The Ancient Hongshankou Opera House

The Ancient Hongshankou Opera House

The Hongshankou Ancient Opera House is a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Located in the center of Hongshankou Village, Xiaochang Township, Zunhua City, the opera house was originally built during the Tang Dynasty and renovated in the Ming Dynasty. It features a brick-and-timber structure, faces south, and has a hip-and-gable roof on the north side and a flush gable roof on the south side.

A partition screen inside the opera house divides it into northern and southern sections: the northern half is a brick stage, with two vertical exposed pillars lined up on either side of the front opening. The southern half is the backstage, which has a vaulted doorway on the east side, inscribed with the characters “Yangchun” (Spring Sunshine) and “Baixue” (White Snow) above the entrance. Round windows with a diameter of one meter are built into the east and west walls. What makes the Hongshankou Opera House unique is that while most opera stages have four vertical pillars arranged side by side at the east and west ends, this one has its four pillars aligned from front to back.

The construction of the ancient opera house is also associated with a legend called “The Tower Pressing Down the Dragon.” It is said that during the Tang Dynasty, a minister standing in Hongshankou looked up and saw the ancient Great Wall surrounded by swirling mist, resembling a giant dragon in motion. Unable to see the town clearly, he suspected that a true dragon (an emperor) might emerge from the town. To suppress the dragon, three towers were built in Hongshankou—symbolically pressing down the dragon’s head on the southern mountain, its tail on the northern mountain, and a central opera house in the town to subdue the dragon’s body. Since the “mist dragon” was oriented from north to south, the pillars were also arranged in the same direction to firmly pin down the dragon’s body. Historical records indicate that the Ming Dynasty renovation of the opera house was actually intended to provide entertainment for soldiers and their families stationed at the Hongshankou Pass during their leisure time.

The ancient opera house boasts a unique, novel, elegant, and rustic architectural style. It remains well-preserved to this day and is still used by villagers for performances, and is a key provincial-level cultural relic protection unit.

Hongshankou Village: Hongshankou Village…… More details about Hongshankou Village++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Hebei Province