Nanju

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Nanju

Applicant: Xianfeng County, Hubei Province

Item No.: 726

Project No.: Ⅳ - 125

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xianfeng County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Xianfeng Nanju art inheritance and Protection Center

Introduction to Nanju Opera:

Applicant: Xianfeng County, Hubei Province

As one of the four major operas in Hubei Province, Nanju opera is popular in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It was formed in the Longjia period of the Qing Dynasty and matured in the reign of Daoguang. It has a history of more than 200 years. There are three kinds of tunes in Nanju Opera: Nanlu opera, Beilu opera and Shanglu opera. Nanlu opera belongs to Erhuang opera system and Beilu opera belongs to xipi opera system. Both of them originated from Jinghe School of Han Opera, which was introduced into the southwest mountainous area of Hubei Province around the Qianlong period. Shanglu Opera is Tanxi opera and chuanbangzi opera, which were introduced into Shinan Prefecture around the Jiaqing period. These tunes and Enshi local language, folk customs and Yangqin music, folk tunes and other mutual integration penetration, continuous evolution, and gradually formed a Southern Drama with Southwest Hubei style.

Nanju opera is rich in repertoire, which is known as 800 kinds. There are about 600 kinds of existing materials, of which about 300 are more popular, mainly based on historical romance, folktales, myths and legends. Nanju opera is divided into four major professions: Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou. All walks of life have both culture and martial arts, especially in performance. It is often performed in culture, drama and martial arts, and people's modeling and dressing are also highly valued.

Nanju was originally an art enjoyed by chieftains and landlords. Later, it gradually entered the life of the masses and became a popular opera among the local people. It is not only the product of the collision and combination of Bachu culture, but also the product of the integration of Tujia culture and Han culture. It has extremely important reference value in the study of Bachu culture and the economic, cultural and social conditions of Enshi minority areas.