Nan Opera
01 · Historical Records
It formed in the Longqing-Jiaqing period of the Qing and matured in the Daoguang reign, with a history of more than two hundred years. Its vocal styles divide into southern road, northern road and upper road: the southern road belongs to the erhuang system and the northern road to the xipi system, both from Jinghe-school Han opera and introduced into the mountains of south-western Hubei about the Qianlong reign, while the upper road is tanxi and Sichuan bangzi, introduced into Shinan prefecture about the Jiaqing reign. These vocal styles blended and penetrated with the local language and customs of Enshi and with yangqin music and folk ditties, steadily evolving into a Nan opera of south-western Hubei style.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Nan opera is a pihuang-vocal genre and one of the four great genres of Hubei, formerly called “ren da xi” and “Shinan diao”, popular in the Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture. Its repertory is rich, said to number eight hundred, of which about six hundred survive in the sources and about three hundred are fairly popular, mainly drawn from historical romances, folk stories and myths. It divides into the four roles of sheng, dan, jing and chou, each accomplished in both civil and martial parts, its performance especially stressing doing, often singing a civil play in martial manner, and its character modelling and costuming are also highly regarded.
Wang Baochuan
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Nan opera.
Qin Xianglian
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Nan opera.
The Imperial River Bridge
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Nan opera.
The Fourth Son Visits His Mother
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Nan opera.
The Surviving Repertory (About Six Hundred Plays)
Nan opera's repertory is rich, said to number eight hundred, of which about six hundred survive in the sources and about three hundred are fairly popular.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Nan opera centres on the Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Hubei, Laifeng county being one of its main areas of circulation, with the Laifeng county Nan opera troupe as the local professional performing body, its performances mostly attached to temple fairs and festivals.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nan Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It is both a product of the collision and combination of Ba and Chu cultures and a product of exchange and fusion between Tujia and Han culture, of extremely important reference value for studying Ba-Chu culture and the economic, cultural and social conditions of the Enshi minority area. Laifeng Nan opera preserves the performing form of pihuang vocal music in the Tujia area, its repertory, vocal styles and conventions reflecting the course of cultural exchange between Tujia and Han and making it an important sample for studying Ba-Chu culture and the ethnic society of south-western Hubei.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Daoyun 05-2456
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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