Dujiao Opera
01 · Historical Records
Dujiao opera, also called “huaji”, was founded in the late Qing dynasty, flourished in the early years of the Republic of China, and has been handed down and developed right up to the present. It originated in Hangzhou and became popular in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places; in the old city quarter of Huangpu District in Shanghai alone there once gathered a host of dujiao opera enthusiasts numbering in the thousands. In the Republican period Xu Zhuodai, known as a “pioneer”, wrote and performed works such as “Who Dies First” and “A Fu Goes into Business”, leaving dujiao opera a body of important works.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dujiao opera is performed in the Shanghai dialect and in Hangzhou speech; it grew out of folk narrative-singing and the wenming xinxi (“new civilised drama”), and at first was performed by a single person alone, later gradually developing into performances by two or more people on the same stage. Dujiao opera generally has two types, one centred on speech and one centred on song. The former relies mainly on telling comic stories and jokes to produce its comic effect, and can also imitate and speak the local dialects of various places; the latter mainly imitates and sings the vocal styles of various local operas or folk tunes, thereby winning laughter from the audience. The performing techniques of dujiao opera are similar to those of xiangsheng and mainly comprise speaking, imitating, acting and singing; exaggeration, misunderstanding, coincidence, contrast, sophistry, error, sleight of substitution and homophony are all comic devices frequently used. There are three common performance forms of dujiao opera. The first is single-mouth dujiao opera, called in trade parlance “dan mai kou”, which is divided into the narrative and the free-recitation types and is performed by one person, who strings a series of “baofu” (comic set-pieces) together by means of “tickling the audience into laughter” and at the close deliberately arranges an unexpected joke, popularly called the “baofu di”, leaving the audience rolling with laughter. The second is two-person dujiao opera, called “shuang mai kou”, performed in dialogue by two people and close to the two-person form of xiangsheng. The third is shuo shi chuanyu, also called “cai zhuang”, in which the performer appears in character after simple stage make-up, often plays multiple roles, steps on and off the stage, and changes identity at any moment through quick alteration of costume, in a manner that is easy and free and strongly comic, and which developed a step further into the small comic play, or huaji xiaxi. Dujiao opera has a rich repertoire and content that embraces everything. Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
Hall Attendants of Many Places
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
Crying for Master Miaogendu
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
The Fruit Joke
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
Burning the Tofu Shop
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
Making a Scene at Minglun Hall
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
Touring the Wharf
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
The Wang Family’s Great Harvest
Thereafter the “three masters of huaji”, Wang Yuanneng, Wang Xiaoxiao and Liu Chunshan, each formed their own representative works in performance: those written and staged by Wang Yuanneng, “Hall Attendants of Many Places”, “The Empty City Ruse of Ningbo” and “Crying for Master Miaogendu”; those performed by Wang Xiaoxiao and Bao Lele, “The Fruit Joke”, “Burning the Tofu Shop” and “Making a Scene at Minglun Hall”; and those performed by Liu Chunshan, “Touring the Wharf” and “The Wang Family’s Great Harvest”. All of these won the audience with a high artistic standard and enriched the dujiao opera stage.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Dujiao opera originated in Hangzhou, and the Hangzhou line became known for its performers of the “Jian” generation, among whom was Liu Jianshi, the father of Liu Shugen. Hangzhou Comic Art Theatre Performing Co., Ltd. is the protecting unit of this project; Liu Shugen served as president of that theatre, and his representative works include “Comic Meeting at the Tower Stage”, “The Haircut” and “Dialects and Songs”.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Dujiao Opera.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present the ranks of dujiao opera performers are seriously ageing, there is a dearth of successors, and urgent protection and revival are needed. Liu Shugen (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han nationality, born in October 1953, native of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. National first-class actor. Stage name Liu Xiaosheng. Influenced by his family from childhood, his father Liu Jianshi having belonged to the early Hangzhou “Jian” generation of dujiao opera performers, in 1975 he performed dujiao opera in collaboration with Zhu Weifang, a disciple of his senior fellow disciple Wu Jianwei; in 1980 he joined the Hangzhou Quyi Troupe as a performer, and from 1995 served as deputy head of the Hangzhou Comic Troupe, later serving as president of the Hangzhou Comic Art Theatre until his retirement. He is skilled in “speaking, imitating, acting, singing and joke-telling”, and in the parts combining speech and imitation in particular he uses the local dialects of various places to create characters, being able to deftly employ devices such as “mishearing” and “homophony” to set off his jokes. His representative works include dozens of pieces such as “Comic Meeting at the Tower Stage”, “The Haircut” and “Dialects and Songs”. Representative inheritor of dujiao opera among the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects. From 1986 onwards he concurrently served as a professional teacher of the comic quyi class of the Hangzhou Art School, training a group of outstanding comic performers. He received, among other honours, the performance award at the Zhejiang Province Quyi and Acrobatics Festival held by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Huasheng 03-1183
- Wang Rugang 03-1184
- Liu Shugen 03-1185
- Yao Qier 04-1719
- Tong Shuangchun 05-2511
- Huang Xiangao
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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