Xiangju Opera

01 · Historical Records

After Zhang Dun opened up Meishan in the Song dynasty, Huxiang culture entered the Meishan area together with the Hakka people. In the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty (1662–1722), Lianyuan Xiang opera took shape in the ancient town of Lantian in Lianyuan, in the Meishan area of central Hunan. In 1938 Tian Han went to Lianyuan to organize the Third Xiang opera Anti-Japanese Propaganda Troupe, which performed plays such as Dayu Shajia (The Fisherman Kills the Family), raising the performing standard of Lianyuan Xiang opera.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lianyuan Xiang opera is an independent branch of Xiang opera. It grew up in the old Meishan area of central Hunan, described in the saying “to the south it faces the bulk of the Five Ridges, to the north it relies on the ruggedness of the Xuefeng range”, and it now circulates in the cities and counties of Loudi, Shuangfeng, Lianyuan, Lengjiang, Xinhua, Xinshao, Anhua, Xiangxiang and Ningxiang in Hunan Province. Lianyuan lies in central Hunan, on the southeastern foot of the Xuefeng mountain range, where peaks run on one after another and forests are thick; in the Five Dynasties period it belonged to the Meishan area, which in former times “had no intercourse with China”. Xiang opera is a multi-vocal genre with four great vocal styles — gaoqiang, dipaizi (low set pieces), kunqiang and tanqiang. In the early years of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty Xiang opera spread from Changsha to Lianyuan; influenced by the local dialect and by Meishan culture, it took on a high and impassioned vocal style, a rough and stirring manner of performance, a fierce storyline and a hot stage spectacle. In former times troupes of Lianyuan Xiang opera stood thick as a forest. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Lianyuan Xiang opera produced one famous performer after another. The repertory of Lianyuan Xiang opera is fairly rich, with representative works including Li Sanniang (The Third Sister Li), Xue Gang's Revolt against Tang, Retu Zhonghun (Loyal Souls on Fertile Soil) and Shaoche Yushi (The Censor Who Burned the Cart). Its performance fuses artistic elements such as Meishan martial arts, Lengjiang nuo opera and the quyi narrative arts of central Hunan, and its performing style is rough and bold. In performance it lays stress on the use of hands, eyes and legs, dares to break through convention, and moves freely across role types. Its scenery and props set the real off against the imaginary, as when two bamboo poles stand for a sedan chair carrying someone in place of walking, or two round discs stand for wheels rolling on and on, and so on. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns (1796–1850) the artist Liao Guangtai and others formed the Xiang opera Tongqing Troupe, which performed in Anhua, Loudi, Changsha and other places, and Lianyuan Xiang opera was thereby developed.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Rooted in the deep soil of mountains and rivers, active in towns and villages, close to the common people and enjoyed by young and old alike, it has been handed down from generation to generation in the Meishan area of central Hunan and has never ceased to flourish. Its singing and recitation use the local dialect and colloquial speech, and its water sleeves are grabbed, flung, shaken, turned and wound back in endless variation. By the late Qing period Lianyuan Xiang opera had entered its prime, formed its own repertory system and produced representative plays such as Pipa Ji (The Lute) and Lanke Shan (The Rotten Axe), which became familiar to every ear in the locality. Lianyuan Xiang opera is one of the important schools of Xiang opera and an artistic reflection of the historical memory and emotional life of the people of Meishan in central Hunan. Its regional character is strong and it has high historical and cultural value; in carrying on and developing Meishan culture and local operatic culture, in enriching the cultural life of the people and in promoting social harmony, it plays a positive role.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Xiangju Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In 1950 more than thirty artists of the three local troupes Chunhe, Chuntai and Chuhua formed the Lantian People's Theatre, the predecessor of today's Lianyuan City Xiang Opera Protection and Transmission Centre. The project is transmitted from generation to generation through performance practice, by master-and-disciple succession and through institutional teaching, and has now been handed down for more than ten generations.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Tan Dongbo 02-0454
• Xia Chuanjin 02-0455

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Xiangju Opera (Loudishilianyuan, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