Lantern Opera
01 · Historical Records
Enshi lantern opera is a local operatic genre of Hubei; it flowed into Enshi from Sichuan in the Qianlong reign of the Qing and has a history of nearly two hundred years, found mainly in Enshi and Lichuan in Hubei and in more than twenty counties and cities of eastern Chongqing. Drawing on the Hubei volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu, it entered Enshi from Sichuan in the Qianlong reign and, combined with the Enshi dialect and lantern songs and ditties, formed its local character.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Enshi lantern opera's singing is made up mainly of “principal tunes” and “ditties”: the principal tunes include benqiang, qijuban, yiziban, beiqiang, shengou diao, siping diao and chenhe diao, all belonging to the banqiang form and built of two lines of lyric into upper and lower musical phrases; the ditties are free and flexible, mostly drawn from the lantern songs and ditties popular around Enshi. Enshi lantern opera preserves 112 plays of various kinds, all single-book excerpt plays. These plays are finely wrought and concise, plain and easily understood, blending seriousness with humour, much loved by audiences in its areas. Tempered over several centuries, every gesture, tune and beat of Enshi lantern opera displays a unique artistic charm and keeps a lively individuality distinct from its sister arts. Its singing is made up of principal tunes and ditties, the principal tunes including benqiang, qijuban, yiziban, beiqiang, shengou diao, siping diao and chenhe diao in the banqiang form, and the ditties mostly from local lantern songs; it preserves 112 excerpt plays.
Xueshan Fang Yang (Tending Sheep on the Snow Mountain)
One of the full traditional plays of Enshi lantern opera, a piece the inheritor Meng Yongxiang is skilled in.
Shengou Da Chai (The Divine Dog Gathers Firewood)
A traditional Enshi lantern opera piece that Meng Yongxiang is skilled in.
Han Xiangzi Hua Zhai (Han Xiangzi Seeks Alms)
A traditional Enshi lantern opera piece drawn from the legend of the Eight Immortals.
Caifeng Tou Bu (The Tailor Steals Cloth)
One of the traditional sketches of Enshi lantern opera, humorous and lively.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Enshi lantern opera's role types are mainly the xiaosheng, xiaodan and xiaochou; with small roles, small plays and small troupes and no strict requirements for costumes, props or stage, it can be performed anywhere and at any time, adapting to the cultural environment and geographical conditions of the western Hubei mountains.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Lantern Opera · Lantern Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It mostly portrays the life of the lower classes and displays local customs, and is of important reference value for the study of folklore. Meng Yongxiang (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Tujia, born in February 1946 in Enshi county, Hubei. At six she studied lantern opera under Liao Nanshan and Tang Shidong, at seven she could already go on stage to play the flower drum and sing lantern opera passages, and at ten she formally appeared on stage. She has learned more than thirty full lantern opera pieces, including Xueshan Fang Yang, Shengou Da Chai, Lansuan, Han Xiangzi Hua Zhai and Caifeng Tou Bu. Guided from childhood by several strict masters and trained in the rudiments by a professional troupe, she portrays the life, glances, movements and tones of the small characters in these plays with perfect vividness, equally at home in sheng and dan roles, winning the affection of the broad public. She is a representative inheritor of lantern opera in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects and was granted the title of folk-art master by the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture government in 2005. Enshi lantern opera mostly portrays the life of the lower classes and local custom, giving it reference value for folklore and local opera research; the Enshi Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection, Transmission and Performance Centre is responsible for the project's protection and performance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Dehui 02-0617
- Que Taichun 02-0618
- Peng Juan 02-0619
- Wang Yang 02-0620
- Meng Yongxiang 03-1070
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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