Performing Arts: Cantonese Opera White Tiger Ritual Playlet

Cantonese opera (粤剧) is one of the many regional genres of Chinese opera. Its performances can be classified into theatrical performances and ritual performances.

Theatrical performances or Hei jyn hei (戏院戏) refer to the performances in permanent theatres and concert halls, mostly for commercial purposes.

Ritual performances or sen gung hei (神功戏) are those held in celebration of traditional annual festivals, deities’ birthdays, as well as Thanksgiving to deities or ghosts. Such performances are held in both urban and rural areas, and temporary stages are built for the performances.

For any new stage (permanent or temporary) that has not been used for performances before, the Cantonese opera troupe will have to stage a short ritual playlet before the actual performance on the first night.

This ritual is called Zae Baak Fu (祭白虎), Zae Toi (祭台) or Po Toi (破台). Zae Baak Fu means sacrificial offerings to White Tiger. Zae Toi refers to the offerings to stage and Po Toi the breaking or initiating the stage.

This ritual is also applicable to the case of an old stage that has since changed its site direction after the last performance. The purpose of the ritual is to purge the stage of evil spirits and for the safety of the troupe members.

In the olden days, the Zae Baak Fu or White Tiger ritual has to precede the staging of “Luk Gwok Dai Fung Soeng” (六国大封相) (The Grand Six Countries Invest a Chancellor) on the first night of performance.

However, nowadays in Hong Kong, the opera troupes will perform this ritual during the daytime, few hours before the start of the first night’s performance.

As there are certain taboos relating to this ritual, daytime will be the best time to conduct the ceremony as only those who are familiar with the taboos will be at the ceremony scene. It is not meant to be performed for any audience.

The White Tiger ritual playlet is based on the story of Jyntan Taming the Tiger (玄坛伏虎). In Chinese mythology, Jyntan (Ju Gong Meng 赵公明) is a military fortune deity (武财神).

The actor playing the character Jyntan will perform a series of traditional stage movements. Another name for the playlet is Tiu Choy Sun (跳财神), translated literally “Dance of Fortune Deity”.

Afraid of offending the White Tiger deity, the opera performers commonly refer to this playlet as “Beating Cat”, instead of calling it taming of the tiger.

In summary, this Cantonese opera ritual can be called Zae Baak Fu, Zae Toi, Po Toi, Fortune Deity Dance or Beating Cat.

The backstage atmosphere is very solemn during the preparation of the ceremony. No one is supposed to talk, and communication is done through gestures. It is believed that before the ritual, troupe members can be easily hurt by the White Tiger.

The moment he dons the tiger costume and mask, the actor in the tiger role should not roam about or interact with others. He can only stand or squat near the curtains facing the stage, waiting for his turn to perform. This is to prevent “clashing” with other performers, resulting in misfortunes.

For the actor who plays the character of Jyntan, he will “keep his mouth shut” (封咀) and will not exchange greetings with anyone. It is said that if he answers someone, misfortune will befall on that person or the performance of the troupe will be affected.

According to Wong Jyt Seng (王粤生), an experienced musician, accidents had happened in the past and were believed to be caused by the White Tiger. These included incidents such as backstage on fire and collapse of the temporary built stage.

Huang Junlin (黄君林), a veteran actor, who has been playing the role of Jyntan over a hundred times, stressed the importance of “keeping mouth shut” until the ceremony is over. Not observing the taboo can bring bad luck to an actor or the opera troupe, in the form of sickness or even death.

He narrated an occasion whereby the actor portraying the tiger talked during the preparation. It resulted in troubles, one after another. Firstly, the principal female role performer lost her voice; next, extortion threats were received, and then someone was killed outside their performance location.

The ceremony begins with the actor portraying Jyntan writing on a stage column the words “da Ji” (大吉) (extraordinarily good luck) before he proceeds with his facial makeup.

He will paint his face black and wears a black beard. He clads in a black armour and holds a single steel whip (or bamboo whip) in his right hand. There is a string of fire crackers at the tip of the whip. The fire crackers will be set off when the playlet begins.

At the sound of percussion music, the Jyntan character, holding aloft the whip with the exploding fire crackers, makes his appearance from the right side of the stage. He hurries to the centre stage and performs various stylistic movements to symbolize that he has lost his tiger and is searching for it.

He then poses on a table. In opera, this is to indicate that the character is standing on a high location (e.g. hill), a god descending from heaven or looking down from a cloud.

The tiger figure now crawls onto stage from the left side. Upon discovery of a piece of raw pork, he mimes eating it. Next, he “excreted” the meat. Meanwhile, Jyntan descends upon him and a fight started.

After bashing the tiger with his whip, Jyntan uses a chain to seal the tiger’s mouth (or ties the chain around the neck) to represent that the tiger has been subdued. He then rides on the tiger and moves backwards towards the left entrance that leads to the backstage.

At the entrance, a backstage worker quickly uses some prayers papers to wipe the face of Jyntan, signifying that the actor resumes his own identity and is no longer in the Jyntan role. Everyone in the backstage will shout ‘好’ (hao) to end the 10-minutes playlet of Zae Baak Fu. The word ‘hao’ means ‘good’, signifying everything will be well from then on.

Once the ritual is over, the stage personnel can start talking and go about preparing for their performances.

The piece of meat used in the ritual is believe to contain all the evils and bad luck, and has to be properly disposed. If the stage is built on a sandy ground, the meat will be buried underneath the stage. If it is on concrete ground, then the meat will be put in a plastic bag, sealed and thrown into a rubbish bin.

According to Huang Junlin, no grass can grow in the place where the meat was disposed. Believe it or not, someone kicked the meat and suffered festering sores in the foot for several months.

There is an ancient Cantonese custom to worship the White Tiger on Gingzik (驚蟄) (Jingzhe). The ritual is also known as Zae Baak Fu (offerings to White Tiger).

Please do not confuse the above operatic ritual with this Gingzik White Tiger ritual; one is under performing arts while the other is considered a social practice.

The inventory of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in Hong Kong has included the Baak Fu (White Tiger) ritual under the domain of Performing Arts.

[Note: All the Chinese words pronunciations are based on the Cantonese pronunciation.]

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