As a branch of lantern opera, Yunnan lantern opera has many artistic features of its own, especially its performance form, lantern singing and dancing, and lantern music all have unique artistic characteristics and charm.

The artistic characteristics of Yunnan Lantern Opera are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, the performance methods are spread all over the place, that is, the performance is performed regardless of the place. The early lantern performances were called street lanterns, courtyard lanterns, and dam lanterns. They were very free and casual, and the troupe for the performance was easy to assemble. Therefore, the lantern theater troupe was called Doudou troupe at the beginning.

The second is to be close to life. The perspective of observing and expressing life in lanterns is much closer to life than many large-scale operas. Therefore, its content is understood by men, women and children, and its singing skills are easy to learn. There are sayings and jingles among the people:

Those with combed hair can listen, and those with cow dung on their feet can sing. Talk about our affairs, make our divinations, sing our songs, and use our handkerchiefs.

The Yunnan lantern opera takes a close look at life, which makes the lanterns have a strong sense of life. It reflects the simplicity and innocence of rural life and citizens' lives, pays attention to rural areas and citizens' lives, and embodies the lanterns. Observe the characteristics of life with unique insight. This characteristic adapts to people's frank and true expression.

Thirdly, the music of lanterns incorporates many folk songs and minor tunes, forming many branches. Hua lanterns have been widely popular in Yunnan's vast areas inhabited by Han and ethnic minorities since history. Influenced by local dialects, customs and music, many branches such as Kunming lanterns, Yuxi lanterns, Chuxiong lanterns and Jianshui lanterns have been formed.

Kunming lanterns retain more Ming and Qing ditties, Yuxi lanterns have more operas, Chuxiong lanterns have absorbed many folk tunes, and Jianshui lanterns’ music, lyrics, and dialogues are all closely related to the local Yi people. It is related to folk language and art. In addition, the music of lanterns is mostly in minor keys, with regular, brisk, jumping syllables and a strong sense of movement, which is consistent with the singing and dancing characteristics of lantern operas.

Fourthly, the sources of lantern music tunes are quite wide. It can be seen from the thousands of collected tunes that some of the music tunes of lanterns are derived from Ming and Qing ditties, a large number are derived from folk songs, and some are absorbed from Yunnan dulcimer, religious music and ethnic music.

In addition, there are also some operas transplanted from brother provinces and cities. Because lanterns absorb tunes from many sources, add their own unique singing habits and tune methods, and combine them with lantern dances, dramatic rhythms and Yunnan dialects, lantern music has the characteristics of a combination of diversity and unity.

Fifth, Yunnan has many lantern singing and dancing performances. The first is singing and dancing. Regardless of whether it is a big play or a small play, lantern dance plays a large proportion in the play and has formed its own unique performance method. At the same time, in order to express the plot and characters well, there are many dance moves extracted from life in the dance. For example, in the drama "Couples Fishing", they row with jade flowers and carps cross the river, and in "The Rural Family", the character He Dafa squats and stretches his legs, etc.

In Yunnan lantern performances, singing and dancing account for a large proportion. The "song" of the lantern consists of singing and interrupting, and is rarely spoken in plain words. "Interruption" means speaking in rhyme. There are very few unrhymed dialogues in old lanterns, so songs and dances can easily be rhythmically unified.

In addition to the above characteristics, the music of Yunnan lanterns is one of the main signs that distinguishes it from other types of opera.

The structure of Yunnan lantern music is short, mostly composed of upper and lower sentences or a single section composed of four phrases. The music has a distinct rhythm and strong fluidity. There are rarely large pauses between phrases. The sentences are mostly started from the board and finished in the eyes. The tempo is generally medium tempo or allegro, with bright, lively, unrestrained mood and beautiful melody. The modes of Yunnan lantern music are mostly Zheng mode and Yu mode, followed by Gong mode and Shang mode, with pentatonic music being the mainstay.

The accompaniment instruments of Yunnan lanterns include huqin, yueqin, sanxian, flute, etc. Later, ethnic instruments such as pipa and dulcimer were added. In some places, some ethnic minority instruments are also used.

The repertoire of Yunnan lanterns also has its own characteristics.

