【Recommendation of the Mountain Trail Literature Society】
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Genres are difficult to create new styles, and styles can be original
—A glimpse into the development of "national quintessence" and "intangible cultural heritage" Peking Opera
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【Zou Qixin】
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As the "quintessence" of Chinese opera and the "intangible cultural heritage" of world culture, Peking Opera is not only an art of the horn, but also an art of genre. Today, there are still Tan, Yu, Yan, Ma, Qi in the old students, Mei, Shang, Cheng, Xun, Zhang and other schools in the Danjiao, as well as the Qiu school in the flower face, the Ye school in the Xiaosheng, and the Li school in the old Dan. It has been more than 40 years since the reform and opening up, and the social environment, material conditions and means of communication are definitely much better than the vigorous development stage of Peking Opera art in the early Republic of China and the early Republic of China. Why hasn't a new, unique and recognized genre of Peking Opera been created? As an ordinary audience who likes to appreciate Peking Opera, I am unable to discuss many aspects because of the limitations of my vision and the shallowness of my thinking, so I only make a little speculation on the development of Peking Opera.
Peking Opera has been more than 230 years since the four major Hui troupes entered Beijing in 1790 to celebrate Qianlong's 80th birthday, and it has gone through Cheng Changgeng, Tan Xinpei, Wang Yaoqing, Mei Lanfang and other predecessors to pioneer and innovate, and the talents of later generations to carry forward the past and forge ahead into the future, and work hard, finally making Peking Opera stand out among more than 300 opera genres in the mainland. However, in 1793, the British envoy Margani, who had already achieved initial industrialization, came to Beijing, and Qianlong actually treated the emerging industrial civilization with a conservative, closed, rigid and short-sighted attitude. This is one of the important reasons why China's development from an agricultural civilization to an industrial civilization has seriously lagged behind for more than 200 years. The period from the birth to the development to the maturity and prosperity of Chinese Peking Opera coincided with the gradual decline of China's agricultural civilization and the lagging industrial civilization for more than 200 years. In the 21st century, since the reform and opening up, Chinese Peking Opera art has achieved a qualitative change and leap from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization that is unprecedented in history and unique in the world. Peking Opera is already in the era of mechanization, electrification, informatization, and creating a new industrial civilization of digitalization and intelligence. Along with this, the mainland is far ahead of the world in the penetration rate of televisions, computers and smartphones. Therefore, the masses of the people on the mainland have extremely convenient access to information, and there are particularly abundant ways to entertain themselves. How can Peking Opera and other operas, which rely mainly on the theater stage, face, adapt, utilize and resist the impact, diversion and replacement of mass entertainment methods such as film, television, mobile phone and square performances, sports competitions, and online live broadcasts? The history of the development of Peking Opera in China proves that one of the signs of its prosperity is the initiation and guidance of many famous actors, the inheritance and development of a group of disciples, and the love and dissemination of the audience, thus forming a situation of competition and competition among multiple genres. As we all know, the emergence and prominence of famous characters certainly include the development of innate endowments, the hard training of acquired basic skills, the accumulation of cultural literacy, and the superposition of artistic practice. However, at present, it seems that they are unable to meet the impact of the new wave of industrialization that has already begun to cross the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution by relying only on them to learn and be good at performing the old traditional dramas before the liberation and the new traditional dramas before the reform. As an ordinary audience who likes to appreciate the art of Peking Opera, my humble knowledge and humble opinion is that although it is difficult to create a new genre, I can still take Jiao'er as the core, give full play to the strengths and advantages of each actor who has both innate endowments and acquired skills, and creates their own unique styles. Because the style is "people", it is "this one", it is the flowers with unique colors and fragrances in the garden, and the trees with their trunks and branches and leaves in the forest of ten thousand trees. Therefore, it is necessary to "keep upright" in terms of the origin of art and "innovate" in terms of artistic development. That is to say, it is still necessary to follow and apply the most basic, most common and most commonly used laws in the development of literature and art to develop and innovate. Only on the basis of promoting and supporting a number of famous actors can it be possible to wash and select several new, unique, and recognized Peking Opera genres.
