Leiju Opera
01 · Historical Records
Lei opera originated in Leizhou city, Guangdong (formerly Haikang county) and circulates in the Leizhou peninsula and the Leizhou-dialect area, centred on Leizhou city and performed mainly in the five counties and cities of Leizhou, Suixi, Xuwen, Lianjiang and Dianbai and in Zhanjiang. It originated in the Leizhou song, a folk ballad of self-song and self-expression; an older passage of Leizhou song is Breaking the Loom to Teach the Son, written by Chen Changqi, a jinshi of the Qianlong reign and a native of Haikang. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s the Zhanjiang area set up bodies to reform Leizhou opera and train new Lei opera talents and renamed Leizhou opera as Lei opera.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Lei opera is a local genre developed on the basis of the traditional Leizhou folk song of Leizhou city, Guangdong; because it early used Leizhou song tunes as its vocal style it was once called “Leizhou opera” and later renamed “Lei opera”. The troupes singing Leizhou song were called song troupes, and because women took part they were called “girl songs”; girl songs had song texts mostly of exhortatory songs such as Persuading the World to Quit Opium and Persuading People to Loyalty and Righteousness. Lei opera was formed on the basis of girl songs by imitating Cantonese opera's “chongtou” and “dijin” drum-and-gong patterns and its “great opening” and “small opening” pieces, its facial designs, costume, props and performance forms all learning from and drawing close to Cantonese opera. Its workers actively reformed Leizhou opera, focusing on solving the singing problem and comprehensively innovating stage art and music, so that Lei opera acquired a complete musical system and distinctive local character. Its recitation uses the Leizhou dialect, its performance carries a rich flavour of life, its arias have both banqiang and qupai features and divide into the three great systems of lei'ou, gaotai and mixed form, with the five ban styles of sanban, slow ban, middle ban, kuaiban and fuban. Its accompanying instruments are mainly the leihu, flute, suona, saxophone, gong, cymbals and drum.
Breaking the Loom to Teach the Son
One of the older passages of Leizhou song, written by Chen Changqi, a jinshi of the Qianlong reign and a native of Haikang.
Persuading the World to Quit Opium
One of the common contents of girl songs, an exhortatory song.
Persuading People to Loyalty and Righteousness
One of the common contents of girl songs, an exhortatory song.
Lei'ou, Gaotai and Mixed Form (The Three Great Vocal Systems)
Lei opera's arias have both banqiang and qupai features and divide into the three great systems of lei'ou, gaotai and mixed form, with the five ban styles of sanban, slow ban, middle ban, kuaiban and fuban.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Lei opera centres on Leizhou city, Guangdong, and is popular in the Leizhou-dialect area of the five counties and cities of Leizhou, Suixi, Xuwen, Lianjiang and Dianbai and in Zhanjiang, spreading with Leizhou emigrants to South-East Asia.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The inheritor's performing style is bold and steady, specialising in daomadan and laodan and masterly in weapon play and movement; handsome and dignified in appearance with a slightly husky and flavourful voice, she is masterly and skilled in singing, recitation, acting and combat on stage, good at grasping character and attending to the combination of performing technique with inner experience, expressing a character's inner world finely and accurately and performing most vividly. She has personally trained more than eighty disciples such as Lin Fen, many of whom have become outstanding Lei opera actors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Jin Youying 04-1694
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。