Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera

Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera

Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera is a national intangible cultural heritage.

　　Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera uses the moral standards of farmers to portray the beauty and ugliness, good and evil, joy and sorrow of the human world. It mostly reflects the thoughts, emotions, and ethical values of the working people, with simple, humorous, and witty language that is rich in local flavor and regional characteristics.

　　Nanchong is its birthplace. The city is located in the northeast of the Sichuan Basin and along the middle reaches of the Jialing River, and the opera is popular in Langzhong, Cangxi, Nanbu, Yanting, Jiange, Zhaohua, Jiangyou, Xichong, Yilong, Bazhong, Guang'an, as well as parts of Mianyang, Suining, and Dazhou. It is one of the oldest, most widespread, most influential, and most deeply rooted traditional folk art forms in northern Sichuan.

　　The "Langzhong County Annals" from the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty (1522–1566) recorded: “On the 15th day of the fifth month, during the Plague Ancestor Festival, Lantern Opera is performed for ten days. Each night, incense burns like fog and the flames never cease. The so-called lantern mountains are also displayed as they are during the Lantern Festival.” (This book is housed in the Peking University Library.) During the Qing Dynasty, performances were very active. The "Cangxi County Annals" from the 47th year of the Qianlong reign (1782) recorded: “During the Lantern Festival, flower lanterns are released and Lantern Opera is performed. Stages are built within the city walls, competing day and night.”

　　After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with the support of the Party and the government, Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera flourished. In the 1960s and 1980s, the Nanchong Administrative Region organized multiple efforts to investigate and collect scattered folk lantern operas, unearthing more than 300 scripts and over 90 musical scores. The opera has participated in various national and provincial performances and competitions, winning numerous awards issued by the Ministry of Culture.