Nanxi, Southern Drama

Nanxi is the southern drama that arose in Wenzhou in the late Northern Song, a qupai-form theatre from which the four great Ming styles grew

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Time and place

Nanxi arose in Wenzhou, old name Yongjia, in Zhejiang, after the Xuanhe era of the Northern Song and around the court's move south. Lin'an, today's Hangzhou, became its centre in the Southern Song, and it continued through the Yuan and Ming. Zhu Yunming's Weitan says southern drama emerged after Xuanhe and was called Wenzhou zaju, the most quoted early notice.

What happened

Nanxi stitched southern folk song, narrative singing and song-and-dance skits into long stories, sung to linked southern qupai. The earliest surviving script is Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan, preserved among the three Yongle Dadian plays. Around the Jiajing era of the Ming it split into the Haiyan, Yuyao, Yiyang and Kunshan styles; Kunshan, reformed by Wei Liangfu, became kunqu.

Musical features

Nanxi is qupai form, linking tunes into suites, and a play can run to dozens of scenes. Southern tunes are mostly pentatonic, with few syllables stretched over long phrases and a relaxed pace, against the heptatonic, syllable-dense northern style. Roles divide into sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou. Chorus and antiphonal singing help the stage, while flute and drum board lead the band, with gongs and pipa added as needed.

What to listen for

Hear Meng Jiangnu Xun Fu, where one tune carries a long story and the narrative phrasing marks the sections. Then hear Daoqing Shi Shou, narrative singing that alternates verse and prose, close to the storytelling behind nanxi. Finally hear Shier Yue Cai Cha, a tea-picking skit tune that shows how southern song-and-dance entered theatre. None is nanxi.

Common misunderstandings

Nanxi is often confused with nanyin from Quanzhou. Nanyin is a Fujian silk-and-bamboo and song tradition; nanxi is a theatre that began in Wenzhou. Both preserve old elements, but they are not the same. Nor is nanxi a synonym for kunqu, since Kunshan was only one of four styles, and it was never confined to Wenzhou; trade and migration carried it across the south.

Sources

• 《永乐大典戏文三种》— 现存最早南戏剧本核对，未引用
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — opera history checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.