Qiongju Opera
01 · Historical Records
Qiong opera is the only local grand opera of Hainan, called “tu xi” or “Hainan opera” in the Qing, “zhai” around Qiongshan and Haikou, and “Qiongzhou opera” or “Qiongyin” by overseas Chinese. It is only recorded under the name “Qiong opera” from 1936, after which the name spread generally and has been used ever since. In the Xianfeng reign of the Qing the banghuang vocal styles came to Hainan and Qiong opera, on the basis of absorbing foreign operatic art, gradually developed and renewed into a local genre mainly of the banqiang system with a few qupai, sung in the Hainanese language. In the Republican period Qiong opera staged “civilised plays”, reformed its singing and moved towards realism.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
At the same time plays written by Qiong opera artists appeared in large numbers. Around the twenty-third year of Guangxu (1897) military and brothel plays declined and merged into Qiong opera troupes, forming the civil-and-martial grand troupe system, in which Qiong opera divided into the two systems of civil-play and martial-play masters (laoguan). After the founding of New China Qiong opera entered a new period of reform and development, collating a great many traditional plays, arias, qupai and performing conventions, writing and staging a batch of new plays and creating a batch of distinctive new ban styles, its role system being simplified to the five great roles of sheng, dan, jing, chou and mo.
Zhang Wenxiu
One of the representative plays of Qiong opera.
On a Red Leaf
A representative play of Qiong opera, led and recorded for broadcast by an inheritor.
Searching the Academy
One of the traditional plays commonly staged by Qiong opera, led by an inheritor.
The Yuming Ban
A style named for the inheritor, whose bright and sweet voice and free, expansive and melodious vocal line gave it a character of its own and earned him the name “golden voice”.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Haikou Qiong opera centres on Haikou city, Hainan, called “tu xi” and “Hainan opera” in the Qing and “zhai” around Haikou; since the twentieth century Haikou has become the centre of Qiong opera creation and performance, with such bodies as the Hainan provincial Qiong opera theatre and the Haikou city Qiong opera troupe based there, and an inheritor has also set up a personal-named Qiong opera art troupe.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qiongju Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Qiong opera is a local operatic culture developed and transmitted by the people of Hainan over generations, and historically exercised an important influence on Hainan's development, with important research value in anthropology, folklore, regional cultural studies and the history of international cultural exchange. The inheritor, a national first-class actor and expert enjoying the State Council special allowance, has a bright and sweet voice with clear enunciation and a free, expansive and melodious vocal line rich in flavour, distinctively characterised and called the “Yuming ban”, earning him the name “golden voice”; he has performed in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and South-East Asian countries many times, led in more than a hundred plays such as On a Red Leaf, Lin Pangui, The Spoiled Princess, Tears and Blood Like Cherry Blossoms and Storm at the Cape, recorded many records, tapes and discs, won the China Golden Record Award and the Chinese intangible-heritage transmitter's Xinchuan Award, and in 2016 founded the Haikou Chen Yuming Qiong Opera Art Troupe, devoted to Qiong opera performance and the training of transmitters.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Yingrong 03-1144
- Chen Yuming 03-1145
- Liang Jialiang 04-1691
- Chen Suzhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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