Twin Flower Opera Houses

　　Located in Xiyang Township, Jing County, these two flower opera houses — the Inner Xiyang Flower Opera House and the Outer Xiyang Flower Opera House — were constructed during the same period and share a similar architectural style. As such, they are locally referred to as the Twin Flower Opera Houses. Because temple fairs held here every September feature performances to honor the gods, they are also known as the Eternal Stage.

　　Both stages were built during the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. During the Daoguang and Xianfeng years, this area was a battleground where the Taiping Army and Qing forces fought back and forth. No temples remained in either Inner or Outer Xiyang. In the early Tongzhi years, the Taiping Army suffered defeats at the hands of the Qing forces here. From the fourth to the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign, the warfare subsided, and from the sixth to the tenth year, agricultural activities resumed, the economy recovered, people lived in peace, and farming and livestock thrived. The Hu family, a prominent local clan, began constructing their ancestral temple — the Xuantan Temple.

　　Since the Hu family was a large clan with many branches spread across twelve local administrative units (termed "jia"), their descendants built one temple each in Inner and Outer Xiyang for easier worship. Each temple included an opera stage. Every September, the entire clan would gather here for lantern displays, competitions, and operatic performances to honor the gods. At the peak of performance activity, shows would begin on the first day of the ninth lunar month and continue until the twentieth, spanning twenty days in total. Performances mainly featured Hui-style and Peking opera. The twelve Hu family branches took turns hosting the event annually. Since the Outer Xiyang branch had more members, they needed to hold performances five times every twelve years, all staged on their own Outer Xiyang Eternal Stage. Other branches sometimes performed at the Inner Xiyang Eternal Stage. To ensure the performances were grand, special ceremonies — such as firing cannons and smashing bowls — were conducted when a stage was newly opened or renovated. On the first day of performances, one cannon was fired at dawn (the yin hour); on the second day, two cannons; on the third, four. Thereafter, the number of cannons increased geometrically each day. Before the inaugural performance on a newly built stage, many empty bowls were placed at a certain distance from the stage, and performers would take turns throwing them toward the stage until one bowl remained unbroken — only then would the show commence. These events were extraordinarily lively.

　　Both stages are built with brick and wood structures. The front section of the Inner Xiyang Eternal Stage features a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, while the rear section has a flush-gable roof. The eaves of the front section intersect with those of the rear. The stage foundation is 1.8 meters high, 12 meters wide, and 10 meters deep. The protruding front part is 6.5 meters wide and extends about half the depth of the entire stage. The ceiling is adorned with large square wooden lattice patterns. A painted screen panel divides the stage into front and back areas. Beams and diagonal supports on the eave pillars are carved with opera-related designs, and the main ridge and hip ridges are decorated with mythical beast ornaments. The Outer Xiyang Eternal Stage resembles the Inner one but has a more complex structure and finer craftsmanship. Its roof features six upturned corners divided into three tiers, with flying eaves and bracket sets that create a distinctive look. Inside the stage, there is a single-beam, column-free caisson ceiling and various floral decorations, all exquisitely crafted. The stage foundation is about 2 meters high, the entire width is 13.5 meters, and the depth is 10 meters.

　　On the back wall of the Inner Xiyang Eternal Stage, around 300 opera titles are preserved, with the earliest performance date recorded as the second year of the Guangxu reign. Performing troupes included Changchun, Sixi, and Shuangxi, among others. Major plays performed here included Hundred Patience Picture, Capture of Luoyang, Dragon Boat Gate, Cherry Beating, Nine Bestowals Palace, Boundary Tablet Heaven, Yellow Crane Tower, Dragon Palace Disturbance, Capture of Jingzhou, Heaven and Earth Picture, Wei River, and Scolding Cao Cao. The Outer Xiyang Flower Opera House underwent renovations, during which most of the inscriptions left by performing troupes — including play titles, performance dates, and troupe names — were painted over. Only some ink marks remain on the back of the wooden screen panel inside the stage, such as “On the 26th day of the third month in the 21st year of Guangxu, the Shangyuan Troupe inaugurated the stage at the yin hour” and “Perform seriously; if not, you will be fined three plays.” Major plays included Defending the Nation, Wei River, Fallen Horse Lake, Dragon and Tiger Battle, Stone Ferry, Hundred Longevity Picture, Double Loyalty, and Selling Rouge.

　　Chinese opera has a long and rich history. Over the roughly three centuries from the Northern Song to the early Ming Dynasty, with the emergence, flourishing, and development of zaju (variety plays) and southern drama, along with the southward relocation of the Song imperial court and the gradual commercial and transportation prosperity in the south, the exchange and integration of northern and southern opera arts accelerated in southern Anhui. The existence of ancient opera stages in Jing County illustrates the long history and deep folk roots of opera activities in this region.