An opera never fades

Floating out melodiously with deep, subtle strength, Lanzhou Guzi opera attracts you from heart to soul. It tells love and historical stories, and tells of happiness, sorrow, joy and anger.

Dating back to as far as the early Qing Dynasty, Guzi, the local opera in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu province, has been passed on from mouth to mouth for about 400 years.

As a traditional local art, Guzi is performed with Chinese instruments with the sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) as the main accompaniment. Other instruments are the erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), dulcimer (the only western instrument used in Guzi), pipa (a plucked four-stringed instrument with a fretted fingerboard), and a xiao (a vertical bamboo flute).

Lanzhou Guzi has 10 tunes, with each one consisting of about 2-3000 characters.

This local opera tells classic historic stories and novel-rearranged stories covering every dynasty of Chinese civilization. It is usually performed at home for family entertainment and in a teahouse for its lovers. Teahouses always provide with cigarettes and drinks for listeners to relax and enjoy this traditional music.