Hua Lantern Opera

01 · Historical Records

Huadeng opera is a principal local genre of Guizhou and Yunnan; it derives from folk lantern song-and-dance, developed into local opera in the late Qing and early Republic, and in its diffusion formed various singing and performing styles under the influence of local dialects, folk ditties and customs. Its most flourishing period in Yunnan was the 1950s and 1960s, when many famous huadeng actors such as Shi Baofeng, Xiong Jiechen and Yuan Liuan emerged and a group of plays renowned on the Yunnan stage appeared, including Tan Ganmei, Nao Du, Liu Cheng Kan Cai and San Fang Qin. Drawing on local opera annals, Guizhou huadeng around Dushan is called “platform lantern”, of one origin with northern Guizhou's “dengjiaxi” and Sinan's “high-platform opera”; Dushan huadeng developed from lantern song-and-dance into local opera in the late Qing and early Republic, and after the 1950s a professional troupe was formed and traditional plays collated.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

In performance huadeng artists never let go of fans and handkerchiefs, singing and dancing, with singing and acting closely combined. Among them Dushan huadeng has more than one hundred and forty plays, including eighty-five early outline (tiangang) plays such as Jinling Ji and Mangshe Ji, twenty-seven adapted plays such as Zha Mei An and twenty-seven newly created plays such as Qimei and She Lang. Yunnan huadeng at first performed huadeng short operas with a heavy song-and-dance component; later, influenced by genres such as Dianju, plays with more intricate plots appeared, and the tunes of other genres were absorbed and varied, extended and renewed, forming new huadeng tunes. Dushan huadeng uses fans and handkerchiefs as its main props, singing and dancing with singing and acting combined, its tunes built on huadeng ditties while absorbing local folk song and dialect to form a light and lively performing style.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Guizhou huadeng is found mainly in Dushan, Zunyi, Bijie, Anshun and Tongren, with different names from place to place: in northern and western Guizhou it is called “lantern-lined opera”, around Dushan “platform lantern”, and in Sinan and Yinjiang “high-platform opera” or huadeng opera. Yunnan huadeng has three main branches—Kunming, Yuxi and Yao'an—besides which there are extremely many minor branches, with their own huadeng in Wenshan, Qujing, Chuxiong, Midu, Luoping, Yuanmou, Lufeng, Jianshui and Mengzi. Dushan is one of the centres of southern-road Guizhou huadeng; its “platform lantern” line gives equal weight to tiangang plays and newly written works and differs from western Guizhou huadeng in tune and performance, with the Dushan county cultural centre (Dushan County Cultural Relics and Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centre) responsible for the project's protection.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera · Hua Lantern Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Dushan huadeng preserves more than one hundred and forty plays, among which the early tiangang plays and the dengjiaxi form are important examples for studying how Guizhou huadeng opera came into being; the locality sustains the genre through recording and collation, opera-in-schools and amateur troupe performances.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Qin Zhifeng 02-0621
• Liu Fang 02-0622
• Li Hongyuan 02-0623
• Chen Keqin 02-0624
• Liu Shengyang 04-1657
• Shao Zhiqing 05-2389
• Chen Shenhua 05-2390

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Hua Lantern Opera (Dushan, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