Qiju Opera
01 · Historical Records
In the mid-Ming Yiyang qiang came to Qiyang and combined with local folk songs and ditties to form the embryo of Qi opera.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qi opera, also called “Qiyang opera” and “Chunan opera”, is named for originating in Qiyang county, Hunan. In its development it formed the two schools of Yonghe and Baohe, both performing in Qiyang mandarin. Its singing embraces the high-pitched, Kun and tan vocal styles, its voice ringing and loud, accompanied by the high-pitched war drum, the cap-shaped dry drum and the hard-bow Qihu. Accordingly the xusheng uses a hoarse voice to show age, the xiaosheng a fine voice to show refinement, the dan a narrow voice to show charm, and the painted face a domineering or shouting voice to show roughness. Its facial designs usually take red, black and white as base colours, opening the face with mixed colour, expressing sharply characterised figures through bright tones, bold lines, delicate patterns and vivid suggestion. Its tan-vocal plays are rough and plain, broad in movement and stirring and deep in singing with a strong mountain flavour, while its high-pitched and Kun plays are fine, gentle and graceful with a cultured restraint. Its horse-riding dance convention, popularly called “ma lu”, is its most characteristic performing feature, each role changing the “ma lu” style according to character and plot so that it takes varied forms. Its repertory and qupai are rich, with more than nine hundred traditional plays and more than a thousand qupai now collated and printed.
Mulian Rescues His Mother
One of the representative plays of Qi opera, included in a National Arts Fund project in 2016 and toured nationwide.
Yellow Crane Tower
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Qi opera, in which the inheritor played Zhou Yu.
Chasing the Fish
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Qi opera, in which the inheritor played Zhang Zhen.
Ma Lu (The Horse-Riding Dance Convention)
Qi opera's horse-riding dance convention, its most characteristic feature, each role changing its style according to character and plot.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Qi opera centres on Qiyang and Yongzhou in Hunan and is popular in southern Hunan and in northern Guangxi, northern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi; in its development it formed the two schools of Yonghe and Baohe, both performing in Qiyang mandarin, with the Hunan provincial Qi opera theatre as the provincial professional body bearing the tasks of its creation, performance and transmission.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qiju Opera · Qiju Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The inheritor, a national first-class actor, is good at exploring and excavating a character's inner world and making full use of the eyes and facial expression to present character, his stage roles sharply individual; he has shaped such artistic images as Mulian in Mulian Rescues His Mother, Zhou Yu in Yellow Crane Tower, Zhang Zhen in Chasing the Fish and Chen Shimei in Qin Xianglian. In 2016 his leading role in Mulian Rescues His Mother was included in the National Arts Fund's “exchange, promotion and dissemination” project and toured nationwide, the largest exchange and promotion in Qi opera's history, and he has won the gold award of the Tian Han performance prize at the Hunan art festival and the second Chinese intangible-heritage transmitter's Xinchuan Award.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Dengxiong 03-1142
- Zhang Shaojun 04-1690
- Yuan Qili 05-2458
- Fei Jianchu
- Shenguitao
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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