MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Sichuan Opera

One face, a thousand changes

Introduction

Sichuan's five-tune opera, known for face-changing and other stage feats

Sichuan opera is performed in Sichuan, Chongqing and parts of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei, and is the most influential regional opera of the Southwest. From the late Ming and early Qing, Kun, Yiyang, Shaanxi bangzi, Hubei Han and Anhui tunes arrived with migrants and blended with local music in the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns. Around the 1911 Revolution the gaoqiang, Kun, huqin and tanxi styles and the local lantern play merged on one stage as the 'five tunes in harmony'. Its gaoqiang singing, with an offstage chorus and percussion answering the soloist, is its most distinctive music, and its lively acting includes feats such as face-changing, hidden knives and leaping through fire hoops.

Timeline

Early Qing to present
1700 · OriginFrom the late Ming and early Qing, outside opera tunes enter Sichuan with the Huguang migrations1790 · EvolutionIn the Qianlong–Jiaqing reigns the imported tunes merge with local music and become Sichuanese1912 · EvolutionArtists of ten troupes form the Sanqing Society, and the five tunes settle on one stage
  1. 1700OriginFrom the late Ming and early Qing, outside opera tunes enter Sichuan with the Huguang migrations
  2. 1790EvolutionIn the Qianlong–Jiaqing reigns the imported tunes merge with local music and become Sichuanese
  3. 1912EvolutionArtists of ten troupes form the Sanqing Society, and the five tunes settle on one stage

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · IV-12 · Sichuan and Chongqing