Jinghe Opera

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Jinghe Opera

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

Item No.: 179

Project No.: Ⅳ - 35

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Hubei Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Jingzhou Mass Art Museum (Jingzhou Art Research Institute)

Brief introduction of Jinghe Opera

Applicant: Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

The original name of Jinghe opera is Jingsha opera, commonly known as Shanghe opera, Shanghe Luzi and jinghetiao. Hunan is commonly known as Datai opera and dahanban. After the founding of new China, it was named Jinghe opera. It has been popular in Northwest Hunan and Jingzhou (Shashi) for more than 400 years. Many of the Jinghe operas that are now popular in Shashi District and Jingzhou District retain the original "single cymbal way".

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, drama performances in Shashi were very prosperous. By the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1651), Jinghe opera had been performed here. In the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, "Tai Shou" and "San Yuan" two famous Jinghe opera troupes appeared in Shashi, where famous actors gathered and enjoyed a good reputation for more than 100 years. Up to now, Jinghe opera is still popular in the area of Jingsha and is welcomed by the people in the central urban area and surrounding areas of Jingzhou.

Jinghe opera is a kind of multi tone opera, which is composed of Gaoqiang, Kunqiang, tanqiang (north-south road), zaqiang ditty and so on. It also absorbs many musical elements from Jingchu folk songs of labor and life. His music blends the north and the south, with unique charm; his singing is high pitched and exciting, beautiful and tactful; his performance is straightforward and close to life. At present, there are 300 gongchi tunes in Jinghe opera, with nearly 1000 repertoires. Jinghe opera occupies a certain position in the history of Chinese opera. It has had different degrees of influence on the South opera of Enshi and the South and North Road operas in Southwest China. It has important reference value in the research of national folk opera and music. For half a century, the development of Jinghe opera has stagnated and gradually declined. At present, although the fourth and fifth generations of Jinghe opera are still alive, most of them are too old to engage in performing activities. Jinghe opera has no successors and is in an endangered state, so it is in urgent need of protection and inheritance.