Dacheng Opera
01 · Historical Records
Drawing on the Fujian volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Quanzhou materials, dachengxi is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, its repertory and performance mostly evolved from ritual liturgy; a professional troupe was set up in the 1950s, and after 1990 the artists raised funds themselves to revive the troupe, so that this endangered genre could continue.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dachengxi, also called “fashi opera”, “monk opera” and “Daoist opera”, is a local operatic genre developed in the mid-Qing on the basis of monks' and Daoists' ritual ceremony, circulating in Quanzhou and Jinjiang in Fujian. It is at once dramatic performance and folk religious ritual, existing in dependence on such folk religious activities as “doing merit”. Its performing technique is highly skilled and distinctive, with such feats as pyramid-building, eating and spouting fire, whisking the beard, whisking the hair, the clam dance, the black-and-white ghost dance, the fork dance and the flag dance, making heavy demands on the actors: in the table-flipping feat, with seven or eight tables stacked up, the actor must hold eleven eggs with both hands, armpits, mouth and neck and somersault down from the top of the stack to stand on a stool.
Mulian Rescues His Mother
A representative work of dachengxi, winning the “Golden Clown” award at the twelfth Asian ritual drama festival in 2003.
Pyramid-Building, Fire-Eating and Spouting, Beard-Whisking, Fork Dance and Other Feats
Dachengxi's distinctive feats making heavy demands on the actor; in the table-flipping feat, with seven or eight tables stacked up, the actor must hold eleven eggs with both hands, armpits, mouth and neck and somersault down from the top.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Dachengxi centres on Quanzhou city, Fujian, and is popular in Quanzhou, Jinjiang and Shishi and the Minnan overseas-Chinese homeland; because it performs at such monastic and Daoist rites as “doing merit” and “beating the city” its troupes are mostly made up of monk and Daoist artists, hence the names “ritual opera”, “monk opera” and “Daoist opera”, making it a living sample for studying the relation between Minnan folk belief and opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For various complex reasons dachengxi tends to be assimilated by other genres, with plays lost and talent draining away ever more seriously, so that the whole genre is in an endangered state and urgently needs protection. The inheritor entered the Quanyin technical troupe in 1952 under the famous actor Zeng Huocheng, is familiar with several of its roles, has solid basic skills and attends to facial expression, performing vividly and freely; in 1990 he raised funds himself to revive the dachengxi troupe, rescuing plays and training actors so that the endangered genre could continue, and attends to collecting and collating its texts, old photographs and props, preserving precious material for dachengxi. His representative work Mulian Rescues His Mother won the “Golden Clown” award at the twelfth Asian ritual drama festival in 2003.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Tianyi 03-1127
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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