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Yue Opera - beautiful, elegant, and full of Jiangnan spirit

  • 31-01-2025
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Yue Opera (Chinese Pinyin: yuèjù, English: Yue Opera) - China's second largest opera, known as the second national opera, also known as the "most widely spread local opera", some believe it is the "largest local opera", known as "Chinese opera" abroad. It is also one of the five major operas in China (Beijing Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Ping Opera, and Henan Opera). It originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang, originated in Shanghai, flourished throughout the country, and spread to the world. In its development, it has absorbed the essence of Kunqu Opera, drama, Shaoxing Opera and other characteristic operas, and has experienced a historical evolution from male Yue Opera to female Yue Opera.

Yue Opera is good at lyricism, mainly singing, with beautiful voice, sincere and moving performance, beautiful and elegant, and full of Jiangnan (the area south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River) spirit; it is mainly based on the theme of "talented men and beautiful women", and there are many artistic schools, and there are as many as thirteen major schools that are recognized. It is mainly popular in the vast southern regions such as Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, and most northern regions such as Beijing and Tianjin. In its heyday, except for a few provinces and autonomous regions such as Tibet, Guangdong, and Guangxi, there were professional troupes throughout the country.

As an important type of traditional opera, Chinese Yue Opera has unique artistic charm and cultural characteristics. The following is a brief outline of its characteristics:

1. Singing and music

  • Soft and lyrical: mainly based on "Sigongdiao," "Chidiao" and "Xianxiadiao," the melody is graceful and beautiful, and it is good at expressing delicate emotions.
  • Accompaniment fusion: traditional instruments (erhu, pipa) and Western instruments (violin) are combined to form a "Chinese and Western" band arrangement.

2. Performance style

  • Delicate and vivid: focus on expression, posture and eyes, emphasize "moving people with emotion", especially good at the theme of talented men and beautiful women.
  • Freehand virtual: stage movements are stylized, such as waving sleeves to replace the wind, virtual rowing, simple scenery, highlighting the beauty of artistic conception.
  • Female cross-dressing: In the early days, all-female performances, female actors cross-dressed young men, forming a unique aesthetic.

3. Language and recitation

  • Wu dialect charm: based on Shengzhou dialect, integrating Zhongzhou rhyme, forming an elegant and soft stage Mandarin, retaining the characteristics of Jiangnan dialect.

The 1950s and early 1960s were the golden age of Yue Opera, creating a number of artistic masterpieces with great influence, such as "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "The West Chamber", "A Dream of Red Mansions", "Xianglin Sao", etc., which have won great reputations both at home and abroad. "The Love Detective", "The Story of Li Wa", "Chasing Fish", "The Story of Chunxiang", "The Jade Hairpin", "The Peacock Flies Southeast", "He Wenxiu", "The Story of the Colored Building", "The Golden Branch", "The Blood Handprint", "Li Xiuying" and other excellent repertoires have become excellent repertoires, among which "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "The Love Detective", "Chasing Fish", "The Jade Hairpin", and "A Dream of Red Mansions" have also been filmed, making Yue Opera further popular across the country. With the development of socialist construction, Yue Opera began to move from Shanghai to the whole country.

On the morning of March 27, 2006, Hangzhou held a commemorative meeting for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese Yue Opera, which officially kicked off the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Yue Opera. The celebration activities also included the unveiling ceremony of the Yue Opera Centennial Monument and the groundbreaking ceremony of Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Art Center; the Chinese Yue Opera Centennial Summit Forum; the reception performance of high-quality repertoires and the performance of some excellent repertoires; the "100th Anniversary of Yue Opera·Yue Opera Hometown Tour" series of activities; the "100th Anniversary of Yue Opera·Classic Yue Opera Film Replay" activity; the 100th Anniversary of Yue Opera·Mass Cultural Activities, etc. The entire celebration lasted until the "China Yue Opera Art Festival" held in Shaoxing in October. During the period, Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe and others performed classic repertoires.

On May 20, 2006, Yue Opera was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

On July 24, 2006, the "Yue Opera Girls' Competition" jointly organized by CCTV and Shanghai Media Group was launched at the Shanghai Yifu Stage. The competition was divided into three major competition areas: Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shaoxing.


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