Hu Opera
01 · Historical Records
It was named Hu opera in 1951. Drawing on the Zhejiang volume of the Annals of Chinese Xiqu and local Huzhou materials, it was based on Huzhou narrative-singing tanhuang and Huzhou qinshu and formed about the Daoguang-Xianfeng period of the Qing, being formally named “Hu opera” in 1951, with the Huzhou city Hu opera troupe as its professional performing body.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hu opera, formerly called “Huzhou tanhuang” and also “small opera” and “flower drum”, is popular in Huzhou, Jiaxing and Hangzhou in Zhejiang, Wujiang and Yixing in Jiangsu and Guangde in Anhui. Its basis is Huzhou narrative-singing tanhuang and Huzhou qinshu, formed about the Daoguang-Xianfeng period of the Qing. It is led by the tanhuang erhu, with fresh tunes and elegant, fine performance, its arias including “small-opera tune”, “local tan tune” and “incense-burning tune” and forming a distinctive “eighteen and a half rhymes”. Its performing feature is the “yin-yang voice”, that is the male dan's method of alternating true and falsetto singing. Its speech is warm and soft with a rich Jiangnan water-town mood. It performs mainly civil plays, its early roles xiaosheng, xiaodan and xiaochou, later increased to “eight xiaosheng and eight xiaodan”. Its traditional repertory is said to be “ninety-six grand plays”, mostly on love and marriage, of which Yao Qilin, Borrowing the Yellow Bran, Meeting in the Nunnery and Selling the Sister to Marry are more often staged. After the founding of New China there were the newly written historical play The Song of the Great Wall and the modern play Flood Waves of Taihu. Its professional body is the Huzhou city Hu opera troupe, with some amateur troupes besides, such as the Wuxing tanhuang narrative-singing small-opera team, the Shuanglin small-opera troupe and Hu opera performing bodies in Deqing and Tongxiang known as “flower-drum opera” troupes.
Yao Qilin
One of the more commonly staged traditional plays of Hu opera.
Borrowing the Yellow Bran
One of the more commonly staged traditional plays of Hu opera.
Meeting in the Nunnery
One of the more commonly staged traditional plays of Hu opera.
Selling the Sister to Marry
One of the more commonly staged traditional plays of Hu opera.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
According to differences of local dialect and singing, the artists called themselves the “Huzhou group”, “Shuanglin group”, “Nanxun group” and “Zhenze group”; in singing the “eighteen and a half rhymes” accord with Wu dialect phonology, and the Wu dialect of Huzhou is used.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The inheritor joined the Tongle Hu opera troupe (predecessor of the Huzhou city Hu opera troupe) in 1952 and is skilled in many tanhuang short plays; initially a xiaosheng, he shaped such roles as Liu Yi (The Dragon Girl Tends Sheep), Wu Nandai (Rouge), Li Shizhong (The Qilin Belt), Xu Yuanzai (The Jade Dragonfly), Kuang Zhong (Fifteen Strings of Cash), Zhu San (Zhu San and Sister Liu Er), Zhou Wenbin (The Tiger Snatches the Bride) and Li Shimin (Cheng Yaojin Teases and Remonstrates the Young Tang Emperor), and later also dan roles such as Lin Huiying (Flood Waves of Taihu), Sister Aqing (Kindling in the Reeds) and Mother Luo (Lu Yachen). He has jointly written A History of Hu Opera's Development and is zealous in teaching its transmission, having trained many students.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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