The vast mountains and valleys of Guizhou are like a time tunnel. The diverse topography formed by high mountains and deep valleys allows cultures from different periods and origins to find their place here. As history progresses, many elements that once played important roles in Chinese culture have been forgotten, but Guizhou, like a "sedimentation zone," has securely preserved them.
Nuo (nuó) culture is one of them.
Performers dance wearing exquisite wooden masks, depicting heroic or fierce images of gods and ghosts — this is the "Nuo" that we are most likely to see today. But few people know that this seemingly mysterious activity is actually a "hidden main thread" of Chinese "ritual" culture.
"Nuo" is essentially a ritual for exorcising ghosts, expelling plagues, praying for blessings, and warding off disasters. Since the pre-Qin period, it has been a very important part of imperial court sacrificial activities. The "Book of Rites" describes the "Great Nuo" of the Zhou Dynasty, and as it developed over time, its forms became increasingly rich. The Nuo ritual described in the Song Dynasty's "Dongjing Meng Hua Lu" (Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital) was already quite fascinating.
Guizhou is the region in China where Nuo culture is best preserved and has the richest varieties. In this "museum" formed by thousands of mountain peaks, we can see both the most primitive and the most mature forms of "Nuo." Following this vein, we can recover lost memories and see how we have come to where we are today.
At its birth, "Nuo" was a form of sorcery ritual, serving as a medium between gods and humans. The more ancient the Nuo ritual, the stronger its sense of "sacrifice," and the more we can interpret our ancestors' perspectives on understanding the world.
There is a famous philosophical question: "Where do I come from?" After the dawn of civilization, our ancestors began to ponder this question and gave their answer: Humans come from beasts, from the myriad things in nature that nurture life.
"Cuotaiji" records the ancient values of our ancestors.
Photo by Li Guangrong
This primitive worldview can be seen in several ethnic minority Nuo rituals in Guizhou. Some Yi villages regard the "tiger" as their ancestor, celebrating the Tiger Festival and performing the "Old Tiger Sheng Dance". The Maonan villages in Pingtang and the Yao villages in Libo use the "Monkey Drum Dance" to narrate the connection between the Monkey King and their ancestors. The Yi people's "Cuotaiji" in northwestern Guizhou is the most representative among them.
"Cuotaiji" is a phonetic translation from the Yi language, meaning "human transformation play," with the main characters being a group of "humans in transformation." The local Yi people believe that humans evolved from monkeys, and one stage of this evolution was the "straight-eyed people", who had monkey faces and rat teeth, neither fully human nor animal. They could only be born but not die, living for thousands of years, and are considered the ancestors of modern humans.
The main characters of "Cuotaiji" are the "straight-eyed people" who lived for thousands of years.
Photo by Wang Jiwen
To portray the "straight-eyed people," performers wear large black masks and wrap their heads with black and white cloth into a conical shape. To show that the character is between human and beast, they speak in hoarse, sharp air-flow sounds, and their movements are slow and slightly stiff, with legs slightly bowed to mimic the posture of early humans learning to walk upright.
The roles in Cuotaiji are fixed, including old man, old woman, general, clown, and children, as well as a shaman called "Rejia Abu" who presides over the sacrifice and narrates the plot. Led by "Rejia Abu," the characters appear, worship natural deities such as mountains, rivers, and fields, then perform stories of lighting fires to clear land, slash-and-burn farming, taming cattle and horses, and sowing buckwheat seeds. Finally, in a joyous harvest atmosphere, they enter the village to "sweep" house by house, expelling evil spirits.
Scenes of ancestors clearing land, farming, and migrating are the main plots of Cuotaiji.
Photo by Wang Jiwen
"Cuotaiji" is a unique custom of the Yi villages in northwestern Guizhou, with many elements that are one-of-a-kind. However, we can still see two of the most basic characteristics of "Nuo" in it:
First, the special status of "masks".
Cuotaiji masks only come in black and white, with a simple style,
but people's attitude towards the masks is very solemn.
