History of Dai Opera

Dai Opera is one of the unique ethnic minority operas in Yunnan Province, which has been passed down in Lucy, Yingjiang, Ruili, Longchuan, Lianghe and other counties of Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, as well as in some of the Dai inhabited areas in Baoshan City.

The Dai opera originated from the Dai song and dance performances with certain characters and Buddhist scriptures, and then absorbed the artistic nutrients of Dian opera and shadow play, gradually forming a more complete form of opera.

The end of the Qing Dynasty, Yingjiang Dry Cliff Tusi Department organized the first Dai opera class in the history of Dehong. Soon, the Dai opera spread to other areas of Dehong, Dehong ten government offices have established Dai theater, building theater. At the same time, Dai Opera spread from Tusi Yamen to the folk, and a large number of folk Dai Opera performing organizations emerged. After the establishment of New China, Dai Opera had a new development; the first professional performance group, Luxi County Dai Opera Troupe, was established in 1960, and was expanded to Dehong Prefecture Dai Opera Troupe in 1962.

At first, the Dai Opera was played by men who wore Dai women's clothes, and the costumes of the male characters and the action routines of the male and female characters were similar to those of the Dian Opera and the Peking Opera. During the performance, the actors took three steps forward to sing or do actions, and then three steps back to listen to the people on the sidelines to mention the words, accompanied by percussion music such as gongs and drums between the singing sections. Later, the singing was gradually developed to form two basic cadences, namely, Shouting Mixed (male cadence) and Shouting Lang (female cadence), and the tunes of Dai folk songs were widely absorbed into the singing cadence and instrumental music. In the performance, Dai costumes are worn, the gait of Dai folk dance is incorporated into the performance movements, and the accompaniment of instruments such as hulusi, erhu and elephant foot drums is added, which makes the national style more intense.

The traditional repertoire of Dai Opera originates from Dai folk stories, narrative poems or Buddhist scriptures, such as "Xiang Meng", "Thousand Petals of Lotus", "Langtuohan", etc. Some of them have been translated and transplanted from Han Chinese repertoire, such as "Zhuangzi's Test of Wife", "Ganlu Temple", "Yangmen Women Generals", etc. Since the 1960s, the Dai Opera has organized, adapted, and performed a large number of dramas such as "E and Sanglou", "Haihan", "Bamboo House", etc. Since 1962, the Dai Opera has been adapted and performed by a large number of artists, and the Dai Opera has been adapted and performed by a large number of artists. In 1962, "E and Sang Luo" caused a great sensation when it participated in the Southwest Region Ethnic Minority Drama Observation and Performance, and was called "the pearl of Southeast Asia". In addition to professional groups like the Dai Theater Troupe of Dehong Prefecture, almost all of the larger Dai villages have amateur performance teams.

The Dai Opera is one of the most popular art forms among the Dai people in Dehong Prefecture, as well as the De'ang and Achang people who live together, and it is the crystallization of the Dai culture, which has long been known as a pearl of art in Southeast Asia.