The Origin of Chizhou Nuo Opera

1, Chizhou Nuo Opera originated from the consciousness of totem worship, and mainly spread in Guichi, Shitai and Qingyang counties (districts) at the foot of Jiuhua Mountain in China100km away, especially in dozens of villages and towns such as Liu Jie, Mei Jie and Mao Tan in Guichi District of Chizhou City. Historically, it is said that "no village can be built without Nuo". It has no professional clubs and artists, and still takes the clan as the performance unit, with the purpose of worshipping ancestors, exorcising evil spirits and entertaining ancestors, and wearing masks as the performance feature.

2. Chizhou Nuo Opera has the forms of "Nuo instrument", "Nuo dance" and "Nuo opera". The whole "drama" is a drama with both dramatic plots and performances, as well as dramatic features such as role-playing and stage building. It is passed down by word of mouth, and it is passed down from generation to generation by the clan. There are Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival every year. The Spring Festival is on the seventh day of the first lunar month (People's Day) to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. There are no performances at ordinary times.

3. Chizhou Nuo Opera has accumulated and precipitated a lot of cultural information from ancient times to the present, involving many disciplines and fields. Its connotation is very rich, which hides profound cultural implications and has high academic research value in cultural anthropology, drama, religion, art, history, archaeology and folklore. It still maintains its original and rough style. It is the oldest and most important folk ceremony in China, and it is also the most national ceremony in China.

Note: The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, Chizhou Nuo Opera was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.