Luju (Anhui) Opera
01 · Historical Records
Lu opera was originally called “daoqi xi”; it originated in central Anhui, gathering such tunes as mengge, yangge, chage, folk song and Dabie Mountain song, and has a history of more than two hundred years, being one of the principal local genres of Anhui. The Hexian Lu Opera Troupe was founded in 1955 and is the only surviving performing body of eastern-road Lu opera. Drawing on the Anhui volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu, Lu opera was renamed in the 1950s and divides, through regional and dialectal differences, into eastern, central and western branches; Hexian, on the north bank of the Yangtze, is one of the centres of the eastern road, and the troupe founded in 1955 is the only surviving professional body of eastern-road Lu opera.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
It is widely popular in the area between the Yangtze and Huai rivers in Anhui, the Dabie Mountains of western Anhui and parts of the south bank of the Yangtze. It has absorbed the performance conventions and martial skills of Peking opera, its subjects moving from the popular towards the refined and carrying a strong water-country character. The eastern-road Lu opera has absorbed Peking opera's performance conventions and martial arts, its subjects moving from popular to refined, its singing based mainly on erliang, hanqiang and sanqi with a strong water-country character; its performance is song-and-dance, full of rustic flavour.
Mafeng Nü (The Leper Girl)
A traditional eastern-road Lu opera excerpt, collated and re-created by the inheritor Wu Daofang.
Qin Xianglian
A traditional Lu opera play collated and performed by Wu Daofang and widely circulated.
Wang Sanjie Pao Caiqiu (Wang Sanjie Throws the Brocade Ball)
A folk sketch of eastern-road Lu opera, collated to appeal to refined and popular audiences alike.
Cai Mingfeng Ci Dian (Cai Mingfeng Leaves the Inn)
One of the traditional excerpts of eastern-road Lu opera.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Through regional differences Lu opera in Anhui has formed three branches, eastern, central and western. Eastern-road Lu opera centres on the Wuhu (south of the Yangtze) and Hexian (along the river) area; its singing and recitation carry the marks of Jianghuai dialect and water-country life, and the Hexian line preserves such traditional excerpts and folk sketches as Mafeng Nü and Qin Xianglian.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Luju (Anhui) Opera · Luju (Anhui) Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Because the performance market has shrunk, professional troupes fallen sharply, transmitters become scarce and folk artists urgently need training, the genre is in an endangered state. Eastern-road Lu opera preserves a large number of folk tunes and vernacular plays and is an important object for studying the folk opera of the Jianghuai region; facing a shrinking market and scarce transmitters, the Hexian Lu Opera Troupe sustains the genre through reviving traditional plays, school programmes and training young actors. Wu Daofang (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in June 1941 in Hexian, Anhui. In 1957 she entered the Hexian Lu Opera Troupe, working the qingyi and huadan roles. She has collected and collated a group of traditional excerpts and folk-circulated sketches such as Mafeng Nü, Qin Xianglian, Wang Sanjie Pao Caiqiu, Cai Mingfeng Ci Dian and Pishi Nü San Gao; keeping their essence while removing the dross from the lyrics, she re-created them to suit the plot and popular taste, making them appeal to both refined and popular audiences. Since 1980 her works have been made into records, tapes and video tapes, with cumulative sales of more than six million sets. She is a representative inheritor of Lu opera (eastern-road Lu opera) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and has trained a group of young actors from different regions and role types, including Zhang Aihua, Zhu Dahua, Wu Nanye, Xiao Meiyi, Liu Changfang and Zhang Jun.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Huang Bing 02-0580
- Wu Keying 02-0581
- Ding Yulan 03-1050
- Sun Bangdong 03-1051
- Wu Daofang 05-2367
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。