The 2025 Jiahe Mass Cultural Display Activities kicked off in Jiabinhu Folk Culture Street of Xincheng District, Jiahe County, Chenzhou City at 19:30 on September 9.

The traditional Jiahe Huadeng Opera “Misfortune leads to Serendipity” staged at the night received enthusiastic applause from the audience through its vivid plot and lively performance.

As a living fossil of Jiahe culture, Jiahe Huadeng Opera has a long development history and unique artistic value. It initially started with singing folk songs and was performed in the form of Duizidiao where children dressed up as clowns and female leads sang against each other.

With the continuous enrichment of performance content, it has also developed into a show with a female character and a clown. Afterwards, nourished by mature theatrical genres such as Kunqu Opera and Qi Opera, it has been further developed, with increasingly intricate plot and sophisticated performance forms.

At the same time, Jiahe Huadeng Opera has always been rooted in the folk, extensively drawing on the rhythm of Jiahe folk songs and the nutrients of folk stories, ultimately forming a distinctive and complete folk cultural and artistic form.

The content of its plays mostly focuses on the various aspects of the lives of the working people, praising true feelings and full of humor and wit.

Therefore, it is deeply loved by the people and has become a cultural memory passed down from generation to generation by Jiahe people.

In 2009, Jiahe Huadeng Opera was selected as a representative project of provincial intangible cultural heritage, laying an important foundation for the inheritance and development of local culture.

This series of activities are held every Tuesday evening from September 9 to December 23. Programs range from modern artistic performances such as singing, dancing, and instrumental music that are popular among the public, to traditional arts such as drama (Huadeng opera), Hecang boxing, Nanyue Divine Lion, Jiahe Dragon Dance, and folk acrobatics, and even qipao shows and calligraphy and painting exhibitions.

Through various cultural activities, this not only provides a platform for the grassroots people to showcase themselves and exchange learning experience, but also further activates the vitality of grassroots culture.

It enables intangible cultural heritage skills and local customs to be passed down through regular performances, and allows the public to enhance their cultural sense of gain and happiness through participation and viewing.

Chinese source: rednet