Mulian Opera

Ⅳ-87Traditional OperaJiangxiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Qing the scale of Jiangxi Mulian opera performances was so large as to unsettle the authorities, who accordingly issued the “Notice Prohibiting Money-Raising at Festival Assemblies”. After the 1980s some folk troupes revived excerpt plays. Drawing on local materials, Qing performances were on so large a scale that the authorities issued a prohibition, and after the 1980s folk troupes revived excerpts.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Mulian opera is one of the traditional dramatic forms of our country, named for its main portrayal of the story of Mulian saving his mother. The story first appears in Buddhist scripture; over several centuries, tempered by countless artists, Mulian opera, with its vast dramatic forms, rich and varied means, deeply accumulated music and interactive staging, was performed without cease among the people and once spread widely across Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Fujian and Henan. Jiangxi Mulian opera is found in virtually every part of Jiangxi; such genres as Yiyang qiang, Qingyang qiang, Donghe opera, Wuyuan Huiju gaoqiang and puppet theatre can all perform it, and it is linked with both Buddhist and Daoist music. Jiangxi Mulian opera, with Yiyang-system Mulian as its main body, is the source of many gaoqiang Mulian traditions nationwide. It is generally performed at the Ullambana festival. Volume eight of the Poyang County Gazetteer records the grandeur of its performance: “Among the plays there is the performance of the story of Mulian saving his mother, for seven days in succession, which the locals call ‘beating Mulian’. Gaoqiang; the words are excellent.” Jiangxi has several versions coexisting: the story is the same but the means of expression, interpretation and emphasis differ—Shangrao and Jiujiang perform the Liang Zhuan before the main text; Donghe Mulian also stages Fu Xiang's southern campaign and Fu Lin's enlistment; the Fuliang Panqi version and the Wuyuan Huidiao gaoqiang Mulian add the “journey west to fetch the scriptures”, and the Jishui Huangqiao version adds the twenty-four filial exemplars. Jiangxi has various Mulian performing troupes, such as the Xia family clan troupe of Poyang, the Daoist troupes of Guixi, Jishui and Guangfeng, and the puppet troupes of Hengfeng, Yushan and Xingguo.

Seven Surviving Jiangxi Mulian Opera Scripts

Jiangxi preserves at least seven performing scripts of Mulian opera, besides the Xingguo cloth-puppet baojuan version; the story is the same but the means of expression and emphasis differ.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

About the end of the Yuan, Mulian opera flowed into the Yiyang county area of eastern Jiangxi and, fused with Jiangxi local speech and dialect, formed Yiyang-qiang Mulian; Mulian opera was the first mature play of Yiyang qiang, and its spread in the southern provinces went in step with the spread of Yiyang qiang.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Jiangxi now preserves at least seven performing scripts of Mulian opera—the Poyang Xia family version, the Jingdezhen Fuliang Panqi version, the Jiujiang (Duchang, Hukou, Pengze) Qingyang qiang version, the southern Jiangxi Donghe opera version, the Jishui Huangqiao version, the Guangfeng Xianghua Dao version and the Wuyuan Gutan Huidiao gaoqiang version—besides the Xingguo cloth-puppet baojuan version. Jiangxi Mulian opera advocates filial piety, the rejection of evil and the promotion of good and the relief of the poor, and is a vivid witness to the blending of Chinese traditional culture and imported Buddhist culture; it has reference significance for studying the social history and customs of its areas of circulation, possessing value not only for operatic, religious and folklore research but also significant ethical, social, cultural and historical value. Zou Lili (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in June 1941 in Ning'an county, Heilongjiang. A national second-grade director. At twelve she entered the Yiyang-qiang actors' training class of the Jiangxi Ganzhou troupe and graduated at seventeen, afterwards working in the Jiangxi Classical Opera Experimental Troupe, the Jiangxi Ganju Theatre, the Yiyang county Yiyang-qiang troupe and the Jiangxi Art Research Institute. Her notable roles include Huanhun Ji, Zhenzhu Ji, Song Yi Ku Cheng and Fachang Sheng Ji in Yiyang qiang, and her directing includes Jingchai Ji, Nanke Ji and Ji Bei Chu Zheng in Yiyang qiang and Song Fan Zhan E and Fang Pei in Qingyang qiang. In 2013, as a teaching instructor, she revived such excerpts of Jiangxi Mulian opera as Huo Zhuo Liu-shi, Hua You Shan, Tiao Jing Tiao Mu and Bai Yuan Kai Lu. She is a representative inheritor of Mulian opera (Jiangxi Mulian opera) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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