Shaoxing Village Opera

Shaoxing Village Opera is a kind of village performance prevailing in Shaoxing. Lu Xun, the great giant in literature, wrote many articles about it. In Village Opera, he depicted the performance vividly and how it impressed upon his memory. In old days, Village Opera was performed in sacrificing ceremonies held for the god of land in Shaoxing. Now, the performance has evolved into the main ceremonial form of Shaoxing. When there are disasters such as floods, and plagues, etc. or festivals, Shaoxing people will put on Village Opera to ward off calamities and pray for blessing. Conventionally, they will also invite their relatives to watch the performance and serve them with delicious food. And children will be dressed in their Sunday best. With a long history, it has become a symbolic item of Shaoxing folk culture. 

The plays put on are usually local plays. Long Hu Dou and You Yuan Diao Da are two typical plays of Shaoxing local color. The stage is often set up over a river in front of a temple. Thus, the stage of Shaoxing Village Opera is also called River Stage or Wannian Stage. Now, you can still find the trace of the stages in remote areas of Shaoxing. Tong Qianmeng, a poet in Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem, which revealed the popularity of Village Opera at that time. As time goes on, Shaoxing Village Opera is spreading and progressing. But, it stills preserves its original style and features, which can be considered as the cream of Shaoxing folk culture.