Meeting at the Nunnery

Introduction

A traditional Shanghai opera that grew from an early two-person duet into a full-cast play

Meeting at the Nunnery is a traditional play of Shanghai opera more than a century old, which grew from an early duet for two performers into a play for a full cast. Its characters include Chen Zaiting, Jin Xiuying and Jin Xuewen, and Helping Across the Bridge, Asking Uncle and Watching the Dragon Boats are among its best-known sung passages. Shanghai opera grew from the tanhuang duet plays of the Daoguang reign of the Qing; the local form reached the city in 1898, was renamed shenqu in 1914, and took the name Shanghai opera after the Shanghai Opera Society was founded in 1941. Leading performers such as Xiao Wenbin, Ding Shi'e, Xie Hongyuan, Shao Binsun, Shi Xiaoying and Xiao Aiqin have all played in it. Shanghai opera was added to the first national intangible heritage list in 2006, and this play is named there among its traditional works.