ChineseToday | Art rooted in paddy fields: Yangxi Opera artists in SW China's Chongqing

(240524) -- CHONGQING, May 24, 2024 (Xinhua) -- Yangxi Opera artist Chen Yongxia practices Yangxi Opera on the bank of earth by a rice field at a village in Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, southwest China's Chongqing, May 17, 2024. In Qingquan Village of Tonggu Township in Youyang, there is a group of opera artists consisting of local farmers of an average age of nearly 70, who perform the ancient Yangxi Opera on the courtyards and dams as the stage, and among the paddy fields, mountains and forests as their background in the village about 1,000 meters above sea level surrounded by mountains and waters.

Around the time of May, the white-haired opera troupe members plant rice seedlings in the paddy fields as their routine work, when the day's work draws to a close, Chen Yongxia, one of the leading artists, is heard singing Yangxi Opera in his resonant voice that echos in the mountains.

? ? After washing off the soil on their bodies and putting away farming tools, the artists sit around a sweet cinnamon tree in front of Chen's house that provides a refreshing place to have a nice rest in the busy farming season, also an area for the opera troupe to rehearse.

Every time the troupe receives an invitation to perform Yangxi Opera, Chen will gather the artists from the paddy fields, discuss the repertoire, assign roles, change costumes and put on masks, then rehearse the plays telling stories about great heroes and heroines.

Youyang Yangxi Opera, also known as Youyang Tujia Masked Yangxi Opera, is a local opera of Youyang with a long history. When local people of Tujia ethnic group encounter major events in their lives, they usually invite a troupe to perform Yangxi Opera. The performance will last for one to three days. The performers will choose the corresponding repertoires according to different occasions as domestic events like wedding, funeral, birthday, recovering from illness, coming to age, public affairs like praying for rain, even to celebrate when a local student topping certain important exams.

Most of the roles played in Yangxi Opera are required to cover their faces with white cloth wrapping around head, revealing only eyes. A wooden mask then would be worn on the forehead, leaving a width of two fingers between the lower edge of the mask and the eyes, so as to allow the performers to observe the stage. During the performance, the artists portray the characters and interpret the plots through body language and chanting dialogues.

The repertoires are mostly passed down orally through generations. Over the past decades, Chen and his predecessors have been collecting and organizing Yangxi Opera texts. Thanks to their efforts, more than 200 repertoires have been preserved.

In Tonggu Township, people of Tujia ethnic group have been hearing and practicing Yangxi Opera for generations. In 2021, Youyang Tujia Masked Yangxi Opera was listed as one of the fifth batch of the national intangible cultural heritages.

Nowadays, more and more young people are attracted to Yangxi Opera, and a younger leader for Chen Yongxia's troupe has been ready to take on the job. But for Chen and all the other elder artists, the stage of Yangxi Opera has no curtain call. When the gongs and drums start to sound, they continue to live on their opera life in the fields they love. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

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