When this image appeared in Nuo ceremony, Nuo opera came into being. Zhong Kui's story of playing the ghost began with Yi Shi, a collection of strange stories in the Tang Dynasty. The image of Zhong Kui in the opera is transplanted from the novel. He went to Beijing to fight Zhong Kui three times, and died of anger because of Yang Zhiquan. The jade emperor pitied his integrity, sealed the judge and ruled the ghosts and gods on earth. The green, yellow, red, white, black and five ghosts refused to obey, making a scene, and were surrendered by Zhong Kui. Nuo opera is popular in Sichuan, Guizhou, Guichi, Qingyang, Anhui and mountainous areas in western Hubei. Actors wearing wicker masks play the legendary exorcist-exorcist, and perform repetitive and large-scale procedural dance movements, mostly on fixed festivals. Very primitive dance style.
According to the memory of the elders, the ancient Yi Nuo opera performance can be traced back to the middle of Ming Dynasty, but its ancient form and content can be extended to a deeper history. In the early society, people could not exclude all kinds of disasters in nature and thought that there was a supernatural power, from which the concept of ghosts and gods was born. So people divide this imaginary ghost into good and evil, and promote good and punish evil through sacrifices and performances to satisfy people's subjective desire to conquer nature. The "yellow ghost" in Nuo is a symbol of evil. Surging waves, plagues and consumption during floods make people pale and thin, and they are considered as "yellow ghosts". The "yellow ghost" mentioned by the villagers in Guyi also refers to those who abuse their parents. This reflects that in the Ming Dynasty, due to the development of productive forces and the infiltration of orthodox Confucianism, the reference of "yellow ghost" changed from natural disaster to man-made disaster. Nuo Opera, also known as Nuo Opera and Duangong Opera, is a traditional form of China opera based on the Han folk sacrificial ceremony, which is widely popular in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hebei and other provinces. Nuo opera originated in ancient times, and there were witchcraft songs to entertain gods and people as early as the pre-Qin period.
Dance. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, various local operas flourished, and Nuo dance absorbed the form of traditional operas and developed into Tang Nuo Opera and Duangong Opera. After the Nuo Opera was formed in Xiangxi during the Kangxi period, it entered the Yangtze River from Shui Yuan and developed rapidly to various places, forming different schools and artistic styles. The Nuo Opera in Hunan and Hubei has absorbed the performing arts of ancient paintings, the Nuo Opera in Sichuan and Guizhou has absorbed the artistic elements of lanterns, and the Nuo Opera in Jiangxi and Anhui has absorbed the nourishment of Hui Opera and Mulian Opera.
China's Nuo opera has a long history, which originated from the Nuo sacrifice of totem worship in primitive society. In Shang Dynasty (1600- 1046), a fixed sacrificial ceremony was formed to drive away ghosts and diseases, which is Nuo dance. The development of Nuo dance has had an impact on local operas in China.
Nuo opera is a form of drama developed on the basis of Nuo dance. The main feature of Nuo opera performance is that the characters wear wooden masks and pretend to be ghosts and gods to show the life story of God.
Up to now, there are still a large number of Nuo cultural relics in the southwest of China and the northeast of Guizhou Province, and there are Nuo operas in many places. Up to now, there are more than 60 Nuo sets with hundreds of actors in Dejiang County. The Nuo opera in Dejiang County is simple and broad, which retains the original form of Nuo opera culture and has a lot of ritual content. Nuo opera is the carrier of Nuo culture. There are two series and three levels of folk Nuo opera system in Guizhou: Nuo opera in Han, Miao, Dong, Tujia, Yi and Gelao areas, which is a series, that is, folk Nuo opera series. The Nuo opera Cuoji has completed the initial transition from Nuo sacrifice to Nuo opera art, which is the embryonic form of Nuo opera and a lower level. Nuo opera in Han, Miao, Dong, Tujia, Gelao and other ethnic areas is closely related to Nuo sacrifice, but the dramatic factors continue to develop and improve, which is the intermediate level of the transition to a single art. Guizhou local opera belongs to the military Nuo opera series, which is a higher level of Nuo opera development. Guizhou Nuo Opera has the characteristics of many nationalities, many varieties, many levels, wide distribution and complete preservation. Its representatives are: Nuo Opera of Yi people in Weining, Nuo Opera Group in Northeast Guizhou (Tongren area), Nuo Opera Belt in North Guizhou (Zunyi area) and local operas in Central Guizhou (Anshun area).
The masks of Nuo Opera in Guizhou are generally made of willow and poplar. In the modeling of masks, we pay attention to the depiction of characters. Accordingly, Nuo masks can be divided into several categories: righteous gods, fierce gods, secular masks, clown masks and cow's head and horse's face. The god of justice is upright and kind, and the mask in the picture is mighty, fierce and weird, while the face is dark and shiny, the eyes are prominent, the teeth are twisted and the eyebrows are raised. Sculpture is extensive and generalized, and its strange and fierce face makes people feel a mysterious power and rough beauty. Due to the different historical background and artistic influence, Nuo opera can be divided into three types: Nuo opera, local opera and Yang opera. Local opera is a kind of Nuo opera performed by Tunpu people, who are descendants of soldiers who stayed in Yunnan and Guizhou in the early Ming Dynasty to sacrifice their ancestors. There are no folk life dramas and talent and beauty dramas, but they are all performances.
Martial arts dramas that reflect historical stories. Yang opera, on the other hand, was performed by Master Duan Gong to the living after completing the Buddhism. Therefore, the main performances reflect the small plays of folk life, and the vocals are mostly absorbed from folk dramas such as flower drum lanterns.
Nuo opera is a synthesis of history, folklore, folk religion and primitive drama, which contains rich cultural genes and has important research value. Nuo operas around the country are mainly spread in rural areas. With the development of society, entertainment activities are constantly enriched, and fewer and fewer people are willing to watch Nuo opera, which makes it difficult to inherit it.