Photo by Li Guangrong
While Nuo culture varies greatly, there is a consensus that "wearing a mask makes one a 'god,' taking it off makes one human." In "Cuotaiji," people also treat masks with respect, storing and handling them with special care. When a performer puts on a mask, it signifies leaving their daily identity behind. Those around can only address and treat them according to the role represented by the mask; otherwise, it would show a lack of reverence and could invite misfortune.
Secondly, there are two parts: "revering gods" and "entertaining people."
Nuo culture always contains certain "belief" elements. The Yi people performing "Cuotaiji" do not worship deities or fear ghosts; instead, they express gratitude for the blessings of heaven, earth, and all grains, remember the legacy of their ancestors, and drive away disasters and plagues. These tangible forces of nature carry their hopes and fears, expressed through rituals.
Nuo is a way for people to communicate with heaven and earth.
Photo by Wang Jiwen
However, whether blessings or disasters, human life must be created by humans, and sacrifices to revere gods must be participated in by humans. The "Nuo sacrifices" and "Nuo dances" that communicate with heaven, earth, ghosts, and gods inevitably turn towards "attracting people," and solemn rituals become lively celebrations. It is in this way that our ancestors bonded together, carving out a prosperous civilization from the wilderness.
As the ancient, simple worship of nature gradually faded, gods and ghosts with human-like emotions appeared in people's concepts, and the "Nuo" that connected humans and gods entered its "youth stage" —
Nuo opera separated from the god-revering Nuo dance and formally appeared in the form of "drama".
The Nuo Hall Opera in Dejiang is full of common folk atmosphere.
Pictured is "Danao Tai," telling the story of crooked-mouth Qin Tong seeking a matchmaker.
The "youth stage" of Nuo culture is not unique to Guizhou; Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan all have their own iconic Nuo operas, and the North also has art forms like "Capturing the Yellow Ghost." Guizhou's Nuo shares the same roots as Nuo in other regions, but it is particularly rich in forms, including "Jumping Duangong," "Performing Guansuo," "Singing Yang Opera," and various other types. Among them, the "Nuo Hall Opera" in northeastern Guizhou is the most typical.
In Nuo Hall Opera, the "opera" is the most distinctive and interesting part.
Can you recognize these characters from the Nuo Hall Opera?
They are Cai Yang, Mountain-Opening Fierce General, Earth God, and Guan Gong.
There are twenty-four main plays in the Nuo Hall Opera, each telling a small story related to deities and serving the function of praying for blessings and exorcising evil. For example, "The Road-Opening General" tells the story of the general clearing away evil spirits and obstacles to ensure various divine armies reach the Nuo altar to perform their duties and enjoy sacrifices; "The Ledger-Checking Judge" sings about Judge Cui Yun riding a horse from Mount Hua to the Nuo altar to call the roll for all deities. Stringing these main plays together forms a complete ritual of inviting and sending off gods.
Each character in the main plays corresponds to a mask, and all those with masks can be considered "deities," but they are quite different from the gods we are familiar with in daily life. Some are fierce generals, exuding an aura of divine wrath; some are benevolent righteous gods, with kind and amiable faces; some are almost secular characters, humorous and lovable. Each character has their own background story, but even the most dignified and fierce characters have elements of humor and wit in their stories. For example, the imposing Mountain-Opening Fierce General might lose his axe while bathing and be teased by young attendants.
Nuo Hall Opera masks are all handmade, with each Nuo altar having its own style.
The inheritance of "shamanic" culture is also present in Nuo Hall Opera, with communicating with spirits and performing magic being essential elements.
Performing Nuo opera is generally for "fulfilling vows," and where there are vows to be fulfilled, there must have been vows made: When people need to cure illnesses, dispel disasters, pray for children, or seek longevity, they would pray to deities, and after their wishes are fulfilled, they would hold a grand ceremony to thank the gods. In this sense, the main plays of Nuo Hall Opera can be said to be performed both for humans and for gods.