Drama is a comprehensive art, but a script is the foundation of a play. In the history of the development of Peking Opera, although various famous actors and multiple genres have jointly performed famous operas such as "Lost, Empty, Chop", "Da Tan II", "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang", "Shilang Visits the Mother", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Yutang Chun" and other famous operas, however, it is often not these co-performed repertoire that can best reflect the unique style of each famous actor, but the original and premiered repertoire of each famous actor. Literary workers must have their own original literary works in order to be called literary writers; Scientists must have their own original scientific achievements in order to be called scientists; In the same way, a theater actor must also have a unique repertoire performed in order to be called a performing artist. This is the "common sense" and "consensus" in people's understanding of writers, scientists, and performing artists. In 1927, when the Shuntian Times in Peking initiated the selection of famous actors, an important condition was that each actor must present a new repertoire that was original and premiered. This is an important premise for Mei, Shang, Cheng, and Xun to open a sect. Later, they also launched the "Four Swords", "Four Concubines" and "Four Reds" repertoire with their own unique styles, which were recognized by the audience. It is precisely because they have presented their original creations and premiered a number of plays that they have won audiences, box office, and markets in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Han and other regions, thus gradually forming a unique genre. In 1992, the first Mei Lanfang Gold Award Competition also regarded whether or not there was an "original repertoire for the premiere" as an important condition for selecting award-winning actors. Since the reform and opening up, some Peking Opera performers have become famous actors, first of all, because they have unique and excellent new scripts as the basis for their performances. For example, Shang Changrong, who won the Plum Blossom Award and the Plum Blossom Award three times, was originally well-known in Xi'an, but the national audience was not familiar with him. In 1988, when he was 48 years old, he took the initiative to seek cooperation with the Shanghai Peking Opera Company with a new script of "Cao Cao and Yang Xiu", and then successively presented new plays such as "Zhenguan Shengshi" and "Honest Officials in Jackie Chan". He does not seem to have formed a recognized Shang school face, but he does have a unique and bold style. Another example is Zhu Shihui of the Peking Opera Company in Hubei Province, with the support of the new script "Xu Jiujing's Promotion to Official", the harlequin played the big play, and then tailored "Plaster Chapter", "Zeng Houyi" and other plays for him. He is not currently recognized as a clown of the Zhu School, but his unique style of wit and humor has won a large number of audiences across the country. In addition, Li Weikang created the glorious image of the revolutionary martyr Yang Kaihui because he starred in "Butterfly Loves Flowers", and Zhao Baoxiu created a new image of Le Xu, an entrepreneur who fought against national disasters because of his premiere in "Wind and Rain Tongrentang", which highlighted his unique style in their respective genres.
