Caicha Opera
01 · Historical Records
Gao'an caicha opera, originally called “Gao'an xianxian opera”, is a traditional performing art developed on the basis of the early lantern songs, lantern art and nuo dance of Gao'an, absorbing the useful elements of local genres such as the Ruihe and luogu operas of the Ming and Qing. The traditional short play Si Jiu Kan Mei was highly praised by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai and other Party and state leaders in 1959; the modern play Xiao Baoguan Shangren caused a sensation in Shanghai in 1964; the traditional full-length play Sun Cheng Da Jiu won the highest national award twice; and the modern full-length play Mu Xiangzhang won the national “Five-One Project” award and “Wenhua New Repertory” award in 1995, performed in Beijing three times and winning the special performance award for rare genres at the first China National Culture Expo.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
As one of the local operatic genres of Jiangxi, Gao'an caicha opera has the artistic characteristics of “plain and vivid language, pure and clear phrasing, interwoven hardness and softness, and plain and elegant performance”. It has a rich rustic flavour and is full of the interest of life. Gao'an caicha opera has great artistic vitality and broad prospects for development, yet because of many factors it faces a break in its performing ranks and a shortage of directing and musical talent. Formed on the basis of huagu lantern art, its singing is based mainly on xianxian mode with luogu mode and folk ditties as well; its plays give equal weight to traditional short pieces and modern life plays, and its performance is plain and full of the interest of life.
Si Jiu Kan Mei (Si Jiu Visits the Girl)
A traditional short play highly praised by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai and other Party and state leaders in 1959.
Xiao Baoguan Shangren (The Young Storekeeper Takes Office)
A modern play that caused a sensation in Shanghai in 1964.
Sun Cheng Da Jiu (Sun Cheng Buys Wine)
A traditional full-length play that won the highest national award twice.
Mu Xiangzhang (The Wooden Township Head)
A modern full-length play that won the national “Five-One Project” award and “Wenhua New Repertory” award in 1995 and was performed in Beijing three times.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Gao'an caicha opera is popular around Gao'an, Shanggao and Yifeng in central Jiangxi and is an important branch of Jiangxi caicha opera; because Gao'an formerly had the Ruihe and luogu operas, caicha opera, after absorbing their elements, formed a style of plain language, clear phrasing and unaffected performance, with the Gao'an City Caicha Opera Troupe as the professional transmission body.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera · Caicha Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present twenty-nine of its plays have won national and provincial awards. Its plays such as Si Jiu Kan Mei, Sun Cheng Da Jiu and Mu Xiangzhang have exerted a nationwide influence, making it an important sample for studying the Jiangxi caicha opera family and its relation to local language and custom; facing a shortage of directing and musical talent, the Gao'an city cultural centre and the caicha opera troupe sustain the genre through reviving plays and training talent. Peng Jinhua (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in March 1942 in Gao'an county, Jiangxi. A national second-grade actor and an expert receiving a special government allowance from the State Council. She was born in Shanghu township, where the Gao'an xianxian opera troupe Wanyou Tang was located. In 1954 she entered the Gao'an county local opera troupe (later renamed the Gao'an City Caicha Opera Troupe) and took the famous dan Li Huaying as her master; in 1955 she was sent to the Jiangxi Provincial Art School for further study and after graduating in 1957 returned to the troupe as an actor. After retiring she devoted herself to training rural amateur artists and supporting more than ten peasant amateur troupes. She is a representative inheritor of caicha opera (Gao'an caicha opera) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, won the first prize for supporting role at the second Jiangxi “Yuminghua” Drama Festival in 1989, dubbed and sang the role of Guiying's mother in the short opera TV film Sun Cheng Da Jiu in 1993, winning the second prize at the eighth national opera TV drama “Pengbo Cup”, and in 1994 won the second prize in the short opera TV drama category of the fourteenth China TV Flying Apsaras Awards.
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
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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