Performing rituals and magic is an indispensable part of Nuo culture.
Nuo Gong and Nuo Mu are the righteous gods enshrined on the Nuo altar, generally considered to represent Fuxi and Nüwa. In addition, there are also the Earth Nuo Little Mountain, Yajiao Niangzi, Altar-Flipping Little General, and others on the Nuo altar, specifically for catching monsters, capturing ghosts, and retrieving souls. These deities, along with the aforementioned masked "opera gods," form the shamanic pantheon most closely associated with Nuo rituals.
When opening the altar to invite gods, an incense table must be set up and the "Three Pure Ones Chart" hung, symbolizing the arrival of the gods. The deities on the Three Pure Ones Chart are countless: the Taoist Three Pure Ones - Yuqing, Shangqing, and Taiqing - are the reason for the chart's name. Additionally, there are the Ancestral Patriarch of the Central Heaven, the White Pole Purple Subtlety, the Great Emperor Yuan Qing, the Golden Light Holy Mother... There are Taoist gods, Buddhist gods, folk gods, and even Confucian figures. Different altar charts may be used for different rituals, truly showcasing a multitude of deities!
Performing Nuo Hall Opera requires setting up colorful towers and arches, which are places of worship for Nuo Gong, Nuo Mu, and other deities.
The Nuo altar has a distinct Taoist color, which is not surprising. Taoism originated from the immortality techniques of the Warring States period, sharing roots with shamanic Nuo culture, and is also China's most influential indigenous religion. Therefore, those who preside over Nuo altars often claim to be disciples of Mount Mao, and when performing Nuo rituals, they follow practices similar to Taoism: wearing treasure crowns, deity skirts, holding ritual tablets, treading Taoist steps, writing talismans, and making hand gestures, reminiscent of the drumming, zither-playing, poem-chanting, and dancing described in "The Nine Songs." However, the Nuo altar is not a rigidly systematic religion, but rather adapts to practical needs, drawing on the strengths of various deities, continuously filling the gaps in the altar charts, and ultimately forming a system of gods and monsters that integrates Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and shamanism, comprehensively covering all aspects of folk life.
The Nuo opera altar scene is heavily influenced by Taoism,
while the opera scripts show a fusion of local legends and various folk stories.
"Each village has its temple, each household has its god", "One doesn't visit the temple of the Three Treasures without a reason" - this is the belief system within the Nuo altar. Here, gods are no longer lofty or "unpredictable in their divine will," but rather kind, approachable, and communicable beings. Sacrifices and rituals have become opportunities for people to gather and enjoy happiness together. The "human" element has diluted the power of shamans and ghosts, yet it has given this ancient folk custom a longer life.
The ancient belief in ghosts and gods was like a shield, standing between humans and the unpredictable world. But as human power gradually grew stronger, ghosts and gods were no longer objects of supplication and dependence.
The era of heroes began.
The protagonists of Tunpu Ground Opera are no longer gods, but heroes.
Photo by Xu Yan
The Ground Opera of Guizhou is considered a "mature" form of Nuo opera — the "sacrificial" elements for entertaining gods have been greatly simplified, while the "theatrical" elements for entertaining people have reached their peak. It is distributed in a narrow strip-shaped area from Liuzhi and Shuicheng in the west to the suburbs of Guiyang in the east, forming a group of Ground Operas centered on Anshun, hence also known as "Anshun Ground Opera," which basically coincides with the distribution of "Tunpu" (fortified villages).
There are almost no deities in Ground Opera, replaced instead by heroic figures of iron and blood: Guan Yu, Yue Fei, Lü Bu, Xue Rengui, Yang Liulang. The repertoire of Ground Opera consists entirely of stories of war depicting the rise and fall of dynasties: "The Contention of Chu and Han," "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "Generals of the Yang Family," etc. The performance often begins with "Paying Homage to the Emperor," where generals enter the court to face the emperor, report enemy situations, and the emperor seeks capable generals to resist the enemy. The plot unfolds step by step until the generals from both sides engage in combat, form battle arrays, wielding and blocking swords, displaying martial arts moves, creating an extremely lively scene.
