Huaihai Opera

Huaihai Opera

Huaihai Opera, one of the national intangible cultural heritage, is a local traditional drama in Huaian City and Lianyungang City of Jiangsu Province.

Huaihai Opera is one of the main local operas in Jiangsu Province. It is popular in Lianyungang, Huaian, Suqian, Xuzhou and Yancheng counties and districts. It has a history of more than 200 years until 2019. Huaihai Opera singing music is rich and colorful, there are differences between male and female tunes. Huaihai Opera is characterized by a sudden eight-degree play at the end of the phrase, which has a soul-pulling artistic charm, so it is called "soul-pulling tune". Some performances of Huaihai Opera are obviously born out of rural life in northern Jiangsu, with a strong local flavor.

On June 14, 2008, Huaihai Opera was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, numbered IV-104.

historical origin

The formation of Huaihai Opera has a history of more than 200 years. It originated from the "gate words" of folk stories along the door. Ten years after Qingdaoguang (1830), artists'free association developed into a small play performed by a land stall. Most of the artists are "carry-on clothes, footwear", which is called "off stage" in the circle. At this time, there are few actors, there are "seven busy eight not busy, nine people go to the kitchen" said. Team actors have no strict line of conduct. An actor must be proficient in birth, dan, net, end and ugly conduct, which is called "one kick". Most of the performances are for children, and most of them are about singing local rural life and some folk stories.

After six years of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1880), the scale of performance gradually expanded and the business became more and more complete, thus forming a seasonal performance club. With the influx of Hui Opera and Peking Opera, they performed in groups with Hui Opera and Peking Opera, absorbed the repertoire, innovated the voice, and greatly enriched the artistic means of this form of opera. After the twenty-six years of Guangxu (1900), female artists appeared and new developments were made in art.

In 1940, the Communist Party of China established the anti-Japanese Democratic base area in Huaihai District. It organized "Artists Save Congress" and experimental groups successively, and produced modern plays such as "Chaimi River" and "Samsung Fall".

In 1947, artists spontaneously established the "Popular Huaihai Opera Troupe". Since then, small plays have been formally put on the stage and formally named "Huaihai Opera". After liberation, professional Huaihai theatre troupes in popular areas were established one after another, and have been compiling new plays with the development of the times. Huaihai opera has gradually developed into a local opera with its own characteristics.

Inheritance and protection

Inheritance value

A large number of Huaihai Opera plays directly originate from civilian life, which retains many cultural information of local historical evolution and social development, and is of great value to the study of social and human history in Huaihai region.

The Lyric structure and tune of Huaihai Opera are varied and distinctive, which has a certain empirical significance for the study of the relationship between lyrics and tunes of Chinese opera and the emotional connotation of the tune. Especially in some of its voices, there are still five types of entering tones, which is of special value to the study of the distribution and evolution of Chinese language.

The performing arts of Huaihai opera have extremely strong local flavor and rich folk color. It has unique artistic value, such as pig hanging waist, chicken planing pond, pheasant slipping, donkey rolling, dog greeting, turtle walking, walking on tiptoe, knee walking, ghost pulling, wearing eight characters, short step pedaling and other artistic forms, which is extremely lively and interesting.

Inheriting characters

Yang Xiuying, female, born in April 1941. The third batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects Huaihai Opera representative successors, Huaian City, Jiangsu Province declared, the representative project: Huaihai Opera.

Huo Yijun, female. The fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects Huaihai Opera representative successors, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, declared, the representative project: Huaihai Opera.

protective measures

On March 16, 2008, Lianyungang Cultural Bureau issued a policy: the City Art School opened a "Huaihai Opera" juvenile class, one free training of 30 "national heritage" inheritors.

On December 26, 2013, Huai'an held a seminar on the inheritance and development of Huaihai Opera. More than 80 Huaihai Opera artists and researchers from Lianyungang, Suqian, Yancheng and Huai'an held discussions and exchanges on the inheritance and development of Huaihai Opera.

social influence

Important performances

On November 11, 2007, Lianyungang Huaihai Opera Art Fans Association was formally established and performed its first performance.

On June 26, 2009, Huaihai Opera "LiangDuan Hui" was performed in the auditorium of Xinpu District of Lianyungang City after several modifications and polishing.

On the evening of October 30, 2013, as an important part of the 2013 Huai'an Zhou Xinfang Drama Festival, the first Jiangsu Huai Hai Opera Singing Contest, sponsored by Jiangxi Dramatists Association, Municipal Wen Guang New Bureau and Huai Hai Opera Research Society, was held by Jiangxi Huai Hai Opera Troupe. After two days of four brilliant competitions, the contest ended in Huai'an Hefang Theatre.

On the evening of June 24, 2014, the large-scale modern Huaihai Opera "Good Country Man" was successfully staged in Suqian Cultural and Art Center Theatre, and accepted acceptance by the provincial expert group of stage art works.

On the evening of November 22, 2015, the second Jiangsu Huaihai Opera Singing Contest ended in Jiangsu Huaihai Opera Troupe after three days and five wonderful competitions.

At 7:30 p.m. on December 20, 2017, the Shuyang Cultural and Art Center of Suqian City sang a bright, fresh and lively Huaihai Opera. The first performance of the large-scale Huaihai Opera "Fat Aunt Being an Official" was held here, which was funded by Jiangsu Art Fund in 2016.

On May 15, 2018, the first Huaihai opera film Pixiuying Four Advertisements was officially filmed in the Jiangnan Film and Television Center Base of Yixing City.