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Literature is the study of people. The script of a play is literature. Because new themes, new themes, and new plots must be supported, embodied, and interpreted by new characters. Whether it is the teachings of the predecessors or the experience of the younger generations, in an interview, they all said in one word: "Acting is mainly about playing characters." "When performing, if an actor can use his mastery of singing, reading, dancing, hand-eye-body movement and other artistic programs to show the character's inherent ideological views and outward character temperament in the unique historical environment and the atmosphere of the new era, he can generally highlight his own unique artistic style. In the history of Chinese theatre, the Three Kingdoms drama is one of the important components. Luo Guanzhong's long historical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the Ming Dynasty and Lu Shengkui's "Three Kingdoms" drama in the Qing Dynasty often portrayed Cao Cao as a thief who undermined "orthodoxy", violated the "program and discipline", and "blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes" and a traitorous male who "would rather bear the people of the world than teach the people of the world to bear me". Guo Moruo "overturned the case for Cao Cao", in the drama "Cai Wenji", Cao Cao not only has the humanistic idea of "loving soldiers like sons and treating the people as wounds", but also has the outstanding talent of riding and shooting poetry and books, and has created great achievements in hoeing the strong, suppressing annexation, helping the poor and weak, rejuvenating Tuntian, and unifying the north, and is an outstanding politician, military strategist, and writer in the feudal era. The former focuses on moral criticism, while the latter focuses on historical evaluation. Shang Changrong's portrayal of Cao Cao in "Cao Cao and Yang Xiu" is different from the image of Cao Cao in previous dramas. In the face of the tragic situation of "the decline of the Han Zuo group and the wolf smoke billowing, and the bloody corpses of the Jinjiang Mountains are all over the wilderness", he "thought of breaking his intestines and wanting to break his soul", so he "aims to settle the world", even if the army is defeated in Chibi, he must "seek talents and talents to reinvigorate". When he was assisted by Yang Xiu, he sincerely felt like a tiger with wings, so he not only entrusted him with important tasks, but also presented him with a silk robe, and also recruited him as a son-in-law, showing the extraordinary bearing, courage and talent of a feudal politician who wanted to "create a grand cause". However, Cao Cao, who rose in the world of turmoil, treacherous changes, crowds of heroes competing for deer, and killing up and down, was inevitably cautious, suspicious, and ruthless. The reason why he wanted to kill the strategist and son-in-law Yang Xiu was not only because everyone thought that Yang Xiu was more skilled and talented than himself, and he once let himself lead the horse into the stirrup, which would damage the face of his prince and prime minister, but also because "I don't know who killed the deer in the troubled times, and I am afraid that I will only leave him for future troubles." Shang Changrong's interpretation of Cao Cao has both a strategic side of eloquence and a cunning and cruel side in morality, and his cunning and cruelty serve his eloquence and strategy, so it is better to unify historical evaluation and moral criticism on a historical figure, and it is also better to get closer to the truth of history. The Shanghai Peking Opera Company takes the famous French novel "Notre Dame de Paris" as the story framework, and transplants it into the Chinese Peking Opera "The Bell Tower of Love". The leading actor Shi Yihong combines his martial arts skills with gypsy dance, blends his pharyngeal voice with the Chinese Peking Opera singing voice that he has learned, and fuses the performances of Tsing Yi, Hua Dan, Wu Dan, and Hua Yi into one furnace, creating a different image of a dignified concubine, a steady lady, a playful maid, and a heroic female general that appears on the stage of Chinese Peking Opera, and presents to the audience an artistic image of a fanatical and hearty, spicy and unrestrained Chinese and foreign mixed-race Alia.
Chinese opera is an art of the profession, and when performing the roles of traditional repertoire, most of the actors in the profession can only perform according to the understanding of the theme, theme, characters and plot of the previous artists, at that time, place, and situation. Although the younger actors can make new interpretations and interpretations on the basis of sorting out and processing the adapted script. However, because traditional drama has formed inertia and stereotypes in the minds of the audience, it can only be "dancing in shackles". "No ugliness is no drama". The author is limited by what I have seen and heard, and I have never seen a harlequin in a big play as the first protagonist throughout the whole play. I only see small dramas starring harlequins, such as Shi Qian in "Thief of