Category: Shaoxing Opera

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JANUARY 5TH, 2010
By VIVIAN

Repertoire of Shaoxing Opera

Butterfly Lovers

Butterfly Lovers

The Chinese lover story — “Butterfly Lovers”, or “Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai” – has been adapted into many kinds of opera genres, and the Yue opera version of the story is among the most successful. The story goes like this:

In order that she may travel to Hangzhou, a city in Zhejiang Province, to study, Zhu Yingtai impersonates and takes on a male identity. There she meets Liang Shanbo and in the course of their studies, they become extremely close friends.

When the time comes for Yingtai to return home, the pair hesitate greatly in departure, entreating each other with much ceremony and suppressed sadness. Yingtai offers ‘his’ younger sister’s hand in marriage and entreats Shanbo to visit ‘his’ residence soon to raise the issue of marriage with ‘his’ parents. Shanbo is unaware that Yingtai does not have a younger sister and is in fact offering her own hand in marriage.

A year passes before Shanbo makes his way to the Zhu Residence. Liang Shanbo is overjoyed to realize Yingtai’s true identity and that she is in love with him. However, happiness turns into sorrow as the two soon discover that Yingtai has been betrothed to another man. In great sadness, the two lovers meet at the tower and lament their great misfortune. Upon his return to Hangzhou, Shanbo falls ill in his great misery and dies. Yingtai hears of this on her marriage day and flees to his grave. There, folklore has it that her crying so moved the heavens that the clouds themselves shed tears at her grief. Further, the earth beneath her cracked apart, and the ill-fated Yingtai commits suicide by jumping into the opened grave. Miraculously, the pair are transformed into butterflies. Arising into the air, they flutter and dance side by side among the flowers, never to be separated again.

categories Shaoxing Opera

0 RESPONSES comments
JANUARY 5TH, 2010
By VIVIAN

Shaoxing Opera

Shaoxing OperaShaoxing Opera is a newcomer among the Chinese local operas. It developed from local musical plays that used only the ban-clapper as the accompaniment in East China’s Zhejiang Province. As the province belonged to the Yue State in the ancient times, it is popularly known as Yue opera.

Shaoxing Opera has a history of more than 80 years, and has its origins in a rough and ready kind of drama told by actors in fields. At the turn of the century, this basic drama began to make its way from the fields to the stage, and developed from a small group of actors to larger and larger troupes accompanied by musicians.

The popularity of this art form began to grow in 1916, when it was performed in Shanghai to large audiences of Shaoxing origin. Gradually, first string instruments and later other instruments were added to the orchestra, although the music was still based on the same Shaoxing melodies. The performances were, in fact, very successful.

In 1923, the training of female actors for this art form was set up. Since 1928, the Shaoxing opera troupes, consisting of solely female actors, began their performances in Shanghai. In a few years, females impersonating males had become the most important feature of this opera form, and at the same time the yue opera became well known all over China. In the Qing dynasty China (1644-1911) mixed troupes consisting of both male and female actors had been prohibited, and even in Peking opera, the lady-actors were not allowed to enter the stage together with men before 1930.

From the 1940s on, Shaoxing Opera developed a great deal and the melodies were enriched, and performances enhanced. It was a period of great innovation, and many famous actors established reputations at the time. One of these actors was Yuan Xuefen. She became famous for her performances of female characters that were decent and kind-hearted, but suffered tragic fates nonetheless.

categories Shaoxing Opera

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