Jinghe Opera
01 · Historical Records
In the Wanli reign of the Ming operatic performance flourished in Shashi. By the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing (1651) there was already Jinghe opera activity here. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns the two great Jinghe troupes “Taishou” and “Sanyuan” appeared in Shashi, gathering celebrated actors and enjoying over a hundred years of fame around Jingsha.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jinghe opera was originally called “Jingsha opera”, popularly “Shanghe opera”, “Shanghe lu zi” and “Jinghe diao”, known in Hunan as “big-stage opera” and “Dahan troupe”, and named Jinghe opera after the founding of New China. It is a multi-vocal genre, singing gaoqiang, Kunqiang, tanqiang (southern and northern roads) and miscellany and popular tunes, and it has absorbed many musical elements of the work and life songs of Jingchu folk. Its music blends north and south with a special charm; its singing is high and vehement yet fine and melodious; its performance is grand and direct, close to life. At present Jinghe opera still has three hundred gongche-notated qupai and nearly a thousand pieces. For half a century its development has stalled and it has gradually declined.
Guo Ziyi Feng Wang (Guo Ziyi Made a Prince)
A traditional Jinghe opera play whose southern-road suona passage was recorded and notated and included in the Collected Music of Chinese Xiqu, Hubei volume.
Lian Tai Shou Fei (Taking the Consort at the Lotus Terrace)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of the representative works of the inheritor Tan Fuxiu.
Zuo Gong (Sitting in the Palace)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
Tan Mu (Visiting the Mother)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
Zhan Xu (Beheading the Son-in-Law)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
You Long Xi Feng (The Wandering Dragon Teases the Phoenix)
A traditional Jinghe opera play and one of Tan Fuxiu's representative works.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It is popular in north-western Hunan and around Jingzhou (Shashi) and has a history of more than four hundred years. To this day the locally rooted “single-bell” (danbo) line of Jinghe opera still circulates around Jingsha, welcomed by the people of Jingzhou's central districts and surrounding areas.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Jinghe Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Among the Jinghe opera still circulating in Shashi and Jingzhou districts many pieces retain the original “single-bell” style. Jinghe opera holds a certain place in the history of Chinese xiqu and has influenced the Nan opera of Enshi and the southern- and northern-road genres of the south-west to varying degrees, and is of important reference value for the study of ethnic and folk opera and music. At present although the fourth- and fifth-generation transmitters of Jinghe opera are still alive, most are advanced in age and unable to perform, and with successors lacking it is in an endangered state and urgently needs protection and transmission. Its “single-bell” line, gongche-notated qupai and nearly thousand plays provide precious samples for the study of local opera and folk music; the locality, relying on the Jingzhou Mass Art Centre (Jingzhou Art Research Institute), sustains the genre by recording transmitters and reviving plays. Liu Houyun (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): born into a family of Shashi Jinghe opera weigu (drum-circle) troupes, from childhood steeped in family tradition and especially fond of drumming. In the 1940s he studied successively under the famous Shashi drum masters Li Youben of the upper street and Yang Wenxuan of the lower street, achieving deep attainment. Besides drumming he could play chou, jing and sheng roles. Through decades of artistic practice he knows Jinghe opera's artistic features and traditional repertory well and is thoroughly versed in its drum patterns and luogu jing; his drumming cues are accurate, his patterns clear and his rhythm steady, and he can control the pace of a performance precisely. On stage he performs full-bow full-tune, his singing powerful and vigorous, his acting grand and free, much loved by audiences. He preserved many Jinghe opera scripts and qupai, leaving important material for research. Male, Han, born in August 1928, died in May 2009, a native of Jingzhou, Hubei; a representative inheritor of Jinghe opera in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Tan Fuxiu (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in December 1932 in Jingzhou, Hubei. In 1952 she took the famous Shashi Jinghe opera artist Li Youben as her master, studying the sheng role; she later studied under the famous Shashi Jinghe artists Xu Yuanfu, Li Fangyuan and Zhang Hongkun, learning Jinghe repertory. In 1953 she joined an amateur Jinghe opera troupe, her acting superb and her characterisation vivid, much loved by audiences. Her singing of the southern-road suona passage from Guo Ziyi Feng Wang was recorded and notated and included in the Collected Music of Chinese Xiqu, Hubei volume. Her representative works include Lian Tai Shou Fei, Zuo Gong, Tan Mu, Zhan Xu, Niupi Shan and You Long Xi Feng. She is a representative inheritor of Jinghe opera in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Youjun 02-0526
- Xiao Yaoting 02-0527
- Liu Houyun 03-1019
- Tan Fuxiu 05-2342
- Wang Yuyou 05-2343
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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