Ground Opera scripts preserved in Tunpu.
Photo by Wu Xuewen
The distinct military color points to the cultural roots of Ground Opera — it bears traces of "military Nuo" which had basically taken shape during the Song Dynasty. It came to Guizhou with the Ming Dynasty's southern expedition army and developed to perfection in the Tunpu formed by military garrisons and land reclamation. It retains the essence of military Nuo in displaying military prowess and boosting morale, with vigorous movements and bold accompanying music. It also carries the homesickness of Tunpu people that has lasted for hundreds of years, singing memories of ancestors and battles in high-pitched tunes that bear traces of the Yiyang tune.
Masks are the soul of Ground Opera, with majestic and solemn appearances being their basic characteristics. The masks consist of three parts: face, helmet, and ears, and are divided into five categories: civil, military, old, young, and female. The masks of military generals are the most intricate and complex, with certain stylized requirements when portraying characters: Yue Fei is the reincarnation of the great Peng golden-winged bird, so his helmet must have a great Peng; Xue Rengui and Yang Liulang need to show their identity as the "White Tiger Star"; Jin Wuzhu has fire dragons on both his helmet and nose; Fan Lihua is decorated with jade maiden motifs.
Ground Opera masks are intricately carved. For example, the eyebrows of characters
follow the rule "young general's brows like an arrow, female general's like a thread, military general's like raging flames."
Photo by Wu Xuewen
These masks with fixed divine appearances allow the audience to identify the character's identity, good or evil nature, and temperament without much effort, greatly improving narrative efficiency, similar to the approach of opera facial makeup. However, in Ground Opera, the status of masks goes far beyond being mere "makeup tools," but rather they are revered as true ancestral heroic spirits. Before every Ground Opera performance, they must first visit the temple to worship the gods and welcome the faces (masks), a process called "opening the wealth door." When the wealth door opens, performers each wear their masks and costumes, and led by the "chief commander," they enter villages and settlements, burn incense and paper offerings, recite plague-expelling scriptures, using the righteousness of heroic figures to drive away evil spirits.
Welcoming the faces (masks).
Photo by Wu Xuewen
Anshun Ground Opera is a crystallization of the fusion between the Han culture of the Ming Dynasty and ethnic minority cultures. Being a fusion, it is by no means a one-sided input. The Tunpu people have taken root for hundreds of years, blending inseparably with the local environment. So we can see that the Tunpu people not only perform Ground Opera during the New Year celebrations in the first lunar month but also during the "Seventh Month Festival" when their Miao and Dong compatriots in Guizhou celebrate the harvest, calling it "Dancing for the Rice Flower God." We can also see that the Buyi villages around Tunpu have learned the singing and dancing methods of Ground Opera, but accompany it with their own moon guitars and bamboo flutes, performing their own stories in the Buyi language.
High platform Ground Opera requires arranging tables to form various military formations.
Photo by Pan Junxiang
Entering the Ground Opera stage, Nuo culture has basically completed its evolution from "sacrifice" to "drama," but its story is far from over. If you have some understanding of opera culture, you can interpret the sacred meaning in the "box-opening" ceremony of the opera troupe's first performance of the year, discover the special respect given to special roles like Guan Gong in the backstage, and notice how similar the auspicious small segment of "jumping for promotion" at the beginning of the opera is to the "sweeping the stage" before Nuo opera —
Nuo has left us, but it hasn't really gone far. It has accompanied us from ancient times to the present, from singing about otherworldly gods to the appearance of heroes, and finally spread among the common people, transforming into countless ordinary people's joys and sorrows. In the towering mountains and precipitous ridges of Guizhou, it quietly waits, waiting for us to discover and explore, waiting for us to see the future from thousands of years of memories.
Nuo has never truly left us.
