Jinghe Opera

Jinghe Opera, prevalent in Lixian county, Changde city of the northwest Hunan and Hubei's Jingzhou and Shashi cities, is a genre of various tune patterns.

The opera can be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). With its combination of Chu melody and Qinqiang (Shaanxi Opera) originating from the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), it has developed into its primary form. Jinghe Opera boasts rich repertoires with over 500 that have been preserved, including over 50 complete ones and 60 fragmented ones.

They are mainly derived from legends, traditional novels, and folk stories from the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The roles of the Jinghe Opera can be divided into six categories: Sheng (a male character), Xiaosheng (a young male role), Dan (female roles collectively), Laodan (the female roles), Hualian (painted face) and ugly (a clown).

The Jinghe Opera's music has special appeal as it takes features from music in the southern and the northern Jinhe Opera in Lizhou. It has a long history and still keeps a large number of precious Qupai (tunes) and percussion notations. These are of high research value in linguistics, folklore studies and ethnomusicology.