The Transformation Of Mulien Opera Music Memory In Southern Anhui

Performances of Mulien Opera date back to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1126). Because of this long history, today it is often referred to as a "living fossil" of operas. Since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), in Southern Anhui, Mulien Opera has been very popular and closely linked to lineages. The opera here is infused with religious rituals, local knowledge and collective memories of families and reflects the moral thinking of China's feudal society. Being association with collective memories, Mulien Opera helped lineages and individuals in them gain identity.China's building of a modern national-state in 1949 and the series of movements following this, such as land reform, tremendously impacted the lineages. Because of its close connection to lineages, performance of Mulien Opera was forbidden for three decades after liberation until 1979, when the economic reforms began. At this time, the relationship between lineages and the state relaxed, and as a result, lineages and Mulien Opera were given opportunities to again develop themselves.Despite the great change happened in the form of country and social circumstance, Mulian Opera still acts as storage of collective memory, what has been changed is the holder, content and the interpreter of the memory, the national-states began to hold the memory and has the right to decide which part to be reserved. How this change will effect Mulian Opera was not known now. My opinion is that the government should be more careful and find appropriate ways to treat the opera, which developed in folk society and belongs to the local lineages. I feel that we should do our best to save it's cultural content and that the ownership of the opera should be retained by lineages, not the nation-state.