There are more than 200 repertoires, divided into three categories: lantern singing and dancing, lantern dramas and lantern dramas. The more influential plays include "Exploring the Girl", "Spring Outing", "Liu Cheng Watching Food", "Nao Ferry", etc. Many of the repertoires performed in Yunnan Lantern Opera have the characteristics of simple, healthy and bright folk art, and are full of the life atmosphere of working people.

There are not many traditional repertoires of lantern opera. Excluding the repertoire of Yunnan opera transplanted from the lantern opera period, there are about 200 plays. Among them, the lantern song and dance repertoire includes "Ten Sisters", "Big-headed Baby Playing with Liu Cui", "Stepping on the Lianxiang", etc., and the lantern drama repertoire such as "Three Stars Happy Birthday", "Red Return Door" and so on. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, while vigorously reorganizing traditional repertoire, nearly a hundred new repertoires including the large-scale lantern opera "Elihan" were also compiled.

The more famous representative plays of Yunnan Lantern Opera include "The Story of Luhua", "Xiao Erhei's Marriage", "Jinbi Fang", "Elihan", "Suocheng Village", etc., which are very representative.

"The Story of the Reed Flowers", also known as "The Whipping of the Reed Flowers", is an early traditional opera performed in Yunnan lantern opera. It tells the story of the filial son Min Ziqian. Min Ziqian lost his mother when he was 8 years old, and his father remarried his second wife, Yao, and gave birth to two more children, Min Ge and Min Meng. The stepmother loved her biological son very much and abused the young Min Ziqian, but Min Ziqian was honest and honest and had no complaints.

One year near the end of the year, my father drove an ox cart out to visit friends and asked his three children to follow him. Min Ziqian was driving the cart. When he reached a village, the weather suddenly changed and the wind was biting. Ziqian shivered so much that his fingers froze. He slipped the reins and whip to the ground, and the cart overturned in a ditch on the roadside.

Min Ziqian's father was particularly angry, thinking that Min Ziqian was really as lazy as his stepmother said. He was very angry and picked up a bullwhip and beat Min Ziqian angrily. Unexpectedly, reed flowers bloomed where the whip fell, and reeds were flying. His father was surprised when he saw this.

At this time, Min Ziqian, who was hungry and cold, had fainted in the snow. His father tore open Ziqian's cotton-padded clothes and saw that all was silk. He took off his own clothes and wrapped them around Ziqian. After returning home, his father whipped his step-wife and wrote a letter of divorce on the spot.

The little boy Qian who regained consciousness begged his father not to drive away his stepmother. He sincerely said to his father: "When the mother is alive, the son is cold, and when the mother is gone, the three sons are alone."

This means that if you divorce your stepmother, you and your two younger brothers may fall into the hands of another stepmother, and your two younger brothers will suffer like you in the future. After listening to Ziqian's words, his father felt that it was very reasonable and gave up the matter of divorcing his wife. The stepmother was deeply moved. She changed her ways and treated her three children equally from then on.

"Xiao Erhei's Marriage" is a play that was rehearsed after the founding of the Kunming People's Huadeng Theater in the early days of the founding of New China to reflect the new life. During the rehearsals at that time, the Huadeng Troupe made many attempts to innovate the singing style and performance methods of the lantern. "Xiao Erhei's Marriage" tells a story that took place in the liberated areas.

Er Zhuge and Sanxiangu are two famous figures in Liujiaxia. The second Zhuge was called Liu Xiude, and he would talk about Yin and Yang, Bagua, the Zodiac and the underworld with every move he raised. One year there was a spring drought and it finally rained a little. Er Zhuge pointed his fingers and said, "It's not a good time to plant today."

As a result, the good opportunity for sowing was missed. It has become a taboo of Er Zhuge that it is not suitable for planting. Sanxiangu is Yu Fu's wife. She plays tricks all day long. When she was asking Jin Wang's father about his illness, she took advantage of the opportunity and secretly told her daughter: "The rice cooked on the stove is rotten."

Unfortunately, it happened. He was heard by Jin Wang’s father. Therefore, rotten rice became a taboo for Sanxian Gu. Sanxiangu has been a witch for thirty years. She was charming and pretty when she was young, but her father-in-law couldn't stand it and drove away the group of young people who often came to play nonsense. However, her daughter-in-law couldn't afford to be sick, so she invited a goddess to see her. From then on, Sanxiangu set up the incense table and became enchanted. The young people kept coming and going as before.

