Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang is a city of history and culture. It would be a time-consuming task to explain its more-than-2,000-year history and cultural wealth. Take operas in Shaoxing for example. Yueju Opera that emerged in Shaoxing more than 100 years ago and took shape in Shanghai enjoys national popularity that is only second to Peking Opera. Shaoxing Opera, another opera genre popular in Shaoxing, presents a totally different performance style. And there is the unique Pantomime Mulian Show in Shaoxing.

Mulian Show is a unique opera genre in China. It is named after a person while all other folk operas and shows across the country are generally named after their respective regions. What makes the Mulian Show in Shaoxing unique is that it is a pantomime stunt while in other parts of the country Mulian Show performers speak lines and sing arias. The pantomime in Shaoxing doesn’t have a single line and an aria for performers to speak and sing. The main musical instrument used in the opera is, a brass bugle occasionally used in folk music and, in ancient times, in the army.  literally means “summon the army”. The whole pantomime show is accompanied by the bugle and percussion instruments.

All the Mulian Shows in China are named after. It is a popular Chinese Buddhist tale originating in the third century, inspired by tales from India of Maudgalyayana, who is named Mulian in Chinese stories. Mulian, a virtuous monk, seeks the help of the Buddha to rescue his mother, who has been condemned to the lowest and most painful purgatory in karmic retribution for her transgressions. Mulian cannot rescue her by his individual effort, however, but is instructed by the Buddha to offer food and gifts to monks and monasteries on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, which established the Ghost Festival. The monk's devotion to his mother reassured Chinese that Buddhism did not undermine the Confucian value of filial piety and helped to make Buddhism into a Chinese religion.

To be more accurate, the opera was named after the tale. Such a designation is the only one of its kind in China’s history of theater. The Mulian Opera was brought south after the Southern Song (1127-1279) established itself in Hangzhou. The performance spread to the southeast and southwest of China. In the far-reaching dissemination, the tale evolved and appeared in various forms and performers sang different melodies in different styles and spoke different lines.

The Mulian Opera was popular in Zhejiang in general and in Shaoxing, home to a lot of scholars and well-educated people, in particular. Scholars agree that the Pantomime Mulian Opera is partly what remains from the ancient South Opera which originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and fathered many regional operas and that it retains some influences of the pantomime shows in Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty. Pantomime shows prospered for a long while in Shaoxing. Today, only the Pantomime Mulian Opera remains in some places in Shangyu, which used to be a rural county and now a district of Shaoxing.

The Pantomime Mulian Opera shares essentials with Mulian shows across the country. Actors are barefooted on the stage. They wear knee-length pants in red. The difference is that in Shaoxing actors pantomime. The pantomime show is divided into two categories: street performances and theater performances. In a first-category show, performers join a procession marching through streets in special folk ceremonies and festivals. In the second category, pantomime artists perform on a village stage. As the opera evolved, artists had their faces painted heavily.

The Pantomime Mulian Opera shows went out of favor after 1949. Gradually, troupes got disorganized. In the early 1980s, a nationwide preservation project was launched to rescue so-called outmoded folk shows. In 1985, dozens of pantomime show artists in Shangyu were summoned and their shows were videotaped. About 20 plays were taped and submitted to the Ministry of Culture. In 2007, the Pantomime Mulian Opera of Shaoxing was listed as a provincial cultural heritage. This inscription has given the very push the Pantomime Mulian Opera needs for survival.

However, it is a challenge to carry the pantomime show forward. Lou Sufen in Shangyu is now the designated master of the Pantomime Mulian Show in Shangyu. She is from a family of Taoists. Zhao Haichuan, a master of intangible cultural heritage, is her tutor. She has been performing the pantomime for a long time. Her grandfather and father were pantomime artists. At first, the local cultural authorities wanted to appoint her older brother as the designated master. He passed away. Since she became a master in 2011, Lou Sufen has been promoting folk art. Over the past eight years, she has worked in partnership with her husband. The troupe the couple founded has over 30 members. And nowadays they can stage over 10 different shows.