Duangong Opera

01 · Historical Records

During the Ming and Qing dynasties Duangong opera was brought in turn to Zhaotong from Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Shaanxi; it quickly took root in Zhaotong and reached its height during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Duangong opera is also called 'qingtang', 'danuo' and 'zuodaochang', and is popularly known as 'tiaoduangong'; it is another name for nuo opera, a folk ritual drama formed by the fusion of shamanic rites and opera performance. Zhaotong Duangong opera circulates mainly in the counties of Zhenxiong, Weixin, Yiliang, Daguan, Yanjin and Yongshan in Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. There is drama in the sacrifice and sacrifice in the drama; the fusion of sacrifice and drama is an important characteristic of Duangong opera. Besides dramatic leaping performance, it also includes nuo technique performances with elements of acrobatics and tumbling, such as Crossing the Blade Gate (Guo Dao Guan), Dissolving Bone and Swallowing the Tag (Huagu Tunjian), Flying Vine Cutting the Throat (Fei Teng Zhan Hou) and the Golden Light Art (Jinguang Shu). The 'literary altar' (wentan) comprises rituals such as reciting spells, hand-seal mudras, drawing talismans and the Yu-step, and its chanting includes Opening the Altar (Kaitan), Closing the Altar (Yuantan) and Guarding the Stage (Zhentai). Play-acting altar (shuatan) drama draws largely on storytelling novels, folk legends and sung-script literature; its principal plays include Fourth Brother Makes Straw Sandals (Si E Da Caoxie), Zhang Harries the Inn (Zhang San Rao Dian) and The Monk Seeks a Bride (Heshang Tao Qin). Zhaotong Duangong opera now has more than two hundred hand-copied scripts, of which shuatan plays account for seventy per cent. Holding nuo sacrifices and leaping dramatic performances while wearing masks is the main characteristic of Zhaotong Duangong opera. The music of Zhaotong Duangong opera falls mainly into religious sacrificial music, folk opera vocal styles and folk-song minor tunes; the vocal styles are chiefly fa-shi (ritual) tunes and dramatic tunes. It both preserves elements of its place of origin and, after transmission, absorbed and merged many local opera styles and folk-song minor tunes. According to statistics, before the founding of the People's Republic of China there were several hundred duangong altars in the city and more than three thousand duangong performers. As modernisation has gradually accelerated, the soil in which Duangong opera survives has gradually disappeared; in addition, large numbers of young people have left to seek work elsewhere, and performance activity has fallen sharply. Xiao Zhuokui Village of Tangfang, Zhenxiong, once had more than ten duangong altars; only four or five remain today. Zhaotong Duangong opera embraces folk drama, literature, music, dance, fine art and acrobatics, as well as many art genres and disciplines including history, folklore, religion and society; it preserves primitive artistic features and is rich in cultural content.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Zhaotong Duangong opera is normally performed from after the Start of Winter (Lidong) until before the Start of Spring (Lichun). Its performance procedure is to invite the gods, repay the gods, send off the gods and discharge the vow, and it is divided into the literary altar (wentan) and the martial altar (wutan). The martial altar is divided into the correct altar (zhengtan) and the play-acting altar (shuatan). Correct altar drama is much interspersed with legendary stories connected with shamanism and Taoism; its principal plays include Ritual Invitation (Liqing), The Commander's Record (Tongbing Ji) and Rescuing the Mother on Mount Peach (Taoshan Jiu Mu).

Other submitting regions for the same item: Duangong Opera.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Today only sixty-odd altars in the whole city can still perform duangong activity, and there are only five or six hundred duangong performers. It aims to pray for blessings, ward off disaster and avert evil, and it conveys simple notions of reverence for heaven, earth and the ancestors and of holding good thoughts in the heart, together with moral standards such as respecting the old and loving the young, keeping the family harmonious and uniting with neighbours; it thus has a certain cultural value.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• He Meixu

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Duangong Opera (Zhaotong, Yunnan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