Mulian Opera (Chenhe Mulian Opera)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Mulian Opera (Chenhe Mulian Opera)

Applicant: Xupu County, Hunan Province

Project No.: 231

Project No.: Ⅳ - 87

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xupu County, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Xupu County Chenhe Mulian opera inheritance and Protection Center

Brief introduction of Mulian Opera (Chenhe Mulian Opera)

Applicant: Xupu County, Hunan Province

Mulian opera is a kind of opera performance preserved in folk activities. It gets its name because it mainly plays the story of saving Mulian's mother. The story of Mulian's saving his mother was first recorded in Buddhist classics. The main content is as follows: Fu Xiang gave aid to the lonely and poor all his life, zhaibu monks and Taoists, and was granted the title of Empress Dowager. Fu's wife Liu Shi Qing Ti (also known as Liu Si Niang) disrespected the gods, broke the precepts and killed animals. After her death, she was sent to hell. In order to save his mother, his son, Fu Luobu, went to the west to seek Buddha's transcendence. The Buddha felt for him and allowed him to convert to Salmonella, changed his name to Damu Qianlian, and gave him the Yulan basin Sutra and the staff. Mulian went through all kinds of difficulties and dangers in hell, and finally found his mother and his family. For hundreds of years, after the training of countless artists, Mulian opera has been popular among the people with its extensive and complicated dramatic forms, all inclusive performance means, profound music materials, blending of feelings and scenes, and interactive performance. It was once widely spread in Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Fujian, Henan and other places.

The main play of Chenhe Mulian opera is the biography of Mulian. In their long-term artistic practice, artists have constantly expanded the scope of their plays, including "qianmulian", "liangzhuan", "Xiangshan" and a series of plays called "huamulian", forming a huge repertoire combination, known as "forty-eight Mulian plays". During the five hundred years of Ming and Qing Dynasties, singing Mulian opera has always been the biggest national cultural and entertainment activity in Chenhe area.

The legend of Mulian opera spread from Kaifeng to Nanle in Henan Province in Song Dynasty. There is an oral script of Mulian opera in the folk of Nanle. In terms of its plot, ideological content and main characters, it comes down in one continuous line with Mulian Bianwen in the Tang Dynasty. Mulian opera in Puyang is mainly folk juggling, which integrates opera, martial arts, fireworks and magic. It has colorful special effects such as sawing, grinding and researching, opening intestines and belly dissection, dancing movements such as plate fork, rolling fork, hanging jade bottle with golden hook, playing water snake, digging four doors, and many boxing techniques such as Vajra boxing, Wusong flower picking boxing, Wulong Chudong boxing. It has unique costume, props, makeup and performance. Because it is deeply hidden among the people, it still retains its rough and primitive features. At the beginning of its singing, Huagu tune was changed to Daping tune in Qing Dynasty.

Mulian opera, known as "the living fossil of Chinese drama", provides valuable materials for the study of the origin, evolution, development and inheritance of Chinese drama.

However, Mulian opera, which is only preserved in some rural areas at present, is becoming more and more old, and few people are willing to learn from it. The best young actors in the professional academy are almost lost. Due to the lack of protection and research funds, a large number of precious words, audio and video materials are gradually lost and damaged, and some are even lured away by foreign experts and scholars. In addition, Mulian opera has been listed as a tourism project in some places. Driven by the interests, the traditional performance has been fragmented and distorted, and immediate measures need to be taken to rescue and protect it.