Xuzhou Bangzi Opera

Xuzhou bangzi opera takes its name from the jujube-wood clapper that, with a drum board, sets its tempo, long popular in the Xuzhou area; in June 2008 the State Council inscribed it on the second national ICH list under traditional opera (project code Ⅳ-121).

Its singing is high, forceful and rugged, kept by the clapper and a banhu fiddle, with a full range of role types; traditional plays draw on historical romances and tales of heroes, carrying the grand spirit of northern bangzi opera while woven through with Xuzhou dialect.

Xuzhou bangzi is a major regional opera of northern Jiangsu, carrying the theatrical tradition of the Chu-Han land and the traces of northern bangzi spreading south, with real value for studying the bangzi family and operatic exchange across the Huaihe region.