Yuncheng Meihu is originally called "Mihu", "Three Strings", also known as the "Quzi", "Qingqu" for its melodious lingering tune and fascinated audience. Meihu is based on the local folk songs. Absorbing Puzhou bangzi music, it gradually develops into a traditional opera which songs can be connected as a set. It was formed in the years of Jiaqing and Daoguang period in Qing dynasty, with a history of more than 200 years. The name of Meihu originated from the Mei County and Hu County in Shaanxi Province, it later spread to the south of Shanxi Province, and gradually developed into one of the opera types in Shanxi Province. Puzhou in Shanxi Province and Tongzhou in Shannxi Province are only separated by one river, and the customs and language habits of the people are basically the same, and the exchanges are frequent. Therefore, it can be said that Meihu is formed on the basis of folk songs and customs on both sides of the Yellow River in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and gradually reached perfection through the exchange and mutual influence of artists in Shanxi and Shaanxi. The early Meihu performance gives priority to "Three playets" (Xiaosheng, Xiaodan, Xiaochou), the play content mostly reflects the folk family life story.

Stage Photo of A Red Heart

The history of Yuncheng Meihu consists of four main stages: folk song, rap, family drama and professional troupe. During the reign of emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty, among the 12 folk tunes published in the “Popular Xiaoqu from North to South ” by Yongkuizai in Beijing, "Two Busy Ends", "Silver Ribbon" and "Drunken Taiping" were the main tunes retained by Meihu in the southern Shanxi. These tunes were later sung by some blind people and poor people to make a living with three-string instrument, four-tile as beating drums. They walked from street to street, singing at street stalls and performing on celebrating occasions. The saying is a record of that history, which goes like this: “Blind musician plays Pipa in the street at dawn, he will sing to the midnight when there is till wine.” 

Stage Photo of the Fruit Village Nostalgia

During Jiaqing, Daoguang years of the Qing dynasty, it was combined with folk Yangge and Shehuo in the tune of Xiaodiao, and gradually evolved into a drama, moving up from street show to stage performance. In this period, artists WU Xiaobao, WANG Xirong, WANG Shengcai and others started to perform on stage. There are two kinds: one is the original form of street show of opera excerpts, such as "Widow Testing the Field", "Ancient City Fair", "Imperial Nun", and so on. Singing occurs most of the time with rare narration throughout a complete show. The other kind is stage performance in both opera excerpts and complete drama , such as drama play Anti-Datong and Flaming Horse, and opera excerpts Zhang Lian Selling Cloth, In-law’s Fighting and Du Shiniang. It has spoken parts, singing and performance, and free selection of Qupai. The first Meihu Opera Troupe was organized by DUAN Yaogong who came from the east village of Jiezhou and folk artists who came from Lingbao in Henan Province during the reign of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty. It is recorded that the props they used for their first performance were their own household items, dressed in their wife's wedding gowns, and performed on the stage of a deserted temple theater. When local villagers learned about it, they scrambled to climb the wall to watch it. Seeing such a situation, they decided to perform in public the next day. After they performed such programs as "Giving Out Food", "Sell Cloth", "Go to Nanyang", they received extensive recognition. In the coming Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, as the members of this troupe increased, they borrowed the clothes of stilts from Xiezhou, and performed more than ten plays in Goddess Temple at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain, such as "Pick up Thousand Gold", "Three Jinshi", "An'an Sent Rice", "Anti-Datong", "Ancient City Fair", which made a great sensation back then.

Footnote:

Jinshi : a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations

During the period of Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, Meihu in Shanxi absorbed Pu Opera, and gradually developed into a kind of opera that can tell historical stories, such as "Butterfly Cup", "String Dragon Beads and "Eight Pieces of Clothes". However, for a long time, Meihu still focused on short operas, and in the folk, there has been no makeup or costume, no performance, solely singing to the end, which was popular with the modern opera of the Qing dynasty. In 1928, Meihu artists such as Doudou, Haisheng and other famous actors had won a contest with Pu opera actors in Xiaowang village of Ronghe. Some famous actors of Pu opera claimed: “WANG Cuncai has such a great reputation, yet he couldn’t win the contest!” In the folklore of Linjin and Yishi, it was said that “ it's better to watch Meihu ‘Da Jing Tang ’instead of Pu opera ‘Fan Xi Liang’” and “it’s better to watch Meihu ‘Selling Water’ instead of having a romantic moment with your wife”. Later, Linyi saw an increase in the number of private Meihu troupes, such as Wowo Troupe in Taifan, troupes in other places like Wuwang and Zhangwu and Wangshen, Daochang and Beima along the Yellow River. They usually performed on ancient temple stage and village fair stage after Spring Festival, the tomb-sweeping day, the autumn harvest and the wheat planting day. Villagers rushed in for it. However, they last quite temporarily therefore left little influence.  

