Haizi Opera
01 · Historical Records
Haizi opera formed in the mid-Qing between the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns and is popular in Funan, Yingshang and Linquan in north-western Anhui and in Huaibin, Gushi, Shangcheng and Xi county in Henan. After the founding of New China the Funan county haizi troupe staged such newly written short plays as One Ten-Thousandth of a Second and The Stubborn Team Leader, but the troupe was disbanded in 1982.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Haizi opera, also called “kezi opera”, “heizi opera” and “hazi opera”, is named because in performance it starts the tune and runs the voice with the word “hai” or “ke”, and often uses “hai” to trail the voice in the middle of sung lines. Early haizi opera was a narrative-singing form of “sitting and singing around the drum”, performing pieces with plot in “flower-tune ditties”; later it absorbed the tunes of lantern opera and folk ballads and gradually took operatic form. It uses the dialect of the Huai river basin, its performance form flexible, its musical structure mainly banqiang with qupai secondary, using choral support as well, so that singing, choral support and percussion form a trinity. Its arias divide into the two great categories of main tunes and flower tunes: the main tunes are the laosheng tune, the xiwazi and the kuwazi, and the flower tunes number sixty or seventy such as Lowering to Shaanxi, Releasing the Parrot, Delivering Goods and the Pagoda-Sacrifice tune. Traditional haizi opera used drum-and-gong accompaniment, adding string and bamboo instruments after the founding of New China. Its play forms are the full play, the zhezi excerpt and the three-small play. Its traditional repertory runs to more than a hundred pieces, the frequently staged ones including Beating the Peach Blossom, Standing by the Flower Wall and Squire Wang Divorces His Wife, still performed without decline.
Beating the Peach Blossom
One of the traditional plays frequently staged by haizi opera, performed without decline.
Standing by the Flower Wall
One of the traditional plays frequently staged by haizi opera.
Squire Wang Divorces His Wife
One of the traditional plays frequently staged by haizi opera.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Haizi opera centres on Funan county, Anhui, and is popular in the north-western Anhui townships of Funan, Yingshang and Linquan and in the Huaibin, Gushi, Shangcheng and Xi county area of Henan; it is named because in performance it starts the tune and runs the voice with the word “hai” or “ke” and often trails the voice with “hai” in sung lines.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Its performance uses the dialect of the Huai river basin, its musical structure mainly banqiang with qupai secondary and using choral support, so that singing, choral support and percussion form a trinity; after the Funan county haizi troupe was disbanded in 1982 there was at one time no professional body, folk troupes being very few and successors lacking, and it faces a severe crisis of survival.
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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