Nuo Opera · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Nuo opera originated in remote antiquity; as early as the pre-Qin period there were shamanic songs and nuo dances that amused both the gods and the people. Judging by its scale, its cast and its roles, Wuan nuo opera carries on the tradition of the great nuo ceremonies of the Song imperial court.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Nuo opera, also called nuo tang xi (nuo hall play) or duan gong xi (Master Duan play), is a form of opera formed on the basis of folk sacrificial ritual by absorbing folk theatre. It is widely popular in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hebei and other provinces. At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty the various local operatic genres rose vigorously; nuo dance absorbed operatic forms and developed into nuo tang xi and duan gong xi. Nuo tang xi of Hunan and Hubei absorbed the performance art of huagu opera, nuo opera of Sichuan and Guizhou absorbed artistic elements of hua deng (flower lantern plays), while nuo opera of Jiangxi and Anhui drew nourishment from Hui opera and Mulian opera. The repertoire works performed in nuo opera include Meng Jiangnu, Lady Pang, The Dragon King's Daughter, The God of Taoyuan Cave and the Earth God of Liangshan, among others; in addition there are plays drawn from stories in The Story of Mulian, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West. The scripts are mostly sung with little spoken dialogue, being good at setting forth events, unfolding conflicts and shaping images through long narrative sung passages. Except in a few areas such as Yuanling in Hunan, where a suona accompanies the ends of phrases, most nuo opera uses only percussion instruments such as gongs, drums and cymbals. The role types of nuo opera are divided into sheng, dan, jing and chou, and most performers wear masks. Masks are carved and painted from woods that do not easily crack, such as camphor wood, lilac wood and poplar wood; according to their form they fall into two kinds, full face and half face. The full face carves and paints the hat worn by the character and the whole face, while the half face is carved only above the nose, with neither mouth nor chin. The basic step patterns of performance are that male roles walk zheng bu (square step) and gang bu (firm step), while female roles walk sui bu (short quick step) and yun bu (gliding step). Because nuo opera is performed in masks, its movements are large in amplitude and its style archaic, plain and rugged. Di xi (ground play) is a kind of nuo opera performed by tunbao people, the descendants of the soldiers who, at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, were transferred north to campaign south and stayed behind in Yunnan and Guizhou to cultivate fields and garrison the frontier, in order to sacrifice to their ancestors. It has no plays of folk everyday life and no plays of talented scholars and beautiful women; everything performed is a martial play reflecting a historical story. Yang xi (yang play), by contrast, is exactly the opposite: it is performed by the duan gong master after he has finished the rites, for the living audience to watch, so it consists mainly of small plays reflecting folk everyday life, and the melodies sung are largely absorbed from folk small plays such as huagu and hua deng. Wuan city lies in the south of Hebei Province, 30 li east of Handan city. Wuan nuo opera has a long history. Wuan nuo opera is rich in content, with varied programmes that amuse both gods and men, such as dui xi (processional play), sai xi (competitive play) and zhu ma (bamboo-horse play). The masked characters of Wuan nuo opera are primitive and archaic. The nuo opera of Guyi Village is a composite of folk traditional culture, bringing together sacrifice, processional play, competitive play and many forms of folk art. The performance both educates people in ethical and moral matters such as filial piety and expresses the fine wishes of people in an agrarian society for favourable weather, good harvests and social peace. The special role of zhang zhu (bamboo holder) in Wuan nuo performance is the present-day survival of the “bamboo pole man”, the introducer of plays in Song and Jin zaju (miscellaneous drama). Wuan nuo opera fully reenacts four stages in the evolution and development of Chinese ritual drama.