China Intangible Cultural Heritage

Year: 2006

Sort: Traditional Opera

Area: Hubei

Serial No.: IV-30

Declarer: Wuhan City, Hubei Province

Han Opera is one of the oldest local operas in the Hubei area, with a history of more than 300 years．It is the main opera of Hubei Province, originally known as the Han Tune and Chu Opera. It was renamed the Han Opera after the Revolution of 1911.

The tune of Han Opera is mainly Xipi and Erhuang, creating for the first time the Pihuang tune system. The opera has ten characters: Mo, Jing, Sheng, Dan, Chou, Wai, Xiao, Tie, Fu and Za. It has many ditties and plentiful tunes. There are more than 400 traditional songs and tunes. Han Opera gong and drum performances are plentiful and, are mainly divided into Dada, Xiaoda and Chuanda, of which Chuanda is very special -- combined with gongs, the rhythm is bright and the atmosphere is impassioned.

Previously there were thousands of traditional Han Opera plays, but now there are just over 650 left, which are mainly about history and folk stories. Known as one of the sources of Beijing Opera, the 300-year-old Han Opera has an especially rich regional culture flavor.

However, several Han Opera troupes in Hubei have been disbanded or incorporated into other troupes in the past few years, due to shrinking market demands. But Bi still persists. Empty chairs in the audience bear witness to the decline in popularity of the Han Opera.