Haicai Opera

Bai Yan

Yunnan Ethnic Culture Audio amp; Video Publishing House

September 2020

78.00 （CNY）

Brief introduction：

Haicai Opera of the Yi ethnic group originated in Shiping County， Honghe， Hani， and Yi Autonomous Prefectures， Yunnan Province， where the Yilong Lake is located. It is named after haicai， an edible seaweed that grows in the lake. Haicai generally appears in a slender shape. The texture of this seaweed is soft and tender， which resembles the beautiful melody of Haicai Opera. HAICAI OPERA is an audio-visual publication recommended by the Yunnan Ethnic Culture Audio-Visual Publishing House. It is a project supported by a special national fund for the publication of ethnic Chinese languages. It is an intangible cultural heritage documentary in Chinese and English. Haicai Opera is a folk singing and dancing art popular in Shiping， Yunnan， China. It is mainly a means for young men and women to communicate with each other. That is， they make friends by way of recreational gathering， in which they then look for a partner. Haicai Opera originated from the coastal area of Shiping. It is a kind of narrative poem performed by local farmers. It has soprano， baritone， and allegro， and is very pleasant to listen to. After three years of planning， shooting， and elaborate production， it has been officially published.

Bai Yan

As a research librarian， Bai Yan is now president and editor-in-chief of Yunnan Ethnic Culture Audio-Visual Publishing House. She has studied in the fields of film and television， ethnology， literature and archaeology， and audio-visual publishing. Over the years， she has been dedicated to fine-tuning the publication of Yunnan ethnic cultural audio-visual publications， focusing on the recording， preservation and inheritance of excellent ethnic culture by leading all the staff to explore the rich and unique Yunnan ethnic cultural resources.

“We have many ways to pass on cultural heritage. One is through familial inheritance. Another is to find socially active youth in the evening and teach them in order to pass it on. In my life time， I have to hasten to pass it on. If I do not， it will be lost after I die.”

Being a national-level inheritor， Hou Baoyun was born in Longpeng Township in the northern mountainous area of Shiping County. This is an important place for the spread of Haicai Opera. When he was young， he always followed his father and learned from the custom while his father attended a social activity of marriage and love for Yi youth. Influenced by folk arts including the local music， baihua aria， cigarette box dance （a dance with cigarette boxes as props）， and so on， he became a proficient singer of Haicai Opera， Shanyou Tune， Fourth-tune Aria， and Fifth and Third-tune Aria. He is a well-known performer of local music and is an excellent cigarette box dancer. Over the years， he has meticulously taught the singing of Haicai Opera. Some of the singers of Haicai Opera he has cultivated include： Li Huaixiu， Pu Meifang and Hou Xingrong. Thus， he has helped to make this indigenous music art sparkle again.

According to him， there is an old saying amongst our folk that if a rooster does not crow， the hens cannot crow. That is， the female can sing only after the male does. After we men finish singing， women could sing counter songs. In 1984， Shiping County organized an unprecedented singing contest in Luose Temple in order to display the importance of Haicai Opera and to promote its vitality. Since 1985， Haicai Opera has continued to be passed on， due to their efforts in organizing a lot of singing contests in Shiping.

Haicai Opera has one more typical feature， that is， true voice and 1tto are naturally combined. If going to the playground at night and singing until daybreak， many people will choose to sing with a small voice. The true voice is what you usually hear （a loud voice）， just as how we are speaking now. But in the playground， you’ll sing all night like this （with a small voice）. This is how true voice and 1tto are differentiated.

So， the indigenous singing of Haicai Opera is not confined solely to vocal skills， but stems from the historical and cultural accumulation of thousands of years of the Yi people. Its unique techniques of sounding and harmonizing are all closely related to its natural regions and the state of existence of this nation. For the Yi people， Haicai Opera has not only been a folk song method， but also a means to preserve years of life and memory.

As a traditional art developed in a special environment， Haicai Opera enjoys a high degree of adaptability and popular support in our ecological， social， and cultural life. It is of great value in the research of the Yi people’s history of development， cultural history， and the intersection of the Yi and Han cultures. Haicai Opera is a positive example of the systematic reorganization， rescue， and study of ethnic folk songs. It is hoped that its preservation and the passing of this unique artistry to successive generations will result in the singing of the Haicai Opera forever around the Yilong Lake.