of Puxian opera, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch. Zhu Shifeng (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1927, native of Xianyou, Fujian Province. In 1953 Zhu Shifeng joined the Xianyou Lisheng Theatre as a leading actor, specialising in huadan and qingyi roles in Puxian opera, and later served as director. Representative works include Mulian and Cold Moon in the Jin Palace (Jingong Hanyue). Representative inheritor of Puxian opera, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch; first-class performer; and winner of the 17th China Theatre Plum Blossom Award.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huang Baozhen 02-0422
- Zhu Shifeng 02-0423
- Wang Shaoyuan 03-0970
- Xie Baoshen 04-1594
- Wu Zhenxun 05-2307
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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