Lantern Opera

Lantern Opera

Flower lantern opera is a kind of traditional opera widely popular in China. Its prominent feature is that the hands are inseparable from fans and handkerchiefs, singing and dancing, and singing and doing are closely integrated. Flower lantern opera, originating from Folk Lantern singing and dancing, is a form of local opera formed in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. In the process of popularity, different singing and performing styles are formed due to the influence of local dialects, folk songs and customs.

Brief history of drama

Flower lantern opera is widely popular in Jiangxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces in southern China. It is a form of opera art and belongs to traditional folk minor drama. The lantern opera is developed from lantern singing and dancing, commonly known as lantern opera, flower opera and so on. The earliest record of flower lantern art is the Zhili State Chronicle of Pingyue in the early years of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1663). It says that "the weak boys in the city are decorated with women's clothes, group of jacquard lanterns, pretending to be tea pickers, they use lanterns as tea baskets and sing the song of"Tea Picking in December"around the courtyard everywhere. Here is Zunyi's lamp-playing custom. The custom of playing lanterns in Guiyang is found in Tian Wen's Qian Shu in Kangxi. Among them, the unknown Spring Lantern Ci has the sentences of "singing tea with a bun of flower bells" and "walking with lanterns in strings". Write about the scenes of Baina and Wumeng minorities playing lanterns during the Spring Festival in the suburbs of Guiyang. In the poem, "Tea Picking" is "Tea Picking Song in December".

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, lantern opera was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Inheritance significance

Since 2000, flower-lantern operas in various places have faced the same dilemma as other traditional opera arts. Theatre performances are decreasing day by day, theatre troupes are short of funds, new repertoires are difficult to arrange and perform, and the young generation of compilers and performers are short of successors. It is urgent to take measures to rescue and protect the local characteristic drama of flower-lantern opera .