Huju , or "Shanghai opera" is a variety of
Chinese operaChinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera is one of the most notable.-Dynastic periods:Canjun opera of the Three Kingdoms period was...
from the area of
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
. It is typically sung in the
ShanghaineseShanghainese , or the Shanghai dialect , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese dialects...
dialect.
It is particularly popular in Baihe, the oldest town in the Qingpu District of Shanghai.
http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/Districts/Qingpu/userobject1ai808385.html There are eight to ten
huju troupes in the town, and many local residents hire the troupes to perform for weddings and funerals.
http://english.shqp.gov.cn/gb/content/2005-06/06/content_65120.htm
Huju is accompanied by an ensemble of
traditional Chinese instrumentsTraditional Chinese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Traditionally, they were classified according to the materials used in their construction.-The Eight Sounds :...
, including
diziThe dizi , is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or hengdi , and has varieties including the qudi and bangdi ....
(transverse bamboo flute),
erhuThe erhu , also called nanhu , and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras...
(two-stringed fiddle),
pipaThe pipa is a four-stringed Chinese instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
(pear-shaped lute),
yangqinThe trapezoidal yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer originally from Central Asia . It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 , but over time the first character changed to 揚 , which means "acclaimed". It is also spelled yang quin or yang ch'in...
(hammered dulcimer), and percussion.
Discussion
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Huju , or "Shanghai opera" is a variety of
Chinese operaChinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera is one of the most notable.-Dynastic periods:Canjun opera of the Three Kingdoms period was...
from the area of
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
. It is typically sung in the
ShanghaineseShanghainese , or the Shanghai dialect , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese dialects...
dialect.
It is particularly popular in Baihe, the oldest town in the Qingpu District of Shanghai.
http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/Districts/Qingpu/userobject1ai808385.html There are eight to ten
huju troupes in the town, and many local residents hire the troupes to perform for weddings and funerals.
http://english.shqp.gov.cn/gb/content/2005-06/06/content_65120.htm
Huju is accompanied by an ensemble of
traditional Chinese instrumentsTraditional Chinese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Traditionally, they were classified according to the materials used in their construction.-The Eight Sounds :...
, including
diziThe dizi , is a Chinese transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or hengdi , and has varieties including the qudi and bangdi ....
(transverse bamboo flute),
erhuThe erhu , also called nanhu , and sometimes known in the West as the "Chinese violin" or "Chinese two-string fiddle," is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras...
(two-stringed fiddle),
pipaThe pipa is a four-stringed Chinese instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
(pear-shaped lute),
yangqinThe trapezoidal yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer originally from Central Asia . It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 , but over time the first character changed to 揚 , which means "acclaimed". It is also spelled yang quin or yang ch'in...
(hammered dulcimer), and percussion. The instrumentation and style are closely related to the instrumental genre of
Jiangnan sizhuJiangnan sizhu is a style of traditional Chinese instrumental music from the Jiangnan region of China.-Name:...
.
The famous Chinese composition "Purple Bamboo Melody" (紫竹调) is adapted from
huju.
External links
See also
- Shaoxing opera
Shaoxing opera is a local Chinese opera popular in the southern regions of the Yangtze River. It originated in Shengxian County , in the Shaoxing region of northeastern Zhejiang Province, which belonged to the Yue State in ancient times, so it was popularly known as Yueju . Yue opera has a history...
, opera from the ShaoxingShaoxing is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Lying on the south bank of the Qiantang River mouth, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou to the southeast, Jinhua to the southwest, and Hangzhou to the west.-Administration:The prefecture-level...
region of northeastern ZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
Province