Thirty years later, Sanxiangu is already old and yellow, her official powder cannot even out the wrinkles on her face, and her embroidered shoes and lace trousers cannot win the hearts of young people. Although the family was still lively, everyone's thoughts were only on her son and daughter Xiaoqin, and Sanxian Gu couldn't help but feel jealous.

Xiao Qin is 18 years old, well-behaved and smart, even more beautiful than her mother back then, but she is very serious and even the Jin Wang brothers have been unhappy with her.

The Jinwang family is a den of tigers here, running rampant and doing many bad things during the Anti-Japanese War. After defeating the defeated bandits, no one in the village wanted to be a cadre, so Jin Wang was randomly selected as the village committee member, Xingwang as the director of the Armed Forces Committee, and Jin Wang's wife as the chairperson of the Women's Rescue Association. Xingwang saw that Xiao Erhei was interesting and fun, so he nominated him as the captain of Qing Kangxian. Er Zhuge was unhappy and helpless. From then on, the Jinwang brothers became even more lawless.

Xiao Erhei is the son of Er Zhuge. He killed two enemies during the counter-mopping up. He is also energetic and loved by everyone. Although I never went to school, I read a lot of books like "Yin Yang House" with my father. He is smart and smart. Even though he is 18 years old, everyone still treats him like a child and often says "not suitable for planting". Xiao Erhei couldn't keep it off his face, he would hide from people when he saw him, and he no longer believed in gossip and yin and yang.

Xiao Erhei and Xiao Qin have been in love for two or three years, but Er Zhuge has many taboos and disagrees, so he insists on accepting an eight or nine-year-old child bride for his son. Xiao Erhei refused to admit it.

Brother Jin Wang had a grudge against Xiao Qin and deliberately found trouble, saying that Xiao Qin had seduced Xiao Erhei. Therefore, they held a struggle meeting. The Armed Forces Committee fought against Xiao Erhei, and the Women's Rescue Association fought against him. Xiao Qin. Fortunately, the village chief was a sensible person and said that Xiao Erhei was acting out of true love, that it was not illegal to fall in love, and that child brides did not count, so the fight ended.

After the struggle meeting, the affairs of Xiao Erhei and Xiao Qin became public. Sanxiangu was jealous of Xiaoqin. If they were really married, she and Xiaoerhei wouldn't even be able to tell a joke. So she hurriedly found her husband's family for Xiaoqin, and finally accepted a gift card from a retired military officer, which felt like she had solved a heartache. When Xiao Qin refused, she said: "Whoever collects other people's things will go with them!"

After saying that, she went to Xiao Erhei to discuss countermeasures. Unexpectedly, Xingwang and others had a premeditated plan. They jumped out from the darkness, shouted "Get double" to catch the rapist, and tied up the two of them. Xiao Erhei is confident and not timid.

When his son was arrested, Er Zhuge was uneasy, doing divination and calculation, regretting that Xiao Erhei should not have been the captain, which led to such a disaster. Early the next morning, he rushed to the district and learned on the way that his son had been released and that the Jinwang brothers had been arrested and taken into custody. When I came to the district, I heard that the superiors allowed my son to marry Xiaoqin. I was very unhappy and said that there were many people getting engaged at the age of seven or eight in the countryside. I asked the district chief for his grace, saying that they were destined to be incompatible and it would be a lifetime thing. However, this is a democratic government, and the new society advocates the autonomy of marriage. What's the point of not agreeing?

Sanxian Gu was not worried about her daughter. It was not until the traffic officer called her that she came to the district dressed up in a gorgeous way. Her hair was covered with jewelry and heavy makeup, which made a group of women point and laugh. The district chief actually recognized her as the young daughter-in-law who was angry with her mother-in-law a few days ago. Someone happened to tell the story about the "rotten rice". The third fairy was so ashamed that she wished she could die.

Xiao Qin publicly expressed her disapproval of the marriage arranged by her mother. The district chief ordered Sanxiangu to return all the betrothal gifts she received. Sanxiangu had no choice but to agree. The Jinwang brothers were taken into custody, and everyone was happy. At the mass meeting, the villagers reported the two men's crimes. Based on the facts, the district sentenced the two to 15 years in prison. After the meeting, village cadres were re-elected, and everyone no longer dared to vote for the bad guys.

