Yongju Opera
01 · Historical Records
After 1938 the genre came to be formally called “Yong opera” or “reformed Yong opera”. Yong opera suits Qing-dress plays, the 1930s Western-suit and qipao plays and modern plays and is very close to real life; its traditional plays The Half Pair of Scissors, If Heaven Wants Rain the Mother Will Remarry and The Twin Jade Cicadas and its modern plays Wang Kun and The Bright-Eyed Man all give outstanding expression to reality and are welcomed by audiences.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yong opera is a local genre sung in the Ningbo dialect of Zhejiang, its musical vocal style belonging to tanhuang. As its repertory changed it passed successively through the periods of the male dan, the female dan and reformed Yong opera. Before the founding of New China it was very active in Shanghai and Ningbo, where many performing bodies appeared. Its tunes are rich, including the “basic tune” and “Siming nanci” evolved from country field-side and antiphonal mountain songs and sung news, the “fast erhuang” and “slow erhuang” brought in from luantan troupes and various local ditties. The “basic tune” is used mainly to narrate plot, “Siming nanci” mainly to express a character's feelings, “erhuang” mainly to express ringing and vehement emotion, and the ditties special feelings. Over the past fifty years the various tunes have cross-fertilised, producing some new composite tunes.
The Half Pair of Scissors
A classic traditional play of Yong opera, excellent in reflecting reality.
If Heaven Wants Rain the Mother Will Remarry
A classic traditional play of Yong opera, excellent in reflecting reality.
The Twin Jade Cicadas
A classic traditional play of Yong opera, excellent in reflecting reality.
Wang Kun
A classic modern play of Yong opera, excellent in reflecting reality.
The Bright-Eyed Man
A classic modern play of Yong opera, excellent in reflecting reality.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Its area of circulation was early concentrated in Yin county and Fenghua and later spread through the whole Ningbo region and the townships of the Zhoushan area. Early troupes worked the villages of Yin county and Fenghua; after entering Shanghai in the 1930s they formed the “reformed Yong opera” Western-suit and qipao plays and were very active in both Shanghai and Ningbo around the War of Resistance; after the founding of New China the Ningbo city Yong opera troupe was set up and remains the only professional performing body.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yong opera has now begun to decline, with only the Ningbo city Yong opera troupe left among professional performing bodies, and it urgently needs protection and support from the relevant quarters. The inheritor has a broad range, performing naturally and relaxed with a free and graceful stage manner, a clear voice and distinct speech, deeply and finely portraying true and delicate feeling and having explored a style of his own stressing character and life. His representative works include The Half Pair of Scissors, If Heaven Rains the Mother Will Remarry, Thunderstorm, The Rogue's Strange Fate, Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage, The Scholar's Marriage and Pledging the Wife, and over the years he has trained a group of young and middle-aged actors such as Yan Yaozhong, Yu Jie and Su Xing.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Liuting 04-1678
- Wang Jinwen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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