Wuxi Opera

 

(Voiceover)

 

 

(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
00:26 Xiju(Xi Opera) originates from the folk songs which were sung out as antiphonal duetting in the fields after the daily farm work. Gradually, storytelling was integrated into this singing. 

00:50 “As time has passed, It(Xiju) has been undergoing continuous reformation and development, step by step, into the form of stage play”. 

01:07 “The “filial piety” I would say…is to prepare this kind of entertainment arena for your parents to enjoy their retired life, where they can relive some plays that lie in their childhood memory”. 

 

(Voiceover)

1:23 In the past, Wuxi opera was the most popular among the three famous operas. The old generation in those days performed almost everywhere across the country and was well received. But now the audiences are almost all grey-haired. 
 

(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
01:44 Xiju has absorbed the essence from Jingju, Kunju and other opera genres. It is performed in the Wuxi dialect with mostly Zhongzhou tone. 

 

(Voiceover)
2:02 After liberation, a number of major artistic activities promoted Wuxi Opera to East China and later the whole nation, as no more than an unknown drama confined to a region. With the rising fame of its plays and actors, the opera ranked with Yueju opera and Anhui Huangmei opera as the three biggest operas in East China. 

 

(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
02:27 ‘As I said, Xiju can be traced back to the storytelling in the fields. It therefore played the role of education through delivering the traditional Chinese ethics and acknowledged decorum in the old time’. 

 

(Voiceover)
2:45 Wuxi opera is China's state-level intangible cultural heritage in Wuxi City of Jiangsu Province, east China. But it’s facing the threat of extinction. As a result, in recent years, together with Wuxi opera artists, people who love this art form in Wuxi are trying to promote Wuxi opera. 
 

(Interview)

Jiang Xuefeng - Wuxi Opera Troupe
03:16 “Here one ticket (of Xiju) costs only 15-20 RMB. How much does one movie ticket cost? If you say the 3D movie, it probably costs over 100 RMB for that two hours. But you just need 15-20 RMB for a grand show of Xiju which also lasts over two hours”. 

(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
03:39 “At the beginning, there were only three people in the audience. And when all the performers kneeled down on the stage to answer a curtain call…well, when I heard the story, I felt deeply sad”. 

 

(Voiceover)
3:54 In regards to popularizing opera, Wuxi has lagged behind. Other operas have already made many efforts to promote their respective art form. But Wuxi only started to pay attention to the inheritance of Wuxi opera recently. 
 

(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
04:12 “If we don’t adapt to the interest of the younger audience, to meet their needs, the phenomenon of the aging audience for Xiju would be inevitable”. 

 

(Interview)
Cai Yu - Performer of Wuxi Opera
04:33 “After graduating from secondary school, I was accepted by an Art School when I was 17 years old. So I was actually an elder student there and my body didn’t naturally fit for the training. It was tough at the beginning. But simply with passion – my father worked for a Xiju troupe in Wuxi and my personal interest in Xiju has been developing since my early age – Which I still hold today”. 

 

(Voiceover)
5:07 There is an old saying that you should cultivate an interest from childhood. When children become interested in it, they are willing to learn it. And then their families will also be influenced. 
 

(Interview)
Cai Yu - Performer of Wuxi Opera
05:19 “The new graduates are rehearsing the play Zhen Zhu TA, which is the representative piece of work in Wuxi Theatre passed down from the earlier masters Mei Lanzhen and Wang Binbin. Now it’s the turn of the fifth generation. To pass on the legacy, the experienced Jixu artists Xie Zhiying and Hua Jinrui came here to offer their first-hand teaching to the new graduates”. 

06:00 “The concept of the cultural legacy and our Jixu school has gradually been coming into being among the young generation. But we still need to spread it with a wider range of promotion. So that people will have some memory about the cultural legacy of their hometown from a young age”.

 
(Interview)

Lu Jing - Wuxi Opera Museum
06:26 “We’re working as pioneers, like planting the trees for the later generations’ cooling under the shade. We aim for the “renaissance” of Xiju, which is also longed for by the professionals in this field. It’s a long way to go, and not an easy one”. 
 

(Voiceover)

06:47 Wuxi opera artists are creating a good atmosphere. And it is a good start.