Before and after the 10th year of the Republic of China (1921), there were many professional Meihu training centers in South Shanxi, such as SUN Fusheng center in Xinjiang, GAO Shiwei center in Xia County, HUANG Zhuang center in Puzhou, Doudou center in Linjin, ZHAO Liancheng center in Xiezhou, and so on. During this period, there were many well-known artists, such as LV Gengren (1892-1977), a famous clown in Shiqiao, Yongji. He performed both Pu Opera and Meihu, with a clear and infectious voice. He was good at such plays as "Guilou", "Picking Gold", "Dragon and Phoenix Flag", "Sweeping the Qin Dynasty", etc. Meihu excerpt "Picking Gold" was recorded in 1937. In the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), South Shanxi was hit by disasters. In order to survive, Meihu artist developed and innovated in art . They absorbed the performance skills of Puzhou Bangzi, such as Luogujing , Qupai, Nianbai, Maochi, Bianzi, Koutiao, Boots, long sleeves, chairs and so on. Their acting roles extended to “Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo and Chou”. A group of amazing artists appeared. For example, CUI Doudou in Yao village (Beixin Town, Linyi county) is full of passion and emotion. His unexpected performance touches audience. In particular, he plays MEI Ying in "Selling Water", the characters are vividly portrayed. It was so successful that Meihu and Pu opera were equally competent and attractive back in that time.

During the Anti-Japanese War, under the guidance of the literary and art policy of the communist party of China, the famous artist LI Bo from Yuncheng arrived in Yanan to teach Meihu. At that time, People's troupe in the border area of  Shanganning and the literary and art workers learned Meihu to reflect people's struggle in the border regions. They created such works as "Twelve Sickles","Illiterate Couple,"Everybody Enjoys"and so on. It provided developing opportunities for new Yangge opera movement and laid solid foundation for modern Meihu. During this period, Meihu troupe in Yuncheng was forced to disband, and the artists were dispersed. Some of them joined Puzhou Bangzi troupe, some of them signed up for Anti-Japanese troupe, and some of them performed in the square and battlefield for political Anti-Japanese propaganda.

 In order to publicize the party's policies, spread revolutionary ideas, inspire revolutionary morale, and activate the revolutionary team and the people's cultural life in the liberated area, the Taiyue team of the Communist Party, stationed in Chenjiazhuang village of Wenxi County, is composed of a group of versatile and revolutionary young people who are mainly engaged in the rehearsal of modern drama of revolutionary Meihu, as well as some ancient costume plays with patriotic educational intentions, such as "Tiger Child Turned over", "WANG Gui and LI Xiangxiang", "Brothers and Sisters Open up the Wasteland", "Illiterate Couple", "Twelve Sickles", "Red Lady Rebel". There are also other plays that are spontaneous ones in current times back then.

These performances have been praised by JIA Kangjie and CHAI Zemin, leaders of Taiyue local committee, and deeply appreciated by the military army, cadres and local people. Under the leadership of YAN Zixiang, the former head of the Special Committee of the Communist Party, who is from Linyi county, Linyi County organized a group of trained and progressive youth, such as ZHANG Yingxue, LI Chengru and SU Zhiqian, to establish the Public Opera Troupe in the name of the Ximenghui Yuncheng City center. The troupe compiled and reproduced a number of Anti-Japanese dramas, such as "Soldiers", "Songs of the Fishermen", "Catch the Traitors", "Defend Wuhan" and "Great Victory of Pingxingguan".They successively performed for the masses in Yongji, Yishi, Anyi, Yuxiang and other counties. In February 1938, after the Japanese invaders occupied Yuncheng, the Anti-Japanese troupes in Yuncheng and Yishi were very active."Nongsheng Opera Troupe", " Advancing Opera Troupe", "Progressive Opera Troupe", "Yellow River Opera Troupe" and " Mass Work Group" mainly performed Anti-Japanese opera and Meihu, and assisted in some propaganda for national salvation.

In April and May 1947, Linjin and Yishi were liberated one after another, staffed by students and teaching staff from middle schools, primary schools, and civilian schools in the two counties, modern opera plays such as "Tiger Child Turn over", "Blood and Tears hatred", "White Hair Girl", "Fight against Corrupted Officials", "LIU Hulan"  , followed the trend in Yanan and southeastern Shanxi and were closely in line with the situation back then. Minster WU Xiantu, head of the Propaganda Department of the Linyi County Committee, recruited about 40 members from the Taifan and Chuhou "family opera" groups. XIE Zhixue (president of Linyi Meiyang, Niudu University) was the president, ZHANG Feng (former president of Linfen Pu Theater) was the director, tegether they formed a "Honghong propaganda team. They performed mainly new Meihu plays with some influential classic Meihu shows such as "Pick up Jade Bracelet", "Kill Dog", "Three times to ascend the Sedan Chair", "Eight Pieces of Clothing" and so on.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in line with the party policies, the Meihu in the south of Shanxi witnessed rapid development. Amateur troupe also set up rapidly, rural people self-directed and acted Meihu plays. Meanwhile, they started organizing and exploring the traditional drama that hold in store for a long time, for instance, "Vender Turn over", "Dogs Celebrate Birthday", "Capital Alive", "Visit Little Sister", "A Bachelor Crying over His Wife", "To Marry Mr. Li", and so on.

