| The Enshi Nan Opera, which was an ancient drama that conveyed the characteristic of Tujia minority people, was one of the symbols of Tujia minority people’s culture. It is the most important local theater in Enshi area, and is on a par with Chu opera, Han Opera, Tianmen drum in Hubei Province. In2008, the Enshi Nan Opera was written in the second intangible cultural heritage list of China.Thus, it was deserve to be researched and pretected urgently.The historical development of the Enshi Nan Opera is a loop process:come from folk and developed in folk too. Its predecessor was called Rongmei Opera that came from folk dramas and songs and due to the influence inside and outside Tujia minority culture, this drama usually played different arias in the same stage.It was renamed the Enshi Nan Opera after the government of Qing Dynasty abolished chieftain and established the official system in southwest area. After this, the Enshi Nan Opera absorbed different kinds of folk art and integrated into the folk custom of Tujia minority culture. Finally, the Enshi Nan Opera won the first place of local dramas and contained lots of functions such as entertainments, educations and aesthetics. In the modern society with economic construction as the center, the Enshi Nan Opera has encountered a huge impact and challenges like many other folk arts. Its artistic value and charm have falled into oblivion, the creation rules have been twisted, the art market have atrophied, and the audiences have reduced seriously. The intangible cultural heritage protection policy has let the Enshi Nan Opera get some development, but its performances are still inadequate, and many are the report properties. To obtain more development, in addition to the national policy support, the Enshi Nan Opera should seek the strategy of art itself. From the history of it,we can see that closely integrated with the folk culture, will be an effective way of protecting the Enshi Nan Opera. Because of all the reasons above, researches that combained the Enshi Nan Opera and the folk custom and culture of Tujia minority in the sight of folklore, had significant meanings in both practical and theoretical aspects.This paper mainly includes four parts:Firstly, combing the historical development clue of the Enshi Nan Opera. Secondly, introducing customs of playing. Thirdly, studying the folk culture in script literatures. Lastly, exploring the relationship between the performing art and folk culture. This eassy will focus on analyzing its dynamic development and studies on the relationship of national history, region culture and folk arts. Based on all this, we are able to know the growth mechanism of folk arts and find strategies to pretect the spirit of folk dramas. |
