Yueju Opera
Address ： Shanghai Paramount Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Address ： Shanghai Paramount Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Protecting Organization：
Shanghai Paramount Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Introduction：
The Yueju Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province and flourished in Shanghai. With a history of nearly 100 years, it is the second-largest drama type in China following the Peking Opera.
The Yueju Opera reforms in the 1940s established a formal artistic mechanism covering play writing, directing, acting, music and aesthetics, finalizing the writer-director system.
The Butterfly Lovers, the first Chinese colored opera film made after the P.R.C. was founded, won the “Best Musical” award at the Eighth International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia.
Representative actresses: Yuan Xuefen, Fan Ruijuan, Yin Guifang, Xu Yulan and Fu Quanxiang, among others. Representative works: The Butterfly Lovers, The Romance of the Western Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions and Xianglin’s Wife, among others.
Details：
Yueju Opera
At first, Shaoxing’s civil plays were all performed by males. However, Shanghai’s performance environment prompted the creation of a female troupe in 1923. After Japanese aggression of China, all well-known actresses of the female troupe gathered in Shanghai during its Isolated Island period. This female troupe gradually grew its influence and soon Shanghai’s newspapers and advertisements began to widely call it “Yueju.” The audience also expanded from Zhejiang natives to all citizens in Shanghai. In the meanwhile, male troupes declined over time and were ultimately replaced by female ones. Back then, Shanghai’s female Yue Opera troupes had two prominent features. One is fierce competition between dense troupes. According to 1941 data, there were 36 Yueju performance venues, ranking first among all types of drama citywide in terms of the number of troupes and the number of performance spaces. Such a surge in the number of troupes was driven by objective demand. Also, the growing influence of Yueju enabled it to attract and cultivate a growing audience, which further stimulated demand. Such a virtuous cycle enabled Yueju to develop quickly. The other feature is that almost all well-known actresses of Yueju gathered in Shanghai, including the early “Four Famous Dans” of female Yueju plays and up-and-coming stars later to be known as the “Ten Sisters” of Yueju. After these actresses rose to fame in Shanghai, some returned to Zhejiang or went to other places, where they developed and improved Yueju locally. Around 1938 and in 1942, Shanghai’s Yueju artists launched two major reform campaigns in line with the requirement of the times, opening up an opportunity for Yueju to thrive. The performance practices in Shanghai enabled Yueju to gradually expand its scope of performance and form new concepts in terms of the singing style, tunes, ways of performance, stage art and the art production mechanism, elevating the opera to a new height. The Yueju Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province and flourished in Shanghai. In its course of development, Yueju learned from the best of other distinctive types of drama, such as the Kunqu Opera, modern drama and Shaoxing Opera. It went through the historic shift from male Yueju troupes toward female ones. It also took the lead among all types of drama nationwide to establish an integrated artistic mechanism covering play writing, directing, acting, music and aesthetics. The Yueju Opera is good at lyrical expression due to its beautiful singing style, vivid and convincing acting and elegant beauty, which are typical of Jiangnan’s delicate beauty. Yueju is popular in many parts of South China, including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi and Anhui, as well as much of North China, including Beijing and Tianjin. At its peak, Yueju had professional troupes across China, except a few provinces or autonomous regions (e.g., Xizang, Guangdong and Guangxi), so it was arguably the most widespread type of local drama back then.
*The above information is subject to the official release by the venue, and this platform is for reference only.
Protecting Organization
Shanghai Paramount Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Introduction
The Yueju Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province and flourished in Shanghai. With a history of nearly 100 years, it is the second-largest drama type in China following the Peking Opera.
The Yueju Opera reforms in the 1940s established a formal artistic mechanism covering play writing, directing, acting, music and aesthetics, finalizing the writer-director system.
The Butterfly Lovers, the first Chinese colored opera film made after the P.R.C. was founded, won the “Best Musical” award at the Eighth International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia.
Representative actresses: Yuan Xuefen, Fan Ruijuan, Yin Guifang, Xu Yulan and Fu Quanxiang, among others. Representative works: The Butterfly Lovers, The Romance of the Western Chamber, A Dream of Red Mansions and Xianglin’s Wife, among others.
Details
Yueju Opera
At first, Shaoxing’s civil plays were all performed by males. However, Shanghai’s performance environment prompted the creation of a female troupe in 1923. After Japanese aggression of China, all well-known actresses of the female troupe gathered in Shanghai during its Isolated Island period. This female troupe gradually grew its influence and soon Shanghai’s newspapers and advertisements began to widely call it “Yueju.” The audience also expanded from Zhejiang natives to all citizens in Shanghai. In the meanwhile, male troupes declined over time and were ultimately replaced by female ones. Back then, Shanghai’s female Yue Opera troupes had two prominent features. One is fierce competition between dense troupes. According to 1941 data, there were 36 Yueju performance venues, ranking first among all types of drama citywide in terms of the number of troupes and the number of performance spaces. Such a surge in the number of troupes was driven by objective demand. Also, the growing influence of Yueju enabled it to attract and cultivate a growing audience, which further stimulated demand. Such a virtuous cycle enabled Yueju to develop quickly. The other feature is that almost all well-known actresses of Yueju gathered in Shanghai, including the early “Four Famous Dans” of female Yueju plays and up-and-coming stars later to be known as the “Ten Sisters” of Yueju. After these actresses rose to fame in Shanghai, some returned to Zhejiang or went to other places, where they developed and improved Yueju locally. Around 1938 and in 1942, Shanghai’s Yueju artists launched two major reform campaigns in line with the requirement of the times, opening up an opportunity for Yueju to thrive. The performance practices in Shanghai enabled Yueju to gradually expand its scope of performance and form new concepts in terms of the singing style, tunes, ways of performance, stage art and the art production mechanism, elevating the opera to a new height. The Yueju Opera originated in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province and flourished in Shanghai. In its course of development, Yueju learned from the best of other distinctive types of drama, such as the Kunqu Opera, modern drama and Shaoxing Opera. It went through the historic shift from male Yueju troupes toward female ones. It also took the lead among all types of drama nationwide to establish an integrated artistic mechanism covering play writing, directing, acting, music and aesthetics. The Yueju Opera is good at lyrical expression due to its beautiful singing style, vivid and convincing acting and elegant beauty, which are typical of Jiangnan’s delicate beauty. Yueju is popular in many parts of South China, including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi and Anhui, as well as much of North China, including Beijing and Tianjin. At its peak, Yueju had professional troupes across China, except a few provinces or autonomous regions (e.g., Xizang, Guangdong and Guangxi), so it was arguably the most widespread type of local drama back then.
*The above information is subject to the official release by the venue, and this platform is for reference only.
