Shaoxing opera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shaoxing opera (or Yueju - simplified Chinese: 越剧; traditional Chinese: 越劇; pinyin: Yuèjù , Yue opera) is a local Chinese opera popular in the southern regions of the Yangtze River. It originated in Shengxian County (present Shengzhou City), in the Shaoxing region of northeastern Zhejiang Province, which belonged to the Yue State in ancient times, so it was popularly known as Yueju (越劇, Yue opera). Yue opera has a history of about 800 years. It was derived from a kind of story-singing. At first, it was performed with a small drum and hardwood clappers for rhythm and later, choral and orchestral accompaniment was added. It drew some musical elements from Shao opera and subsequently formed its own characteristics. It does not use the elaborate face painting of Peking Opera.

Yue opera is noted for its lyricism, and singing is dominant in it. Its tunes are sweet and beautiful and the performance vivid and full of local color. Originally Yue opera was only performed by males and then changed to all female performances. After 1949, male and females sometimes worked together. Notable actors include Yin Guifang, Zhu Shuizhao, Yuan Xuefen, Wang Wenjuan, Xu Yulan, Fan Ruijuan, Fu Quanxiang, Lu Jinhua, Jin Caifeng, Lü Ruiying, Zhang Yunxia, Zhang Guifeng, and Xu Tianhong.

Currently, Yue operas are shown on television almost every night, at least in Zhejiang Province, particularly on two Hangzhou channels, HTV4 & HTV6 (often about 6-7 pm). The televised operas are almost always romances in which both male and female roles are played by women. The male characters wear thick-soled shoes similar to those worn in ancient Greek drama: kothurnos (see buskin). In Hangzhou, groups of four or five people singing & playing the music of the operas perform in parks and attract small crowds of both local people and Chinese tourists. One park on the eastern side of West Lake usually has several such groups.