Kunqu Opera
Kunqu Opera is masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Kunqu Opera (also called Kunqu, Kunju in Chinese) can be traced back to the late Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in Kun Shan, a place near Shanghai or Suzhou of today's Zhejiang Province. As one of the oldest existing forms of opera, Kunqu boasts a history of over 600 years, much longer than Beijing Opera. Thus Kunqu is well known as the "mother" of a hundred of Chinese operas, because of a dominant influence on all the more recent forms of opera in China, including the Sichuan and Beijing operas. Kunqu Opera was proclaimed by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of humanity in 2001 (a program that ensures that the best of every country's traditions is preserved and developed as well as made known to the outside world).
Kunqu has distinguished itself by the virtuosity of its rhythmic patterns (changqiang originated from an old form of dramatic opera in late 14th century in the nanxi in South China before the kunqu opera arises).
Kunqu Opera is acknowledged as an elegant opera in terms of music, recitation, and the performers' movement. It is foremost acclaimed as "watermill song" because of its soft arias and the graceful movement of its performers. Carrying forward the tradition of ancient poetry and common speech, the art is also of very high literary value.
Kunquhas its own distinctive tunes. Its famous music is much softer and similar from play to play. The music instruments used for Kunqu is different from Beijing Opera. Perfectly matching the poetry style of the play, bamboo flutes plays the lead part with other Chinese traditional musical instruments such as vertical bamboo flutes (xiao), Sheng, Pipa and the lik to form the accompaniment.
Kunqu has poetical style of wording styles. The dialogue is more poetical and refined. Most of the stories in Kunqu play is romantic and rare to have any military roles or arobatic actions. The performers attached great importance to clear recitation, correct singing, and pure tunes. Meanwhile, the composers wrote the musical scores after working out the tunes, and the songs were written in seven-character or ten-character lines. The dancing and movement of a role is gentle and closely connected with the player's singing.
As an elite opera, Kunqu is held in great respect and is regarded as the sister opera of Beijing Opera. Its emergence ushered in the second Golden Era of Chinese drama, but it has suffered some of a decline and even risk of disappearance since the eighteenth century because it requires a high level of technical knowledge from the audience.
Today, it is facing competition from mass culture and a lack of interest amongst the young. Of the 400 arias regularly sung in opera performances in the mid-20th century, only a few dozen continue to be performed. Plays that continue to be famous today, including The Peony Pavilion and The Peach Blossom Fan, were originally written for the Kunqu stage. In addition, many classical Chinese novels and stories, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Journey to the West were adapted very early into dramatic pieces.
Now Kunqu is performed professionally in seven Mainland Chinese cities: Beijing (Northern Kunqu Theatre), Shanghai (Shanghai Kunqu Theatre), Suzhou (Suzhou Kunqu Theatre), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province Kunqu Theatre), Chenzhou (Hunan Kunqu Theatre), Yongjia County/Wenzhou (Yongjia Kunqu Theatre) and Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province Kunqu Theatre), as well as in Taipei. Non-professional opera societies are active in many other cities in China and abroad, and opera companies occasionally tour.
