Guangchangmeng Opera
01 · Historical Records
Guangchang Meng opera (Mengxi) is a form of xiqu on the theme of Meng Jiangnü weeping at the Great Wall; it is popular within Guangchang county, Jiangxi, and is also known as Mengxi or Xuhe opera. It arose around the early Ming and has been transmitted and performed for more than five hundred years. Guangchang originally had three Mengxi lines; the Zeng family line at Chixi and the Liu family line at Dalubei survive today, while the Shedi line disappeared in the 1960s. In the plays Meng Jiangnü is endowed with a rebellious spirit: she weeps down the Great Wall and drowns herself to preserve her chastity, and the feudal court is sharply criticised. In 1962, at an opera work conference held in Guangchang county, Jiangxi, theatre workers called for the protection of Mengxi.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Mengxi is sung in the high-pitched gaoqiang style, and specialists have determined that its vocal style is an echo of Haiyan qiang, the foremost of the four great vocal systems of the Ming. Mengxi is performed only once a year, in the first lunar month, as part of folk ritual. The Liu family's Mengxi is a Ming chuanqi script first performed in the Wanli reign, comprising sixty-nine scenes given over three evenings; in it Meng Jiangnü grieves for the husband who died at the Great Wall but shows no rebellious consciousness, and is finally granted the rank of first-grade lady and gifts of gold and silver by the King of Qin. The Zeng and Liu scripts together mark more than one hundred and forty qupai, which have attracted wide attention in the world of operatic music. Guangchang Mengxi belongs to the qupai system and is sung in gaoqiang with one singer answered by a chorus, the help-singing usually falling on the second half of the closing line, and it features “mixed recitative-singing” (zabai hunchang). The southern tunes sung in the Zeng family's Mengxi are older than those of Yiyang qiang and have absorbed elements of Haiyan qiang; they are word-heavy and tune-light, sung in the Guangchang official dialect and accompanied by drum, gong and cymbals at a brisk tempo, showing the simple, archaic features of an ancient melody. The Liu family's Mengxi is sung mainly in Haiyan qiang, with additions from Yiyang, Qingyang and Huizhou qiang. Yet because of financial constraints many plans and measures cannot be put into effect quickly; the genre's transmitters are ageing and successors are lacking, and without rescue it may, like the Shedi line, vanish into the long river of history.
Meng Jiangnü (Zeng family version)
The Zeng family's Mengxi performs Meng Jiangnü in a Yuan-style script of sixty-four scenes in two books, one book staged each evening.
Meng Jiangnü (Liu family version)
The Liu family's Mengxi uses a Ming chuanqi version of Meng Jiangnü, comprising sixty-nine scenes performed over three evenings.
Longfeng Ge (Pavilion of Dragon and Phoenix)
One of the representative works of the Mengxi performer Li Anping, surviving on local stages alongside the traditional Mengxi repertory.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Zeng family's Mengxi is regarded as a Yuan script, comprising sixty-four scenes in two books, one book performed per evening.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Mengxi scripts of the Zeng and Liu families are both unique copies of ancient Southern Opera, providing exceedingly precious material for the study and inheritance of Chinese xiqu and folklore and possessing distinctive artistic and sociological value. Organised by the county government, rescue excavation and collation work was carried out. After the Cultural Revolution the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Culture and the local cultural bureau attached great importance to Guangchang Mengxi and carried out a series of rescue and protection measures. Li Anping (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1968 in Guangchang, Jiangxi. Since joining the Dalubei Mengxi troupe in 1995 Li Anping has been guided by three veteran artists, Xie Chuanfu, Liu Zongxing and Luo Jinding; he can sing all the qupai of Mengxi and still takes part in the troupe's annual performances, has toured with it through the county's townships and neighbouring counties and cities, and also teaches and coaches new singers and can direct rehearsals of some of the old programmes. His representative works include Longfeng Ge and Mengxi. He is a representative inheritor of Guangchang Mengxi in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and deputy head and actor of the Dalubei Mengxi troupe, Ganzhu town, Guangchang county, Jiangxi. Zeng Guolin (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1962 in Guangchang, Jiangxi. Zeng Guolin has a resonant voice and solid acting and conveys the flavour and character of the Zeng family's Mengxi well, winning wide praise over many years. He is a representative inheritor of Guangchang Mengxi in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and a committee member and actor of the Chixi troupe, Ganzhu town, Guangchang county, Jiangxi. Since 1980 he has continued to take part in the troupe's annual performances and also serves as artistic adviser to its children's class, training the next generation of young Mengxi pupils.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Anping 02-0456
- Cengguolin 02-0457
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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