Nuo Opera

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. The origin of “Dong Dong Tui” is difficult to trace; the earliest inhabitants of Tianjingzhai were Dong people of the Long surname, who migrated here from Jingzhou in the present province in the seventeenth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty (1419). From this it may be inferred that this kind of nuo opera was very probably brought from Jingzhou in the Ming dynasty. In 1949 all the masks of “Dong Dong Tui” were lost and scattered. In 1992 the local people remade the masks and restored the original appearance of “Dong Dong Tui”.

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. “Dong Dong Tui” is popular in Tianjingzhai, Silu Village, Gongxi Township, Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province; it takes its name from the fact that the performance proceeds in leaps and bounds to the sound of gong and drum — “dong dong” (the sound of the drum) and “tui” (a small gong sound with a raised boss in the middle). The people of the Long surname say: “the head of ‘Dong Dong Tui’ is in Jingzhou, its tail is in Tianjing”. Tianjingzhai formerly had one Pangu Temple and one Feishan Temple; at Spring Festival each temple took its turn, one year each, to hold the sacrifices, and “Dong Dong Tui” had to be performed at the sacrifices. Whenever there was a natural disaster or an epidemic, “Dong Dong Tui” was performed as well. “Dong Dong Tui” includes dances with simple plots, part of which is nuo opera that has the embryo of drama. All the singing is entirely in the Dong language. Its repertoire includes Dancing for the Land God, The Mangy Man Steals the Ox and The Old Man Pushes the Cart, which reflect the life of its own ethnic group; it also includes Three Kingdoms plays with Guan Gong in the leading role such as Guan Gong Captures Diao Chan and Meeting at the Ancient City. The music of “Dong Dong Tui” grew mostly out of local mountain songs and folk songs; the commonly used melodies include [Liu Liu Qiang] (Rolling Tune), [Shi Yin Qiang] (Stone Bank Tune), [Yin Song Qiang] (Chanting Tune) and [Lei Ge] (Piled Song). In the performance of “Dong Dong Tui” every role wears a mask. The masks commonly used are called “jiao mu”; there are thirty-six of them in all. The performance of “Dong Dong Tui” is carried out within dance: the performers' feet keep time with the gong-and-drum beat, stepping on a triangle and leaping unceasingly. Old artists explain that this triangular stepping dance is based on the body of an ox: the ox's head and its two forefeet form one triangle, and its tail and its two hind feet form another. It is the agrarian culture of the Dong people that gave birth to “Dong Dong Tui”. After that time, in performance either paper masks made on the spot or face-painted makeup were used instead.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Nuo opera took shape in western Hunan during the Kangxi reign and then, by way of the Yuan River into the Yangtze, developed rapidly in all directions, forming different schools and artistic styles. Singing uses the local dialect; apart from the first category of repertoire works, which use the duan gong tune, all are sung in operatic vocal styles familiar to the local people. Characters are divided by status into civil officials, military generals, old men, young wives, immortals and so on. Because their historical backgrounds and the artistic influences they have received differ, nuo opera is divided into three kinds: nuo tang xi, di xi and yang xi.

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

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Nuo opera is a composite of history, folk custom, folk religion and primitive drama; it harbours rich cultural genes and is of important research value. Nuo opera in every locality is transmitted mainly in the countryside; as society develops and recreational activities grow richer, those willing to watch nuo opera performances decline day by day, and its transmission is difficult. In recent years “Dong Dong Tui” has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad, and experts from Japan, Korea and other countries have repeatedly come to investigate it, all giving it high praise. Long Ziming (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): He has mastered the performance characteristics of the various types of character in nuo opera and is skilled at portraying heroic figures. Even now, at the advanced age of more than ninety, Long Ziming still takes the stage wearing a mask, and has repeatedly introduced the historical situation and artistic characteristics of “Dong Dong Tui” to experts and scholars at home and abroad; he is a highly respected old artist. Male, Dong nationality, born in 1914, died in 2011, native of Xinhuang, Hunan. Representative inheritor of Nuo opera (Dong nuo opera), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch. Long Kaichun (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Dong nationality, born in 1930, native of Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan. Representative inheritor of Nuo opera (Dong nuo opera), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch. In recent years, together with his uncle Long Ziming, he has trained nearly thirty nuo opera performers and has transmitted twenty-eight repertoire works from one generation to the next, and is praised as “the pillar of the Dong nuo opera troupe”; he is an important inheritor of Dong nuo opera.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Li Zengwang 02-0653
• Liu Chenyu 02-0654
• Yao Jiawei 02-0655
• Long Ziming 02-0656
• Long Kaichun 02-0657
• Li Fuguo 02-0658
• Zhang Yuefu 02-0659
• An Yongbai 02-0660
• Jiang Pinsan 03-1074
• Guixunjin 04-1661
• Su Liwen 04-1662
• Ling Fengying 05-2398
• Tang Maohua 05-2399
• Deng Yushu 05-2400
• Long Jingchang 05-2401
• Nie Mane 05-2402
• Wang Taibao 05-2403
• Yang Chaozhong 05-2404

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Nuo Opera (Xinhuangdongzuzizhi, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Long Ziming · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Long Kaichun · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