"Ouch! My son-in-law was a master of the crop line. ”
"Ouch! My son-in-law grabbed him in that crop shop. ”
"My son-in-law can carry two hundred pounds a load."
"My son-in-law can push three hundred and eight in one car."
This is a classic fragment of Sizhou opera "Picking Cotton", during the Spring Festival holiday, Sixian Museum launched a number of Sizhou opera classic plays, for the New Year's masses to provide a delicious "cultural feast".
Excerpt from the Sizhou drama "Picking Cotton". Photo by Dong Zefu
It is understood that Sizhou opera is one of the four major dramas in Anhui Province, also known as the soul cavity, popular on both sides of the Huai River, with a history of more than 200 years. As one of the four outstanding dramas in Anhui alongside Hui opera, Huangmei opera and Lu opera, Sizhou opera has a deep mass foundation and rich cultural heritage, singing on both sides of the Huai River and the north and south of the great river with beautiful singing voice and beautiful melody.
Sizhou opera has a close relationship with the lives and customs of the people of northern Anhui, showing strong regional cultural characteristics, and occupies a very important position in the history of drama in Suzhou and even the whole anhui province. Today, in the countryside around Suzhou, Sizhou opera is still widely popular. Every New Year's Day or gathering, the elderly people will sit down early in the stage and listen carefully to the soul cavity that haunts the soul.
All kinds of ancient shoes exhibited in the China Ancient Shoes Museum. Photo by Yao Sen
The birthplace of Sizhou opera is Si County, a thousand-year-old county under the jurisdiction of Suzhou City. China's first and only ancient shoe museum is located here. The museum displays China's shoemaking history and shoe jewelry culture, and displays ancient shoes from 56 ethnic groups in China and many countries in the world, displaying a variety of shoes of all kinds, fine workmanship and different sizes in ancient China. Walking into the ancient shoe museum, the first thing that catches the eye is a cloth shoe more than 1 meter long, according to research, this is the earliest pair of shoes unearthed in China, which has a history of more than 4,000 years. Not only in China, but also in the world so far, the earliest pair of shoes have been found. The museum also displays the most typical official boots in ancient times, three-inch golden lotus shoes, and princess shoes from the Ming and Qing dynasties. In addition, there are treasures such as tools for making shoes in successive dynasties, spanning up to 5,000 years, the collection here is exquisite, the craftsmanship is superb, and almost every physical object or photo has a story, reflecting the characteristics of clothing of an era. In the face of a variety of ancient shoes, it is difficult to imagine that the ordinary shoes under the feet contain such a deep cultural connotation.
In Si County, in addition to enjoying ancient shoes and watching opera, there are also many cultural landscapes, natural landscapes and historical sites. There is also the Sui and Tang Grand Canal, which has a history of more than 1,000 years, which is the only living site on the mainland and is a rare intangible cultural heritage. Come to the canal, see the scenery by the river, blow the river breeze, and feel the traces of historical changes. (Si Wenxuan)