Ming opera style

Ming opera style

Yiyang Opera, a local traditional drama in Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province, is one of the national intangible cultural heritage.

On May 20, 2006, Yiyang Opera was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, numbered IV-5.

Cultural characteristics

The role of Yiyang tune is divided into Xiaosheng, Zhengsheng, Laosheng, Erhua, Sanhua, Xiaodan, Zhengdan, Laodan and so on. Its singing structure was initially composed of music and cards, accompanied by gongs and drums instead of orchestral accompaniment. The performer sings by one person and receives tunes by several people, thus forming a very distinctive singing mode of "unaccompanied song and gang tune" in the Ming Dynasty. Ye also developed a rolling tone to break the system of the combination of songs and cards, which further enhanced the dramatic and expressive power of the vocal music.

In the Ming Dynasty, literati and refined scholars seldom wrote, often adapted from the ready-made scripts of Kunshan Opera. The lyrics were popular, and the songs were easy to accept by the masses. Their singing style was solo singing by one person, accompanied by a group of people, only noisy gongs and drums and other percussion accompaniments, which was suitable for the field performance of Tongqu. Because it is widely popular among the people, and later developed into many tribes, long-term rivalry with Kunshan Opera. The legends of the middle and late Ming Dynasty are mainly Kunshan and Yiyang tunes.

Representational repertoire

Biyang Opera is divided into two categories: Liantai Opera and Legendary Book. The former includes Biography of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Yuefei Biography, Mulian Biography and Fengshen Biography. The latter includes Qingmei Club, Gucheng Club, Dingtianshan, Jinmingji, Pearl Story and Water Selling Story.

Epidemic areas

Yiyang Opera is mainly inherited in Guixi, Wannian, Leping, Poyang, Fuliang, Shangrao and other areas in Jiangxi Province. It was spread in Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou and Beijing in the early and middle Ming Dynasty.

Inheritance and Protection

Inheritance value

Yiyang Opera is a wonderful flower of Chinese traditional culture. Its contribution to the development of Chinese opera, especially local opera, is irreplaceable.

Current situation of inheritance

Over the past two decades, due to various reasons, the inheritance of Yiyang Opera has entered a dilemma. The performing troop has been seriously aging, the name of the troupe has survived, and many excellent plays and singing tunes are on the verge of being lost. Even in its popular place, Yiyang Opera has been unable to meet the audience for many years and has fallen into an embarrassing situation that has been forgotten.

Heritage figures

Lin Xihuai, female, Han nationality, on May 8, 2018, was selected as the fifth batch of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects, the representative project: Yiyang Tune.