In particular, CHENG Genhu, an actor disguised in female attire, inherited performing arts of the Meihu, enjoyed a prestigious reputation with his unique singing style and excellent performance. During this process, two schools gradually emerged: the South school and the North school. The South school, centered in Linyi, established many troupes since 1952, such as Linyi Meihu troupe, Wenxi Meihu troupe, Jishan Meihu troupe. The North school , centered in Linfen, opened up Linfen Meihu Opera Troupe. All of them are active in the "Golden Triangle" area along the Yellow River, including Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan. In the 1970s, the Meihu Opera Troupe in Wenxi County and Jishan County were disbanded during the Cultural Revolution.The two troupes have achieved remarkable effect in music reform and repertoire rehearsal. WANG Xiulan, a famous Pu opera performing artist, has set up opera school and Meihu class in Yuncheng, and cultivated more than 100 Meihu talents in total.

After the downfall of the Gang of Four, theatrical activities returned to normal. Since the Third Plenary Session, the Cultural Center in Linyi County has set up the Meihu "Qingqi Team", which is active in this vast area of Yuncheng, especially the Meihu opera troupe of Linyi County. Since the establishment, it obtained high-level recognition and achievement by performing exclusively for political leaders, such as ZHOU Enlai, ZHU De, DENG Xiaoping, LI Xiannian, PENG Dehuai, LUO Ruiqing, HE Long, JI Pengfei, PENG Zhen, BO Yibo, JIANG Zemin, WU Bangguo and so on. In the past 65 years, it has consistently insisted on composing and performing modern operas, creating and rehearsing more than 240 (hui) modern operas, performing more than 18,000 performances and attracting nearly 27 million spectators.  

Their works, "Creek Running East", "A Red Heart" and "Suona Love", have been successively made into films, and their eight episodes of drama series "Emei Mountain" have been released nationwide. The dramas of "Ten Mile Fragrance", "Mountain Girl", "HU Lele Biography" and "Light Cloud and Full Moon" were broadcast on CCTV and Shanxi TV for many times, which aroused strong repercussions all over the country. "ZHAO Xiao Lan" and "LIANG Qiu Yan" reflected the struggle against the feudal marriage concept in the 1950s. “Sons and Daughters' Debts” and "Three Girls" criticized the feudal residual thoughts for poisoning people in the 1980s. "Zhanghe Bay" reflected the great changes in the countryside. "Apricot Blossom Village" and "HU Lele Biography" publicized the land contract responsibility system. "A Red Heart" reflected the selfless deeds of WANG Chuanhe, a model Communist in the 1960s. "The Feeling for Loess" was published in the 1990s. Since the new century, "ZHANG Xiao Ming" has reflected the director of the model village committee, and JING Baoshan, the Excellent national Communist Party member, in the work of "Expecting", have been published. "Suona Tears” reflected the distorted psychology of rural musicians. "Ten Mile Fragrance" reflected the independence of women in the new era. "Mountain Girl" reflected the socialist harmonious countryside, and so on. They all eulogized the times, reflected people's life and attitudes. They criticized the current situation, and the unhealthy phenomena in society. They told stories about people and their lives, linking their works with down-to-earth way of life and forming their unique performance style. They have been praised by the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee and the Ministry of culture for many times. They have been rated as "Model of national cultural work" and "ideological propaganda worker of Shanxi Province".