After Sanxiangu came back, she studied it in the mirror and felt that it was a bit outrageous, so she changed her clothes and quietly removed the incense table that she had been pretending to be a ghost for 30 years. Er Zhuge also gave up his old career under the persuasion of his wife and children. Xiao Qin and Xiao Erhei finally got married. The couple was very harmonious and their neighbors said they were the first good couple in the village.

In the bedroom, Xiao Erhei learned to sing Sanxiangu's "Marriage in the previous life was determined by fate", while Xiaoqin learned Er Zhuge's "Grace and grace, destiny is wrong". The naughty children went to listen to the house and learned these two sentences, so they gave the two gods new nicknames. The third fairy was called "previous life marriage" and the second Zhuge was called "fate mismatch".

"Jinbi Fang" is a new Qing Dynasty historical drama created by Yunnan Vocational College of Culture and Art, which interprets the legend of the divine horse and the green chicken. In ancient Yunnan legends, the divine horse and the jade chicken are symbols of good luck and beauty. The lantern drama "Jinbi Fang" reproduces the urban life of old Kunming in those days. It reappears the ancient legend of Jinbi Fang on the stage in a new way and firmly captures the audience with suspense.

The story of "Jinbi Fang" took place in 1687 during the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty. Carpenter Zeng Shinan was determined to rebuild Jinbi Square and realize the people's wishes. Unexpectedly, disaster struck and he suddenly became a criminal. His cousin Pan Fulai took advantage of the situation and defrauded the Zeng family's ancestral drawings. The county magistrate Zhang Tingshu had doubts and wanted to find out the truth. He took the risk to guarantee Zeng Shinan to get out of prison. The prefect Gao Zhiyuan was impetuous, gullible and eager for quick success, so he appointed Pan Fulai as the director of the reconstruction of the second workshop. There are also three women involved in it, playing a good or bad role.

In the play, truth and falsehood are intertwined, and the overt and covert battle between good and evil makes the plot ups and downs and full of suspense, until everything comes to light at the end.

"Suocheng Village" is a large-scale lantern drama created and performed by the Yunnan Provincial Huadeng Theater Troupe. It is based on the prototype of life in ethnic minority areas in Yunnan.

At the beginning of the reform and opening up, Ren Yingzhen, a Yi woman from Shidong Village, Wenshan, Yunnan, became wealthy by selling vegetables in the city, starting a rice milling and processing company, and building a quarry. In order to repay the kindness of the villagers, she announced that "three free things" including lighting electric lights, grinding rice, and grinding noodles would be implemented in the village. But due to various reasons, less than a year later, Ren Yingzhen went bankrupt and returned to Wenshan Farmers Market to sell vegetables.

In early 2008, after the Yunnan Provincial Huadeng Theater Company decided to adopt this script, it invited another local Yunnan playwright, Ma Lianghua, to join in revising and processing the script. Ma Lianghua and Sun Jinkun, the director and director of the Provincial Huadeng Theater Troupe, made in-depth exploration of this theme, moved the location of the play from Wenshan to Suocheng Village where the Maitreya Axi people live, and unfolded the plot against the background of reform and opening up.

In the play, the creators integrated the teachings of the Axi people’s distant ancestors, “If there is prey, divide the country”, as well as Ajim’s life experience of being an orphan since he was a child and relying on the upbringing of his fellow villagers. Ajim never forgets it when he becomes rich. After the villagers implemented the "three no-money policies" in the village, she was sealed at various levels from the county chief to the village chief, which gave the play a rich historical and cultural connotation and enhanced the rationality of the plot and the credibility of the character Ajim. sex.

The protagonist Ajim in the play has shouldered too many social responsibilities on his own and is finally unable to survive. After reflection, Ajim finally knelt on the monument to apologize. She used the RMB 100,000 rewarded by her superiors to buy peach seed seedlings, build a rural ecological park, and lead the villagers on the road to common prosperity.

In short, Yunnan lantern opera has won the favor of the broad masses of people with its outstanding local characteristics and distinctive folk art features in singing, chanting, acting and dancing. It is simple but not pretentious, strong but rough, and has very strong Yunnan local ethnic characteristics.