Zhuizi Opera
01 · Historical Records
Drawing on the Anhui volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Suzhou materials, zhuizi opera was formed by combining the narrative singing of Henan zhuizi with folk ditties of northern Anhui; professional troupes formed in the Suzhou area in the middle of the twentieth century, and it is one of the principal local operatic genres of Anhui.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Zhuizi opera comes from the narrative-singing art of zhuizi and is named for its chief accompanying instrument, the “zhuizi xian” (today called “zhuihu”), and is widely found in Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi and Beijing. Zhuizi was formed by the combination of the narrative-singing daoing, Yingge Liu Shu, sanxian shu and zhuizi shu popular in Henan, Hebei and northern Anhui; zhuizi opera takes the tunes of Henan zhuizi as its basis and absorbs some performing methods of Peking opera and Yu opera, finally forming a local operatic genre of a style all its own. Its traditional musical singing includes “guoban”, “yinzi”, “pingqiang”, “great and small hanyun”, “wuzi qian”, “shizi yun” and “kuaiban zha”, and may be sung solo, as a duet or divided among several singers, flowing and gentle in style and easy to understand, much welcomed by audiences. Its principal instrument, the zhuiqin also called “zhuihu”, is a bowed instrument converted from the small sanxian, played mostly with portamento and other strokes, its tone melodious and its expressiveness extremely rich. Besides this it has such accompanying instruments as the erhu, erxian, flute, sheng, suona and cello.
The Injustice to Dou E
One of the representative plays of the inheritor, noted for its singing.
The Small Vegetable Garden
One of the representative plays of the inheritor, a modern Suzhou zhuizi opera.
The “Big Mouth” and “Small Mouth” Singing Methods
The traditional singing methods of Suzhou zhuizi opera: the “big mouth” uses dantian breath and chest resonance, the “small mouth” forms a crisp, fluid, pretty and fair style.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Suzhou zhuizi opera centres on Suzhou city, Anhui, and is popular in the counties of northern Anhui and in eastern Henan and northern Jiangsu; its singing takes the tunes of Henan zhuizi as its basis and blends northern Anhui dialect and folk music, forming a style using both “big mouth” and “small mouth”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Zhuizi Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhuizi opera is a traditional genre of considerable influence with some reference value for the study of folk art and local history and culture, deserving attention and protection. The inheritor, a national second-class actor, specialises in huadan and qingyi and is noted for her singing; she fuses the traditional “big mouth” and “small mouth” methods, the former fully using the dantian breath and chest resonance, the latter forming a style that is crisp, fluid, pretty and fair, and has created the distinctive “single-point finger” and “sleeve-scoop” movements. She has so far successfully shaped more than fifty Chinese women of different eras, her representative plays including The Injustice to Dou E and The Small Vegetable Garden, and has performed in Beijing many times to great welcome and, as chief teacher in the zhuizi troupe and training classes, has trained a group of new zhuizi talents.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhu Yuemei 03-1097
- Cui Yansheng 05-2427
- Zhang Li
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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