Guansuo Opera

01 · Historical Records

Before a performance begins a sacrificial rite is held and the Lewang Temple is worshipped, and only stories of the Three Kingdoms are performed. It is said to have originated in gaoqiang, but analysis of some of its melodies shows that it also mixes in local folk ditties and the melodies of chanting Buddhist sutras, and more obviously still it has absorbed the vocal styles of Dian opera.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Guansuo opera is popular in Xiaotun Village, Yangzong Town, Chengjiang City, Yunnan Province, and has a history of more than three hundred years. It began as a nuo sacrificial rite used in ancient times to ward off evil and repel pestilence, and later gradually developed into a nuo play that both delights the gods and entertains the people. The performance characteristics of Guansuo opera are that it sets up no stage, uses no makeup, and is not restricted as to time or place; in performance the actors generally wear masks, singing and dancing as they go, preserving the legacy of song and dance for the entertainment of the gods. It has only the three role types of sheng, dan and jing, and within the jing line there are only two roles (Bao Sanniang and Princess Baihua), both of them men playing women's parts; the performers do not apply rouge or paint their faces, and wear only masks. The vocal system of Guansuo opera is comparatively complicated; it has no string accompaniment, and chorus singing is interspersed with it. It has no fixed ban form; the singers are not bound by the limits of vocal range or rhythm, so that even within the same melody each person's singing differs. In performing Guansuo opera there is no elaborate instrumental accompaniment, and only gongs and drums are needed. In its lyrics, singing contains spoken parts and spoken parts contain singing; both singing and speech use the local dialect. Its vocal styles and melodies mainly include the changban (long metre), duanban (short metre), baoxinban (message-reporting metre), the seven-syllable metre, the dadao qiang (broad-blade style) and so on, and every change of metre and tune is signalled by gongs and drums. Guansuo opera takes as its purpose the exclusive performance of Shu kingdom plays from stories of the Three Kingdoms, and composes its repertoire around the main line of praising the achievements of such Shu Han figures as Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, such as Hua Guansuo Fights at Mount Shanyue, The Battle of Princess Sanniang and Xiao Long Battles Huang Zhong. During a period of Guansuo opera performance a set of established ritual procedures runs through the whole affair. For instance, before each year's performance there is the sacrifice to the Medicine King and the martial drill. From the first day of the first lunar month, when the performances begin, there is the procession by the day, the treading of the villages, the treading of the streets and the calling at the houses; the opening item at every performance must be Dian Jiang (the Calling of the Generals); after the day's performance is over there is the seeing-off of the god, and after all the performances have ended on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month there is the packing of the costume trunks and the sending-off of the Medicine King. Each of these has its fixed procedure and requirements.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Guansuo opera is popular in the area of Xiaotun Village, Yangzong Town, Chengjiang City, Yunnan Province, and has a history of more than three hundred years. It began as a nuo sacrificial rite used in ancient times to ward off evil and repel pestilence, and later gradually developed into a nuo play that both delights the gods and entertains the people. It sets up no stage and uses no makeup, and is not restricted as to time or place; in performance the actors generally wear masks and sing and dance as they go. Before each year's performance there is the sacrifice to the Medicine King and the martial drill; from the first day of the first lunar month there is the procession by the day, the treading of the villages, the treading of the streets and the calling at the houses, and on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month the packing of the costume trunks and the sending-off of the Medicine King, so that a set of established ritual procedures runs through the whole affair.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Zhou Ruwen (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han nationality, born in June 1967, native of Kunming City, Yunnan Province. He comes from a family of Guansuo opera performers and learned Guansuo opera performance from his father and elder brothers as a child, mastering the performance techniques of the genre. The image of Zhang Fei that he plays is vivid, his singing is loud and clear, and when he brandishes the zhangba snake spear his dancing is full of vigour, fully expressing the character of Zhang Fei as surpassing others in martial prowess and loyal and courageous to the utmost, and making him a striking figure in Guansuo opera. He has taken part in more than a hundred Guansuo opera performances and has actively taken part in the annual Yangzong Great Incense Fair and in the folk-custom festivals of the surrounding area. Representative inheritor of Guansuo opera in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. He is devoted to the protection, transmission and promotion of Guansuo opera, and has trained seven apprentices, all of whom have become the backbone of the Guansuo opera performing ranks.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Zhou Ruwen 05-2469

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Guansuo Opera (Chengjiang, Yunnan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhou Ruwen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