Nuo Opera is one of the most popular folk operas in southern China. There are many different stories about the history of Nuo Opera. Some hold that it began during the Zhou Dynasty. It was probably during the Song Dynasty that Nuo became a drama Nuo Opera is the most direct and important expressive medium of Nuo culture. It covers ancient religion, folklore(民间传说) and art and combines literature, music, dance, drama, painting, calligraphy, sculpture and paper-cut. Besides, Nuo Opera involves many acrobatic(杂交的) performances and most of the performers are specially trained. It has great artistic value and is called the living fossil of Chinese drama.

The unique symbol of Nuo Opera, the masks, is considered a treasure of Chinese folk art.Different roles require different masks to reveal the characters, through their changing facial features and decorations. There are many masks used in one drama. The masks are mainly made of poplar and willow, because these two kinds of wood are durable and easy to carve. Studies show that the face painting of Peking Opera and face changing of Sichuan Opera were influenced by Nuo Opera masks.

Nuo Opera used to be very popular in every part of China, but gradually, it faded out in most parts.Nowadays, it remains popular only among rural areas in south-west China, such as Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Nuo Opera is very different in different areas.

Movie theaters were one of the few places you could sit all day and—most important—sit in air conditioning. In those days, you could buy one ticket and sit through two movies. Then, the theater would show the same two movies again. If you wanted to, you could sit through them twice. Most people did not do that, but the manager at our theater. Mr. Bellow did not mind if you did.

That particular day, my brother and I sat through both movies twice, trying to escape the heat. We bought three bags of popcorn and three sodas each. Then, we sat and watched The Music Man followed by The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. We’d already seen the second movie once before. It had been at the theater since January, because Mr. Bellow loved anything with John Wayne in it.

We left the theater around 8, just before the evening shows began. But we returned the next day and saw the same two movies again, twice more. And we did it the next day too. Finally, on the fourth day, the heat wave broke.

Still, to this day I can sing half the songs in The Music Man and recite half of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart’s dialogue from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance! Those memories are some of the few I have of the heat wave of 1962. They’re really memories of the screen, not memories of my life.

The shadow play is a typical traditional entertainment that has survived and thrived over the centuries. It is taken as an earliest ancestor of modern cinema.

Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty was very depressed over the death of his favorite concubine (妃子). To help him get over his sadness, a minister made a puppet out of cotton and silk in the likeness of the concubine and projected its shadow on a curtain for the emperor to see. The show brought the emperor some comfort. He somehow believed the shadow was his lover’s spirit. This is thought to be the beginning of the shadow play.

One mouth tells stories of thousands of years; a pair of hands operates millions of soldiers. This is how the shadow puppeteer works. Nicknamed “the business of the five”, a shadow puppet group is made up of five people. One operates the puppets, one plays a Suona and a Yueqin, one plays the Banhu, one is in charge of percussion (打击乐器) instruments, and one sings.

During performances, “actors” are held close to a white curtain with their colored shadows cast on it by a strong light from behind. The operator plays five puppets at the same time, each of which has three threads. Ten fingers handle fifteen threads. Moved by guiding sticks, the puppets play roles with musical accompaniment. The popularity of shadow play in some way lies in the equipment being light and easy to carry, the small number of people needed for a performance, and the flexible requirements for performance places. The plays can be quite dramatic and, when it comes to fairy tales or kungfu stories, the “actors” may be made to ride on clouds or perform unusual feats, to the great enjoyment of the audience, especially children.

The design of the figures follows traditional moral evaluation. The audience can tell a figure’s character by seeing his mask. Like the masks in Beijing Opera, a red mask represents honesty, a black mask, loyalty, and a white one, betrayal.

Nowadays, the shadow play has been industrialized and developed a series of tourist products for the promotion of Chinese culture and tourism.