Huaihai opera () is a form of local traditional Chinese theatre which combines musics, vocal performance, and dance. Some plays contain mime, acrobatics, and

Kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

. It was created in the 19th century and fully developed in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The form is popular in

Shuyang Shuyang () is a county in northern Jiangsu province. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suqian. Shuyang sits on the Northern Jiangsu Plains and borders the cities of Xuzhou, Lianyungang and Huai'an to the north, east ...

Suqian Suqian (, IPA: ) is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It borders Xuzhou to the northwest, Lianyungang to the northeast, Huai'an to the south, and the province of Anhui to the west. History Suqian was said to be the si ...

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its name derives from ...

and

Yancheng Yancheng () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, People's Republic of China. As the city with the largest jurisdictional area in Jiangsu, Yancheng borders Lianyungang to the north, Huai'an to the west, ...

, with the dialect of Shuyang as the standard pronunciation.

History

Huaihai opera began in the years around the 1830s and originally as a folk ditty in Shuyang. Fifty years later, several famous troupes were found and spread to the other regions near Shuyang rapidly. In 1900, female artists first appeared on the stage. In the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(

), almost all the artists jointed the resistance. The artists wrote and played hundreds of new operas in order to energize the people. This also was the fully developed and recognised time for the Huaihai opera.

Modern development

The four decades from the 1950s to 1980s were another golden age for the opera. However, the diversified means of cultural consumption and the impacts from TV programs, pop music, and internet have almost driven the opera into a blind alley. Furthermore, the influence of Western culture has also left the younger generations impatient with the slow pacing of Huaihai opera. In response, the opera began to see reform starting in the 1990s, whereas these reforms have been hampered by a lack of funding that makes the performance of new plays difficult. It is common for other traditional Chinese operas. Now, Huaihai opera is listed on Chinese National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Performers and roles

Like most of traditional Chinese theatres, a Huaihai opera performer requires a long and arduous apprenticeship beginning from an early age. Before the 1940s, pupils were often handpicked at a young age by a tutor and trained for at least 5 years on contract from the child's parents. In larger troupes, the pupils would be trained for

Peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

as well, which made the contract even longer. The tutorial skills are copied from the

. Performers are first trained in acrobatics, followed by singing and gestures. Since the teacher fully provided for the pupil during this period, the student accrued a debt to his master that was later repaid through performance earnings.

Sheng

The Sheng (生) is the main male role in Huaihai opera. This role were originally divided into five subtypes. * The laosheng is a dignified older role. These characters are generally gentlemen, senior officers, generals, and noblemen. * The Xiaosheng is a young handsome male character. Similar to

Kunqu Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. Kunqu is one of the oldest traditional operas of the Han nationality, and is also a treasure of Chinese traditional cult ...

and

, these characters sing in a high, shrill voice with occasional breaks to represent the voice changing period of adolescence. The xiaosheng performer are often involved in the love stories with beautiful women. * Wentongsheng: Wentongsheng refers to a bit role. * Jianbai * Goujue

Dan

The

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

(旦) refers to any female role in Huaihai opera. Dan roles were originally divided into five subtypes. *Naixiaodan: Naixiaodan refers to little girls. *Huadan: A vivacious and unmarried woman. *Qingyi: A virtuous and elite woman. *Laodan: An old woman. *Caidan: A female clown role.

Staging

The Huaihai opera is fairly close to people's lives and it can be played at anywhere. After the 1880s, some opera stages were built according to the stage of Peking opera. The stages have traditionally been square platforms. The action on stage is usually visible from at least three sides.

Aural performance elements

Stage speech

Huaihai opera is performed using both Shuyang dialect and

Modern Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standar ...

now.

Song

The most common tunes of Huaihai opera are "Eastern" as well as "Good Sights". The song lyrics generally includes emotive, condemnatory, narrative, descriptive, disputive, and "shared space separate sensations" lyrics.

Music

The accompaniment for a Huaihai opera performance includes an ensemble of melodic and percussion instruments. The lead melodic instrument is the

sanxian The (, literally "three strings") is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. It has a long fretless fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes ...

, a three-stringed fretless plucked musical instrument. The second melodic instrument is the

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument. Since the instruments of Peking opera are introduced, the percussion instruments like the daluo, xiaoluo, and naobo have played more important role in the performance.

Repertoire

The repertoire of Huaihai opera involves of over 100 works. Most of the works are focused on the lives of ordinary people. The plays taken from historical novels or traditional stories are also very popular.

References

Chinese opera {{Chinese opera