In 2003 and 2013, YAN Huifang, a national first-class actress, won the "first Chinese Drama Award and  Chinese Drama Plum Blossom performance award" for the brilliant performance of modern drama "Mountain Girl". She had participated in more than 40 national, provincial and municipal drama performances, and won various medals and certificates up to 220 medals. In addition, the troupe has successively performed in Beijing, Changchun, Changsha, Yuzhou, Xi'an and other places. A group of outstanding Meihu artists came into view, such as CHENG Genhu, REN Hong, national first-class actors LI Yingjie, YAN Huifang, GUO Gaoji, ZHANG Junfang, FAN Lin, WANG Manxi, ZHANG Changxiang, WANG Bin, LING Hujie, and so on. There were also a group of young Meihu talents, such as national second-class actors, WEI Chenghong, HOU Juan, WANG Guodong, MIN Laibao, CAO Sulong, HAN Xiaozhong, CHENG Pei, XU Tengfei, CHEN Hua, WANG Jing, and so on.  WANG Xiulan and PEI Qinglian, the famous performing artists of Pu opera, were also invited to play the main roles in Meihu films "Creek running East" and "A Red Heart" in the 1960s. The playlist included: A Red Heart, Spring Flowers in Bloom, LIANG Qiuyan, Light Cloud and Full Moon, Hu Lele Biography, Suona Tears, ZHANG Xiaomin, Mountain Girl, Fruit Village Nostalgia, Ten Miles Fragrance, Mountain Wind, Expecting, and others: Remaining Love, Good Year Good Month, Family Case, Small Official, Hawker, School Teacher, Breaking the Bowl, and so on. Listening to Meihu and singing Meihu have become one of the indispensable contents in the wedding and funeral  celebrations for the common people, and the Meihu has gradually developed into a large opera type along the Yellow River. There are more than 100 traditional Meihu shows in the list of plays. The main repertoires are "the Story of Burning a Bowl", "Ruyi Store", "Dajingtang", "Three Jinshi", "Selling Water", "Four Errands Carrying Books", "ZHANG Lian Selling Cloth", "Treasure Chest", "Mother-in-laws Fight", "Taishan Mountain Map", "The Nun", "An'an Delivering Rice", "Dazzling Persuasion", "DU Shiniang", "LIU Yi Taking a message" and "Hide in a Boat" are the traditional plays. During the Anti-Japanese War, the new operas from Yan'an included "Brothers and Sisters Open up the Wasteland", "Everyone Likes", "Twelve Sickles", "White Haired Girl" and many modern operas transplanted and adapted from those of the brotherhood troupe. The melody of Meihu is diverse in tunes and rich with indigenous flavor. It reflects people's life with simple and catchy language, easy to remember and sing. There are 72 major tunes and 36 minor tunes, and there is no rigid style restriction. Originally, Meihu was sung with four page tiles, accompanied with three-string instruments. Afterwards, more musical instruments were included, such as Banhu, flute, erhu, suona, etc. And the percussion instruments included drum board, secondary board, Bangzi, Ma Gong (six characters), cymbals, small gongs, banging bells, big drums, etc., forming the complete form of stage drama. There are 72 major tunes and 36 minor tunes in the aria, and there are more than 200 items at present. The major focus on sad plots, such as "Old dragon crys at sea","Xijing","Manwugeng",etc.; the minor focus on happy plots, such as "picking flowers", "silver thread", "a string of bells", etc. There are also some neutral tunes, which can express sadness or happiness, such as "Siping", "Luozi", "Gangdiao", etc. Qupai and Luogujing also mainly absorbed those from Puzhou Bangzi and its designed music. The main musical instruments are Banhu, flute, Sanxian and erhu. Since the new century, it has formed a music accompaniment form with the combination of traditional Chinese and western styles. Its aria features are different from Pu Opera, which is impassioned, bold and extensive. The singing of Meihu is more euphemistic, delicate, beautiful and abounds in full of joy, excitement, deep, miserableness and grief. The performance program absorbed those from Puzhou Bangzi, such as the water sleeves, hat wings, boots, peacock feathers, chairs, handkerchief and danzi.

In 2008, Yuncheng Meihu was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection list, LI Yingjie was named the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage. YAN Huifang and YANG Junpeng were named the provincial representative inheritors, and QIN Hongzhou, WEI Chenghong, CAO Sulong and GUO Xiaoyan were named the municipal representative inheritors. 

Heritage base now covers an area of 2800 square meters, including: classrooms, library, warehouses, activity rooms, conference rooms, training venues, rehearsal hall. As a protection institute, Meihu Opera Troupe in Linyi County earnestly implements the intangible cultural heritage law and scientifically promotes the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage in accordance with the protection laws. It abides by the principle of “protection priority, rescue first, rational utilization, inheritance and development”. It has successively established the “Yuncheng Meihu Training Institute” and a Meihu library. It also trained young talents, sorted out Meihu music and recorded them digitally, and strengthened special fund management. In addition, it recorded aria albums of experts, such as “YAN Huifang album”; it also kept records of modern plays, such as "YANg Sanjie Sue", "A Red Heart", "Mountain Girl", "Ten Mile Fragrance", "Expecting", "Fruit Village Nostalgia" and "Glorious Sixty Years". It further introduces Yuncheng Meihu to a national scale, enabling people to experience and enjoy the transitive changes from traditional music to modern music as a perfect combination of old and new tunes. All efforts have been made to inherit and protect our national intangible cultural heritage of Meihu in Yuncheng.