"The ice wheel on the island is just beginning to turn, just like a bright mirror shining on me..." Recently, in Hongcun, Yixian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, 19-year-old Anhui opera actor Xu Yijie raised her sleeves and sang "The Drunken Concubine". In the audience, German President Steinmeier watched intently, raising his mobile phone to take pictures from time to time.
Xu Yijie studied opera at the age of 10 and is a young actor trained in the orientation class of Huangshan City's "Anhui Opera Revitalization Project". In the small theater in Huangshan, she often meets foreign tourists. "Many people will make a special trip to visit the Anhui Opera Museum after watching the show."
Xu Yijie said that Anhui opera has a unique singing method: the actors will insert short sentences that are almost colloquial into the formal lyrics and talk to the audience as if speaking. The locals call it "adding rolls".
Hui Opera, formerly known as Hui Diao, has a history of more than 300 years. Many viewers are familiar with Peking Opera, but they may not know that Anhui Opera is called the "originator" of Peking Opera. In 1790, the Sanqing Troupe and other "Four Anhui Troupes" came to Beijing, integrating Kun Opera, Qin Opera, Han Diao and other tunes, and finally gave birth to Peking Opera. In 2006, Anhui opera was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects.
The story of Hui Opera starts from the ancestral halls in Huizhou. Huizhou has many mountains but little land. The locals went out to do business along the ancient roads and became the most wealthy Huizhou merchants. After becoming rich, they returned to their hometowns to finance theater troupes and set up stages to sing operas.
Jiang Xianqin, deputy director of the Huangshan Hui Theater, said that the Huizhou stage is often built in front of the ancestral hall, facing the hall where ancestors are worshipped. "A play is performed for the tribe, and it is also sung for the ancestors." The top of the stage has layers of carvings, so that the sound can travel far without a microphone. If villagers violate village rules, they will sometimes be "asked to perform a play as a penalty." In this way, the drama of admonishing kindness has become a public moral lesson in the village.
"Hui opera does not use Huizhou culture as a background, but directly transforms the beliefs, aesthetics, and customs of Huizhou people into watchable and perceptible performances." Jiang Xianqin said that the materials and patterns of early Huizhou troupe costumes can be seen in the characteristics of Huizhou embroidery. The style is heavy and distinctive, suitable for long-distance viewing in ancestral halls, and is different from the elegant courtyard aesthetic of Kun Opera.
On October 10, the Anhui opera "Qi Jiguang" created and staged by the Anhui Huijing Theater was performed at the Anhui Grand Theater. Photo by Wang Hang
Li Longbin, winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Drama and an Anhui opera performing artist, summed up his style in 16 words: the singing style is "yelling", the gongs and drums are "big gongs and big trumpets", the performance is "big jumping", and the costumes are "big red and green". Anhui opera is also famous for its martial arts. The actors can tumble on the table and pass through the fire ring. These thrilling actions are derived from ancient sacrificial rituals and Mulian opera.
Nowadays, Hui opera’s international “circle of friends” is getting bigger and bigger, and it has been performed in more than 20 countries and regions including Germany, Japan, and Australia.
In 2012, the Anhui Provincial Huijing Theater created "Psycho", moving the story of Shakespeare's masterpiece "Macbeth" to the Spring and Autumn Period of China and re-interpreting it using Hui opera singing styles.
Wang Yushu, the star of the play and winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Drama, said that this is "not a splicing of forms, but the use of one's own artistic language to tell the common joys and sorrows of mankind." In December 2025, "Psycho" won five awards at the 2nd Sahara International Theater Festival. A foreign audience told Wang Yushu: "Every action in Chinese opera is like telling a story."
In 2026, the theater will launch the experimental opera "Who is Macbeth": the audience sits around, the actors are close at hand, the number of arias is reduced, and the interaction is enhanced. Recently, Indonesian student Xu Yuping said after watching the play at Anhui Baixi City: "I used to feel a distance when watching a play. This time, the actors are right in front of me. I can even feel their eyes and breathing. It turns out that Anhui opera can be so close."
Nowadays, rural opera festivals, opera in schools, and new media live broadcasts have made the ancient Hui opera attract more and more young people. (over)
