Meihu (Huayin Mihu)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Meihu (Huayin Mihu)

Applicant: Huayin City, Shaanxi Province

Project No.: 700

Project No.: Ⅳ - 99

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Huayin City, Shaanxi Province

Protection unit: Huayin Mihu Opera Company Limited

Introduction to Meihu (Huayin Mihu)

Applicant: Huayin City, Shaanxi Province

Meihu, also known as "Mihu", "Quzi", "Qingqu", is widely spread in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and other places. There are two theories about the origin of Meihu. One is that it originated from Meixian and Huxian in Shaanxi Province, and got its name because of its location. The other is that it originated from Huayin and Huaxian in Shaanxi Province. It is called charming opera because of its melodious melody. It is called "mixi" for short, and is commonly known as "Mihu".

On the basis of continuous singing of folk songs, Meihu gradually transited from floor stand rap to stage performance. There are two main forms of performance. One is the form of Quyi, which still retains floor stand singing. The libretto is mostly ZheZiXi, which sings to the end and seldom speaks plainly; the other is the form of stage performance, which has white singing and performance, and the choice of Qupai is relatively free. Meihu is a kind of local opera with distinctive characteristics, rich tunes and wide spread area, which plays an important role in Chinese opera culture.

Mihu is the second largest type of Shaanxi local opera with a long history. Huayin is one of its earliest and most influential birthplaces. Huayin fan Hu often performs in the form of "stall", mainly singing narrative Divertimento, commonly known as "bench tune", also known as "Qingchang tune". Under the influence of "Tanci", "zhuanci" in Song Dynasty and Zaju in Yuan Dynasty, "qingchangqu" began to transform into "Gaotai" performance on the premise of maintaining the basic performance form of "ditanzi", and gradually formed Huayin Fanhu in the form of drama.

Huayin fan Hu's singing music style is delicate, soft and lyrical, which includes many tunes, such as "72 in major and 36 in minor".

Before and after the founding of the people's Republic of China, there were more than 100 "Qingchang Mihu" clubs in the mainland of Huayin, among which the Zile clubs in Zhaoping, Nanying and Kangying villages have a history of more than 100 years. Several major fan Hu artists of Huayin were employed by the provincial fan Hu troupe, which greatly improved the artistic level of the troupe and made great contributions to the development of this kind of opera.