Jiahe Lantern Opera, also known as Southern Hunan Lantern Opera, is popular on both sides of the Chongling River. It is called "Duizidiao" in Guiyang, "Dihuagu" in Chenxian, and "Deng" in Jiahe. Jiahe Lantern Opera is a very distinctive local drama. It is spread in southern Hunan, Wuzhou, Guangxi, and northern Guangdong. Because the unique Jiahe folk songs, wedding songs and other folk art forms have a great influence on the formation of Southern Hunan Lantern Opera, Jiahe Lantern Opera is the main representative of Southern Hunan Lantern Opera. Southern Hunan Lantern Opera is spread in the vast cities and towns of Jiahe, Guiyang, Ningyuan, Lanshan, Xintian, Linwu, Chen and other counties and cities in the Chongling River Basin. In 2008, Jiahe Lantern Opera was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province. [History of Jiahe Lantern Opera] Jiahe Lantern Opera originated from field singing and dancing, and has a close connection with farming culture. According to the Hengxiang Jigulu, "Guan Zi said: Shennong planted grains on the south side of Qitian, and people in the nine states then knew how to eat grains." "Qitian is Qitian Ridge. There is the Qi River in the north of Guiyang, and on the south side there is the Hecang Jiahe. In the time of Emperor Yan, good grains fell from the sky. Shennong picked them up and taught people how to farm. He named the place Hecang, and later a county was established, named Jiahe." The development of farming culture has given birth to Jiahe's rich folk culture and art. The Tongzhi Jiahe County Chronicles states that since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "On the first day of the first month of the lunar year, young men and women line up to perform fish and dragon, lion, pole boy, wrestling, or mixed yangko, with boys and girls dancing and singing opposite each other, and playing gongs, drums, and trumpets. During the day, they act out stories, and at night, they go back and forth to welcome lanterns, with drums and music making noises, which last until the 15th day." Lanterns originated from field singing and dancing, and were later influenced by local operas and foreign operas, and further integrated into local folk songs and tunes. Lanterns developed from opposite dancing and singing (one actor and one clown) to couplets and "three small plays" with young female actors, clowns, and young male actors, and then gradually developed into local operas with complete roles of male, female, clean, and ugly actors, and more complete and richer storylines. It took a long time. In the Qing Dynasty, professional lantern troupes began to appear. They performed in villages and towns, and exchanged performances in neighboring Guiyang, Linwu, Xintian, Chenxian, Ningyuan, Zixing, Leiyang, Yongzhou, Hengzhou, Ganzhou in Jiangxi, Wuzhou in Guangxi, and northern Guangdong, absorbing and learning from foreign operas (especially Qi Opera) and further promoting the development of lantern opera. During the Republic of China, lantern opera troupes emerged one after another. According to statistics in the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), there were 12 four-season troupes (professional troupes that performed all year round), 31 new year troupes (performed from the first month to the Grain Rain), and 78 dragon lantern troupes (dragon with tunes, only performed in the first month) in the county. The more famous troupes included Daling Four Seasons Troupe, which traveled to various counties in southern Hunan, northern Guangdong, southern Jiangxi, and northern Guangxi. [Main contents of Jiahe Lantern Opera] Types of scripts Jiahe Lantern Opera has a rich repertoire. So far, according to the oral records of veteran artists, there are about 130 traditional lantern operas, including 59 large-scale operas, 33 medium-scale operas, 40 small-scale operas, and 40 couplets. The large-scale operas "Going to Luoyang", "Xiangzi Taking Medicine", "Secretly Pregnant", "Making Trouble in Spring", and "Nine Lotus Cups", the small-scale operas "Stealing Flowers", "Come and See", "Rong Gu Pounding the Pestle", and "Mending the Porcelain Jar", and the couplets "October Flowers" and "Meeting the Sister" are particularly famous. Among the 130 repertoires of Jiahe Lantern Opera, there are light-hearted and lively rural life operas, such as "Watching Flowers" and "Fighting Birds", etc.; more are whole-book operas reflecting family life and folk stories, such as "Bitter Tea Records", "Jinchuanhui", "Forging Iron", and "Liu Hai Playing with Toad", etc. Jiahe Lantern Opera comes from the Han folk. There are few characters in the script, the plot is relatively simple, the lyrics and dialogue are easy to understand, the singing style is all based on the characteristics of folk songs, cheerful and bright, the performance movements are lively and funny, and the flavor of singing and dancing is very strong. It is good at expressing small comedies of life and is full of the fragrance of the earth. Tunes Jiahe Lantern Opera has more than 200 tunes in total. During the long process of development, the music of Lantern Opera has integrated Jiahe folk songs and tunes, and at the same time absorbed and learned from the music of other local operas, making the