MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Mulian Plays

One play of a son's rescue, to deliver the souls of all

Introduction

Ritual drama of Mulian rescuing his mother, staged over several days at the Ghost Festival and jiao rites

Mulian plays stage the story of Mulian (Fu Luobu) going down to hell to rescue his mother. They are ritual drama performed within folk rites, usually alongside the Ghost Festival or a jiao offering and lasting from three to seven days, with universal-salvation rites for wandering souls before and during the play; the roles may be taken by actors ('great Mulian') or by puppets ('carried Mulian'), and each region sings them in its own vocal style. The national items are the Mulian plays of Huizhou, Chenhe and Nanle (IV-87, 2006), with Shaoxing, Jiangxi and Nanling. In Northern Song Kaifeng the playhouses staged the zaju Mulian Rescues His Mother every day from Qixi to the Ghost Festival, to growing crowds; in the Wanli years Zheng Zhizhen of Qimen compiled the Mulian Rescues His Mother: an Exhortation to Goodness in more than a hundred scenes, which became the base text across the regions, and the Qing court had Zhang Zhao's Quanshan jinke.

Timeline

Late Northern Song to present
1120 · OriginAt the Ghost Festival in late Northern Song Kaifeng, 'the players of the playhouses, from Qixi on, staged the zaju Mulian Rescues His Mother until the fifteenth day, and the crowds doubled' (Dongjing menghua lu, juan 8), one of the earliest clearly recorded performances of a named play.1582 · EvolutionAround 1582 (Wanli 10), Zheng Zhizhen of Qingxi, Qimen, gathered the folk Mulian tales into the Newly Compiled Mulian Rescues His Mother: an Exhortation to Goodness (first printed by the Gaoshi shanfang), more than a hundred scenes long, which became the base text of Huizhou and other regional Mulian plays.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 the Mulian plays of Huizhou (Qimen), Chenhe (Xupu) and Nanle entered the first national ICH list (IV-87); Shaoxing and Jiangxi were added in 2014 and Nanling in 2021.
  1. 1120OriginAt the Ghost Festival in late Northern Song Kaifeng, 'the players of the playhouses, from Qixi on, staged the zaju Mulian Rescues His Mother until the fifteenth day, and the crowds doubled' (Dongjing menghua lu, juan 8), one of the earliest clearly recorded performances of a named play.
  2. 1582EvolutionAround 1582 (Wanli 10), Zheng Zhizhen of Qingxi, Qimen, gathered the folk Mulian tales into the Newly Compiled Mulian Rescues His Mother: an Exhortation to Goodness (first printed by the Gaoshi shanfang), more than a hundred scenes long, which became the base text of Huizhou and other regional Mulian plays.
  3. 2006ImpactIn 2006 the Mulian plays of Huizhou (Qimen), Chenhe (Xupu) and Nanle entered the first national ICH list (IV-87); Shaoxing and Jiangxi were added in 2014 and Nanling in 2021.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · IV-87 Mulian plays [no. 231: Huizhou · Chenhe and Nanle Mulian plays · Qimen · Anhui · Xupu · Hunan · Nanle · Henan]
  2. 2014National ICH extension itemsIV-87 Mulian plays: Shaoxing and Jiangxi Mulian plays · Shaoxing · Zhejiang · Jiangxi
  3. 2021National ICH extension itemIV-87 Mulian plays: Nanling Mulian play · Nanling · Wuhu · Anhui