Caicha Opera

01 · Historical Records

Guinan caicha opera reached southern Guangxi in the middle of the Qing dynasty, passing from southern Jiangxi through northern Guangdong, and has a history of some four hundred years.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

By reason of the characteristics of its interjections, caicha opera is also called xuduya. Guinan caicha opera is widely transmitted in the counties of Yulin in southeastern Guangxi and in some counties and districts of the cities of Qinzhou, Wuzhou and Nanking. Guinan caicha opera belongs to the sanxiao category of plays, the three-little plays, starring mainly the xiaosheng (young male role), xiaodan (young female role) and xiaochou (clown) role types, and is also called the sanjiao troupe. It began as song-and-dance performance whose main content was tea picking in the twelfth month of the lunar year, and later added episodes such as reclaiming wasteland, firing tea, scouting for tea, picking tea, roasting tea and selling tea, forming a whole set of songs and dances that reflect the labour and the love life of tea farmers. In performance one person usually plays the tea man and two play the tea maidens, with short acted scenes drawn from everyday life and having a plot inserted among the songs and dances. Sections of Guinan caicha opera that narrate historical stories or folk legends are called caicha chuangu, tea-picking interludes with tales, and are mostly comedies and farces. There are also plays that arose under the influence of caidiao (coloured tune) opera, such as Mai Hongxian (Selling the Red Thread), Mai Shuifen (Selling Rice Noodles), Mai Zahuo (Selling Sundries), Zhan Chai De Qi (Chopping Wood and Winning a Wife), Ti Tou Er Jie Qi (The Barber Borrows a Wife a Second Time) and Qiancheng Qu Qi (The Pious Man Takes a Wife). Later, under the influence of the Cantonese troupes that took refuge in Guangxi after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, larger plays such as Dao Luan Yuanyang (Mismatched Mandrake Ducks), Gao Wenju and Chen San Mo Jing (Chen III Grinding the Mirror) came into Guinan caicha opera. Its overall style changed considerably, and it was no longer the small tea-picking plays of the early years. The main accompanying instruments of Guinan caicha opera are gong, drum, cymbals, wooden fish, suona, bamboo flute and erhu, and the props include coloured ribbons, coin whips, paper fans and handkerchiefs. Its sung tune patterns fall into two kinds: first the tea cavity, that is, the original complete set of tea-picking tunes; second the tea interlude, formed on the basis of the Nanchang minor tunes and the Four Seasons Lotus Blossom by drawing on folk minor tunes from various places. The vocal language is mainly Hakka, with dilaohua, a local colloquial, as an auxiliary, and spoken lines are mostly in rhymed classical recitation.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Guinan caicha opera combines singing and dancing in a lively and spirited manner, and has a marked local character.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

It is inseparable from the cultural life and the aesthetic tastes of the local people, and its artistic value and cultural value enjoy universal recognition. Chen Shengqiang (as recorded in the official dossier of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in 1947, from Bobai, Guangxi. From 1969 to 1991 Chen Shengqiang was an actor in caicha opera at the Bobai County Caicha Theatre Troupe of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where he was taught by the troupe's deputy director for artistic affairs, Huang Yangfu, and by veteran caicha performers such as Gan Fuhua and Chen Yuandong. He was appointed deputy director for artistic affairs in 1984, served as deputy director of the Bobai County Library from 1991 to 1998, and as director of the Bobai County Cultural Centre from 1998 to 2007. His performance expresses both feeling and content, and his singing, recitation, acting and dancing are all accomplished. His representative works include Ku Hai Shi Xiao (To Cry or to Laugh) and He Bian Qing Hua (Love Talk by the River). He is a representative inheritor of Caicha Opera (Guinan Caicha Opera) in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, and a national third-grade actor.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Chen Shengqiang 02-0595
• Li Jiagao 03-1057
• Chen Binmao 04-1647
• Wan Anan 04-1648
• Wu Yancheng 04-1649
• Peng Jinhua 05-2376
• Wu Lan
• Chu Fengrong
• Fei Lijun

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Caicha Opera (Bobai, Guangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Chen Shengqiang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