tunes of Lantern Opera more complete, rich and beautiful. More than 200 pieces of Lantern Music are divided into three categories according to their source, structure, performance form and musical style, including minor tunes, main tunes and transitional tunes. There are 109 minor tunes (including lantern tunes, folk song minor tunes, string minor tunes and custom music). Among them, lantern tunes are less dramatic, have strong singing and dancing characteristics, and are cheerful and lively. It is widely circulated among the masses and can be hummed during daily work. There are more than 40 such as "October Flowers". There are more than 30 folk songs such as "Flowers of the First Month in the First Month". There are 19 string songs such as "Little Enemies" and "Four Seasons of Longing". There are more than 20 folk music such as "Beating the Gongs and Drums to Start the Stage". There are 95 main tunes (including string tunes and road tunes). Road tunes are a singing style in the transition period from the sub-dial to the lantern opera, mainly used for appearances, walks, and walks. Singing and dancing, the tunes are cheerful and lively, and there are more than 20 such as "Zou Ma Tune". String tunes have special tunes and general tunes (Sichuan tune, count board, clamp board, sad tune, curse board, scattered board), a total of 75. It is a relatively complete singing style that has gradually developed after the lantern opera entered the opera. Special tunes originated from widely circulated traditional repertoires, and are named for a certain play or a certain character in the play, such as "Ma Lao San Tune", "Han Xiangzi Taking Medicine Tune", "Liu Hai Cutting Wood Tune", etc. There are more than 20 transition tunes. According to the different performance forms, it can be divided into two categories. One is the string and bamboo brand (accompanied by string and bamboo instruments), which is used for opening doors, dressing, visiting gardens, watching lanterns, sweeping the floor, sprinkling water, and other small scenes. Its tunes include water falling sound, etc. The second is the suona brand (i.e. the wind and percussion tune, with suona as the main instrument), which is used for the opening of dramas, welcoming and seeing off guests, setting up wine and banquets, going on and off the stage, opening books and reading letters, weddings and funerals, etc. Its tunes include two openings, a dragon and a swan crossing the ridge, etc. The Jiahe Lantern is influenced by local customs and dialects, as well as politics, economy and foreign culture, and has different artistic styles, known as the Hedong School and the Hexi School. Taking the Zhongshui (Chongling) River as the boundary, the opera troupes in the counties to the east and the troupes in Guiyang, Linwu, Chenxian, Yizhang, Yongxing, Zixing and Rucheng are called the Hedong School, and the opera troupes in the counties to the west and the troupes in Xintian, Lanshan and other places are called the Hexi School. The Hedong School rarely comes into contact with foreign culture and is purely a local lantern. Its characteristics are rough, high-spirited, and strong mountain flavor. The Hexi School is greatly influenced by foreign culture and is known as "half opera and half tune". Its characteristics are delicate, elegant, and euphemistic. The outstanding representatives of the Hedong School include Liu Dianping, and the Hexi School includes the outstanding old artist Hu Tuxian. The instrument played is the humming qin, the main instrument, which is similar to the erhu. In the old days, most of them were made by artists. The sound box was made of golden old bamboo tube, with the mouth of the tube in the shape of a trumpet. The sound box skin was mostly covered with cauliflower snake skin. The sound box pole was made of 2 feet long and 6 points of old bamboo. The sound box bow was made of 2 feet long thin bamboo, tied with horsetail to form an arc shape. The sound box axis was made of paulownia or nanmu. Suona is the main instrument for playing tunes in lantern opera and accompanying dragon and lion dances. The neck and mouth of suona are hand-made by coppersmiths, and the sound box pole is mostly made by artists using pear tree poles. Daozhou drum is the leading instrument in the band. It is similar to the war drum of Qi opera and is named after it is produced in Daozhou. There are also big gongs, big cymbals, small cymbals, wooden drums, even and big drums. Except for big gongs, big cymbals, big drums, most of them are produced in Hengzhou and Wuhan, and the rest are made by themselves. [The inheritance significance of Jiahe Lantern Opera] Jiahe Lantern Opera is a folk performing art form collectively created by the working people of Jiahe. The content mainly reflects the lives of ordinary people, is close to life, easy to understand, and can resonate with the masses, so it has a deep mass base; at the same time, the music of Jiahe Lantern Opera is beautiful, has a strong local flavor, and highlights the regional characteristics, which is deeply loved by people. In 2008, Jiahe Lantern Opera was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province. Jiahe County Lantern Opera Art Troupe is the main body of protection of this project.