*Chaozhou Opera

51.*Chaozhou Opera

Nominating Units: City of Shantou, City of Chaozhou and City of Jieyang

Chaozhou Opera, also named Chaozhouxi or Chaoyinxi, is a traditional local opera sung in Chaozhou dialect. It is a branch of Nanxi in the Song and the Yuan Dynasties with a history of over 430 years, prevalent mainly in East Guangdong Province, South Fujian Province, Taiwan, Hong Kong and southeast Asia.

Traditional plays of Chaozhou Opera, which enjoys an important status in Chaozhou Opera, can be divided into two categories: Songyuan Nanxi (Southern Drama of the Song and the Yuan Dynasties) and Mingqing Chuanqi (Romance of the Ming and the Qing Dynasties) as well as Wenmingxi (a crudge stage play) and Xinbian lishiju (newly-compiled histotical plays), with some excellent plays such as Lizhiji, Suliuniang and Liumingzhu. Binding the essence of traditonal Chaozhou Opera, three representative plays of traditional Zhezixi (opera highlights): Saochuanhui, Yanglingpobiansh and Naochai are hailed as “Three Gems of BaiHuazhao”.

Among the roles of Chaozhou Opera, Sheng, Dan and Chou have the most local flavor. Shengdan Opera (a kind of opera) Saochuanghui is hailed as the typical example of telling a story through singing and dancing in the Chinese opera. The role of Chou in Chaozhou Opera can be divided into ten categories, among which Xiangshanchou’s (a kind of clown) Shanzigong (dance with a fan) is widely acclaimed and famous in the whole country. Clowns in Laochou Opera (a kind of opera) Chaifanghui have a unique technique —— Liutigong (technique of slipping down a ladder) —— which enjoys high reputation in the world of operas. Music in Chaozhou Opera belongs to the system of Qupailiantaoti, playing the southern and northern drama music with a pleasant voice and tune, good at expressing emotion. After the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, it absorbed Banqiangti music to show different flavor. There are over 200 traditional plays and over 1000 musical compositiions of Chaozhou Opera, serving as important data to study the Shengqiang (tone and singing tune) of Chinese Opera. Adopting the ancient music score “Ersipu”, Chaozhou Opera is charmingly played with natural voice. The tunes include the beautiful Qingsanliudiao, the solemn Zhongsanliudiao, the sad Huosanwudiao and easy Fanxiandiao. The characters of definite pitch of the percussion instrument as well as the harmonious polyphony of the accompaniment, are imitated by many other kinds of operas since 1950.(https://www.daowen.com)

As a vivid example of traditional Chinese opera that is still alive and a typical manifestation of China’s rich national culture, Chaozhou Opera bears profound historical and supreme aesthetic value. However, since 1990, restrained by the market economy and struck by various modern artistic forms, Chaozhou Opera is in a status of hardship with less investment, lower artistic level and a brain drain. This excellent traditional performance is on the edge of extinction, which needs urgent protection.

Chaozhou Opera declared by City of Shantou and City of Chaozhou was selected into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006. Moreover, Chaozhou Opera declared by City of Jieyang was selected into the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.