Nuo Opera
01 · Historical Records
Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera is thought, on the basis of research, to have formed in the Tang and Song; wherever Quwo had a community altar it was established, and an altar required sacrifice and sacrifice required nuo opera. The manuscript Fan Gu Shen Pu by Xu Wenbing, discovered in 1986 and copied in the first year of Xuantong (1909), records in detail the sung content of twelve nuo opera scenes and is of important historical value. Drawing on the Fan Gu Shen Pu and Quwo local materials, it formed in the Tang and Song; the 1909 manuscript discovered in 1986 records twelve nuo scenes in detail.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera is an ancient deity-worshipping drama in which the villagers of Ren Zhuang, Quwo county, Shanxi, “observe the nuo rites, avert plague and drive out pestilence, and pray for blessings and the removal of calamity”, performed in mid-spring each year. It circulates around Ren Zhuang village, Quwo county, Shanxi, performed by the villagers in mid-spring each year as a deity-worshipping drama, with the Quwo county cultural centre responsible for the project's protection.
Fan Gu Shen Pu (The Fan-Drum Divine Score, Twelve Nuo Scenes)
Xu Wenbing's manuscript Fan Gu Shen Pu of 1909 records in detail the sung content of the twelve scenes of Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera circulates around Ren Zhuang village, Quwo county, Shanxi, and is a deity-worshipping drama in which the local villagers observe the nuo rites to avert plague, drive out pestilence and pray for blessings and the removal of calamity in mid-spring each year; the Quwo county cultural centre is responsible for the project's protection.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Scientific rescue, protection, excavation and collation of Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo opera can not only reveal the historical truth of primitive nuo rites and express the ancestors' strong wish to seek good fortune and avoid disaster, but also benefit the study of the ancient nuo culture of the Chinese nation and is of great significance for enriching the cultural life of the local people. Ling Fengying (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): female, Han, born in May 1941 in Quwo county, Shanxi. Fond of folk art from childhood, she learned many folk songs and ditties from the old artists of her village. After marriage, bound by the rule that nuo opera is transmitted from men and not to women, she could not take part in fan-drum nuo performance herself; but through long exposure she not only mastered the nuo sacrificial rites but learned all its sung items. Though advanced in age, she has deep feeling for fan-drum nuo opera and, with her husband Xu Shiwang, has preserved the Fan Gu Shen Pu and such props as the ringing knife and hemp whip, providing material for the academic monograph An Investigation Report on the Fan Gu Shen Pu of Ren Zhuang Village, Quwo County, Shanxi; she actively practises and teaches fan-drum nuo opera in the farming slack and at the Spring Festival, teaching her children and villagers. She is a representative inheritor of nuo opera (Ren Zhuang fan-drum nuo 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:
- 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
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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