Guangdong opera

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Cantonese Opera

Applicant: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

Item No.: 180

Project No.: Ⅳ - 36

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Guangdong Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

Protection unit: Guangdong opera theater

Introduction to Cantonese Opera:

Applicant: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

Cantonese Opera is mainly popular in Guangdong Province, southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and other urban and rural areas where Cantonese dialect is used. At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Yiyang and Kunqiang were introduced into Guangdong. During the Xianfeng and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, the local troupes in Guangdong took "banghuang" (xipi and Erhuang) as the basic melody, including Gaoqiang, Kunqiang, Guangdong folk music and Shidiao. They used "Xipeng Mandarin" as the basic language, mixed with Cantonese dialect, and gradually formed Cantonese opera. Around 1912, Cantonese opera performance has basically changed to Guangzhou dialect, the performance system is becoming more and more perfect, began to intersperse folk tunes in banghuang, and changed falsetto singing to "flat throat" singing.

In the early stage, the traditional repertoire of Cantonese Opera mainly included yipengxue, erdumei, Sanguantang, sijinshi, wudengke and other so-called "Eighteen versions of the river and lake", and later appeared Huanghuashan, xihehui, shuangjieyuan, xuechongyuan and other "Eighteen versions of the new river and lake" and suwu shepherd, Daiyu burying flowers and other "Eighteen versions of the grand show". Other representative plays include "baijinlong", "huoshao Afang Palace", "pingguibie kiln", "baoliandeng", "Luocheng Shushu", "fengyiting" and so on. The basic tunes of Cantonese Opera are Bangzi and Erhuang, which include Gaoqiang, Kunqiang, Guangdong folk rap and Xiaoqu Zadiao. At first, Cantonese Opera band was composed of Erxian, Yueqin, Sanxian, bamboo Violin and Xiao. Later, it gradually absorbed some other new musical instruments.

The original ten trades of Cantonese Opera are mo, Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou, Wai, Xiao, Fu, tie and ZA. Later, they are simplified into six categories: Wenwu Sheng, Xiaosheng, Zhengyin Huadan, Erhang Huadan, Chou Sheng and wusheng. The performance of Cantonese opera has the characteristics of simplicity and ruggedness, including one foot, sliding rope, eye movement, small jump, waist bending and other unique skills. His martial arts are based on the southern school's martial arts, including target, hand bridge, Shaolin boxing, and difficult chair and high platform skills. Cantonese opera has concise make-up and rich colors, and its costumes are mostly embroidered with rich local characteristics.

Cantonese Opera is widely absorbed in Guangdong music, embroidery, ivory carving, ceramics, gray sculpture and other local art forms, which fully reflects the regional cultural tradition of the Cantonese ethnic community. It radiates all over the world and has a strong cultural cohesion among the Chinese people in the world. However, in the face of the fierce impact of modern urban culture, the living space of Cantonese opera has greatly shrunk and is in an endangered state, so we must put in efforts to protect it as soon as possible.