Quzi Opera
01 · Historical Records
It was gradually formed in the mid-eighteenth century when the central-plains opera and music brought by Han migrants, Qing garrison troops and famine refugees combined with the local speech of Xinjiang, and it is closely related by blood to Qinqiang, Meihu opera, Gansu dagu and the mountain songs of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. Quzi opera has a fairly long history; as early as the late Qing such ditties as San Xia Tun, Shi Sui Chao, Lanqiao Dan Shui and Xiu Hebao were sung across Xinjiang. Drawing on the Xinjiang volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and corps cultural materials, Xinjiang quzi opera took the festival and temple-fair performances of Han immigrant communities as its main occasions, the reclamation areas of Wujiaqu, Changji, Qitai, Fangcaohu and Xinhu being its concentrated distribution zone, and amateur troupes of corps farms have long borne its performance and transmission.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Quzi opera is a genre peculiar to the Xinjiang region, found in Wujiaqu, the Changji area of northern Xinjiang and the Sixth Agricultural Division reclamation areas of Qitai, Fangcaohu, Xinhu and Hongqi Farm. Its tunes are rich and varied; according to old artists, it once had only nine modes and eighteen tunes but has grown to thirty-six great tunes and seventy-two small tunes, of which the commonly used include “Yuediao”, “Wugeng”, “Dongdiao”, “Xizi”, “Gangdiao”, “Lianxiang” and “Jianjianhua”. Its singing and performance are much loved by people across Xinjiang, and in the 1950s every locality had spontaneously organised quzi opera performing groups. Its singing belongs to the linked-tune form, its tunes having grown from nine modes and eighteen tunes to thirty-six great tunes and seventy-two small tunes, the common ones including Yuediao, Wugeng, Dongdiao, Xizi, Gangdiao and Lianxiang; its language blends central-plains speech with the Xinjiang Chinese dialect, its performance is song-and-dance, and it carries the plural character of an immigrant community.
San Xia Tun (Three Times to the Settlement)
One of the quzi opera ditties already sung across Xinjiang in the late Qing.
Shi Sui Chao (The Tenth-Year Court)
One of the quzi opera ditties already sung across Xinjiang in the late Qing.
Lanqiao Dan Shui (Carrying Water at the Blue Bridge)
One of the quzi opera ditties already sung across Xinjiang in the late Qing.
Xiu Hebao (Embroidering the Sachet)
One of the quzi opera ditties already sung across Xinjiang in the late Qing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Xinjiang quzi opera circulates in the Han, Hui and other ethnic communities on the northern slopes of the Tianshan, sharing an origin with the quzi opera of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai but combining Shaanxi–Gansu speech with Xinjiang dialect through the differing origins of migrants; Wujiaqu and the various reclamation areas of the corps' Sixth Agricultural Division preserve relatively complete troupe traditions.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Quzi Opera · Quzi Opera · Quzi Opera · Quzi Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present many old quzi opera artists have died one after another and those still living are advanced in age; the genre lacks transmitters and much material has been lost, so a plan should be drawn up for its proper protection. It is a living witness to central-plains opera moving west with migrants and fusing with local language and music, and has unique value for studying immigrant society and culture and the spread of opera along the Silk Road; the corps, relying on bodies such as the Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, sustains the genre through training, performances and recording.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Kang He 02-0600
- Xiao Dejin 03-1059
- Zhang Zhixue 05-2380
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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