Nuo Opera

01 · Historical Records

Nuo opera originates in remote antiquity; as early as the pre-Qin period there were shamanic songs and nuo dances that both amused the gods and amused the people. During the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty nuo opera appeared in western Hunan, then travelled from the Yuan River into the Yangtze and spread rapidly, merging with the folk art of each region and giving rise to many different schools and styles; the nuotang opera of Hunan and Hubei (mainly current in the Hefeng and Enshi areas), for instance, was formed by absorbing the performance techniques of flower drum opera (huaguxi). The nuo Yuan opera still found in Qishuping Village and Dahegou Village of Hongtu Township was brought in from Hunan through Hefeng County, Hubei, and has a history of more than 320 years; the altar nuo found in Sancha Township originated in the Hongnong Hall of families with the surnames Tan and Yang in Enshi, who offered sacrifices to their ancestors during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, and it still preserves 25 complete sets of ritual observances, including presenting the sacrificial animals (jiaosheng), opening the altar (kaitan) and inviting the water (qingshui).

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Nuo opera, also called nuotangxi (hall nuo) or duangongxi (Duan gong opera), is a form of local drama formed by absorbing operatic elements into the basis of folk sacrificial rites; it is widely popular in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hebei and other provinces. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties local operatic genres flourished, and nuo dance absorbed operatic elements, developing into nuotangxi and duangongxi. The nuo opera current in Enshi City, Hubei Province consists of two parts, nuo Yuan opera and altar nuo. Enshi nuo opera bears a marked local character, and its nuo mask-making is the most outstanding, now unique in Hubei; each of nearly one hundred masks is closely related to myth, legend and folk tale. Hongtu nuo Yuan drama is 'ritual within the drama', and Shanche altar nuo is 'drama within the ritual'; both contain typical ancient sacrificial rites.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Enshi nuo opera still preserves a batch of ancient repertoire works, such as Bao Jia Zhuang (The Bao Family Village), a Guan Suo play; every year they are given forty to fifty performances locally and in Hefeng County, Xuan'en County, Jianshi County and other places.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Jiang Pinsan (as recorded in the official archival record of the associated inheritor): His representative works include the full plays Bao Jia Zhuang, Qing Jia Zhuang, Fan Wu Guan and Da Jin Yin, known together as the 'three and a half plays', as well as ten short plays such as Wang the Pedlar Sells Goods, The Great Burning of Incense, Fearing the Mother-in-Law Twice and Carpenter Wang Makes the Dowry. He founded the nuo opera troupe of Qishuping Village, Hongtu Township; almost all the scripts, vocal styles and stage management (la changzi) of nuo opera came from his hand, and he passed on the performance techniques of nuo opera by oral transmission from heart to mind. Male, of Tujia ethnicity, born in November 1921, died in November 2012, a native of Enshi City, Hubei Province. He is a representative inheritor of Nuo Opera (Enshi Nuo Opera) in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. Deng Yushu (as recorded in the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Tujia ethnicity, born in August 1941, a native of Enshi City, Hubei Province. He first appeared on stage in 1959, and in 1980 organized the nuo opera performance troupe of Dahegou Village, Hongtu Township. With more than sixty years in the art, he has completely mastered the whole content of the eight principal plays (zheng ba chu) and the eight subsidiary plays (xie ba chu) of nuo opera: whether the large and small scripts of about 150,000 characters, or the sheng, dan, jing and chou role types, or the more than thirty nuo opera vocal styles, all are memorized and thoroughly at his command; his movements are archaic and rugged and highly varied, and his dramatic performance is deeply accomplished. He is skilled in the gong, drum, cymbals, suona and other instruments, and often serves as the 'case master' (zhang anzi), the leader sitting in charge of the ensemble. He is equally proficient in the backstage arts of nuo opera, such as ritual documents and talisman drawing. Though now advanced in years, he is still actively devoted to the inheritance, dissemination and development of nuo opera. He is a representative inheritor of Nuo Opera (Enshi Nuo Opera) in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects. He began taking apprentices in 1982 and has trained more than twenty direct-line disciples of two generations.

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 (Enshi, Hubei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Jiang Pinsan · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Deng Yushu · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