Local Chinese Operas
By admin on 2015-01-29

There are a number of lesser-known local folk operas in China. These currently include the following non-exhaustive, alphabetical list:

Fangshan Drum Dance

Not an opera form per se, it consists of allusive movements and costumes representing the sparrow as it spreads its wings, pecks, sits on its eggs, etc., to the accompaniment of drums, gongs and cymbals.

Also an older opera-like form from Fujian Province that was famous for its clown role, but transformed itself into a more traditional opera style under the influence of Hui Opera and Peking Opera, as well as under the influence of the music of the city of Yiyang, Hunan Province.

Hebei Bangzi ("Wooden Clapper") Opera

Apart from the oddity of the music, this opera style is close to that of Peking Opera.

Huaguxi Opera

Also known as China's spicy opera, since it deals with problems of gender as well as with social satire and the class struggle, Huaguxi Opera also stages lighter pieces that are especially popular during lantern ceremonies and the like.

Huju Opera

The opera of Huju, a smaller city near Shanghai, is performed mainly at private weddings and the like, being sung/ recited in Shanghai dialect.

A 300-year-old traditional opera style from Fujian Province, sung/ recited in the Fuzhou ("of Fujian") dialect.

It is heavily laden with acrobatics and mask-changing sequences.

A rural opera from Shaanxi Province which, like the opera in Hebei, specializes in bangzi, or the wooden clapper.