Dance to the fading drumbeat

Wen Yuhuai is the only blacksmith being able to make naoge frames in Tumd Left Banner, Hohhot..[Photo by Wang Kaihao/China Daily]

There are more than 30 naoge plays nowadays, and most performers have tried crossing over among several different plays.

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However, Ren regrets that because most performers are in their 50s or even older, it is getting more difficult to gather a complete performance team. Only 15 families could participate in this year's Lantern Festival parade.

A 70-year-old woman who keeps calling herself "the second daughter of the Gao's family" is a former local opera singer in Lapu. She cannot remember how many years she has helped with the children's makeup and costumes.

"Different families wear different things for their own plays, and the colorful costumes compose the shiniest part of naoge. Times have changed. The makeup used to be very amateurish, but we've adopted some skills from Peking Opera.

"As long as villagers like it, we will keep doing this though we are not paid," she says.

Nevertheless, things do not look very optimistic with most grandfather-generation performers admitting they have no inheritors for this show, Hu adds.

"Even the drumbeat rhythm is specially created for naoge, and is different from everywhere else other than Lapu," he says with concern.

"When our old drummers pass away, how can our performers dance again?"

Another looming problem is there will probably be no one else who knows how to repair naoge frames in the future. Wen Yuhuai, 67, is the only blacksmith in Tumd Left Banner who is able to fix the devices.