National Intangible Cultural Heritage: Meichi Wengqin Opera

Regarded as the cradle of Wengqin opera, Meichi Village of Yanglousi Township of Linxiang City is located in the heartland of Longjiao Mountain. Wengqin opera is so popular with local people that they are said to have no day without playing allegros, beating drums and singing operas. Hailed as artistic art with distinctive local features in northern Hunan, the opera is also well received by the people there. Last year, it was included in national intangible cultural heritage and Meichi troupe was awarded "Top 100 Local Troupe in Hunan". Based on the prototype of local people in Meichi Village, its masterpiece “The Village Official Was a Migrant Worker” was staged in Beijing upon invitation and won the special prize.

It is a tradition to sing opera in Linxiang City and its surrounding counties and cities of Tongcheng, Chongyang and Chibi in Hubei Province on special occasions, such as weddings, funerals and major festivals. With Wengqin functioning as the main musical instrument of the opera, its music derived from featured local folk songs and nights songs. The opera, whose works utterly draw upon the local stories, local people, local dialects and even local tunes, enjoys great popularity.

In Meichi Village, local people were all good at singing and dancing and known as "No Day Without Allegros, Drums and Operas". With a population of more than 500 people in the village, over 60% of local people could sing Wengqin opera at the prime time. A performance could be staged as long as six to seven people gathered together. However, nowadays only one third of the population know how to perform Wengqin opera.

Most Meichi people tended to learn opera from childhood and were brought up under the long-term nurture of local traditional art. They went to school or were engaged in farming and other work during the daytime while all villagers, young and old, men and women, gathered together during the nighttime when the old generation would impart the techniques of Wengqin Opera to the younger generations.

With Meichi Wengqin Opera passing on from generation to generation, each person in Meichi Village serves as the guardian of the national intangible cultural heritage.

Chinese source: yueyang.gov.cn