Armor", Liu Lihua in "Three Forks", etc., as well as big dramas starring harlequins, such as Jiang Gan in "The Heroes", Chonggongdao in "Yutangchun", etc. Hubei Provincial Peking Opera Company's "Xu Jiujing's Promotion to Official" adapted from Zhang Shouchen's stand-up comedy "Yao Jiajing", breaking through the convention, boldly innovating, specially selected beginner students, Zhu Shihui, who later attacked ugliness, starred in Liang, and Kaiwen Chou was the number one role throughout the whole play. On the basis of the ugly performance, Zhu Shihui combined the elegance of a young student and the steadiness of an old student, and used the form of comedy to interpret the content of the main play. Later, not only did Zhu Shihui successively star in big dramas such as "Plaster Chapter" and "Zeng Hou Yi" tailored for him, but also the Shenyang Peking Opera Company also created "The Legend of Wu Sha" with ugliness as the protagonist, and the Tianjin Youth Peking Opera Troupe also created and performed "Wuzhi Qincha" with ugliness as the protagonist. Xiaosheng is a profession, because the singing and recitation are a combination of true and false voices, it is difficult to play a role in modern dramas, but you can still take the initiative to show your personality in the new historical drama, give full play to your strengths, and may also give people a refreshing and unforgettable artistic enjoyment. Beijing Peking Opera Company based on Liu Baorui's stand-up comedy "Three Levels in a Row", with Li Hongtu playing Zhang Sihai, is by no means like Zhou Yu and other Ling Zisheng in "The Heroes", nor like Liang Shanbo and other fan students in "The Story of the Willow Shade", nor like Chen Daguan and other poor students in "Hitting the Nephew and Going to the Grave". Instead, it created a collection of all kinds of singing voices in one play, and used humor to interpret an absurd and ridiculous satirical comedy. Wei Zhongxian, the great eunuch who did appear in history in the play, changed the convention of being played by Hua Mian and was played by Zhu Qiang, an old student of the Ma School; The fictional Chi Menghua in the play is sent by Cheng to Tsing Yi Guo Wei to perform Hua Dan's figure with a flower shirt, which is an innovation.
In literary and artistic works, the content often determines the form, and the form reacts on the content. The new repertoire, because it contains new content and creates new characters, inevitably requires the integration of new musical elements into the category of traditional singing, and the addition of new dance vocabulary on the basis of traditional programs, so as to achieve a new content and new form complement each other, complement each other, and combine as perfectly as possible. Tianjin Peking Opera Company's "Hua Ziliang" based on the red classic "Red Rock" has been reborn and sublimated from the content to the form of "pretending to be crazy" in the traditional repertoire. Whether it is Zhao Yanrong's "pretending to be crazy" in "Cosmic Edge" or Song Jiang's "pretending to be crazy" in "Xunyang Tower", it is all for self-preservation. Hua Ziliang's "pretending to be crazy" is a special combat method adopted in accordance with the arrangements made by the party leaders Luo Shiwen and Che Yaoxian before their sacrifices, in order to wait for the opportunity to lurk for a long time. Hua Ziliang, played by Wang Ping, incorporates the humor and wittiness of the harlequin, and his singing reflects the deep agitation of the old student, thus creating a heroic image of a revolutionary predecessor who not only endures the cruel torture of the enemy, but also understands the serious misunderstanding of comrades, and also bears the test of time. The struggle between Hua Ziliang and two prison guards played by Wang Ping in the mountains seems to be analogous to the struggle between Lin Chong played by Li Shaochun and two prison guards in the wild boar forest. Lin Chong is open-minded, brave, impassioned, and sympathetic; Hua Ziliang is secretly fighting, witty, clever and contemptuous, which is pleasantly appreciated. The two dramas are both both physical and spiritual, with equal emphasis on singing and doing, but the styles are very different, each showing its strengths, and both give people artistic intoxication and enjoyment. The main props used by Xiangzi, played by Chen Lincang, are neither the whip oars and spear folding fans in traditional operas, nor the pike darts and machetes and rifle scarves in modern operas, but according to the unique identity of the foreign coachman, the foreign chariot, his livelihood tool is realistically put on the stage. As a result, it has created a unique and Jackie Chan chariot dance in the history of mainland theater, which not only reflects the solid foundation of the actors, but also highlights the innovative spirit of the actors, which can be described as a unique dance vocabulary in stage art. At the end of the new Peking Opera "Shi Ping Mei" by the Beijing Peking Opera Company, Zhou Enxu and Guo Wei each danced in red daze, showing that Gao Junyu and Shi Ping Mei were not in the same bed in the play, but died in the same hole, which seems to have the use of "Liang Zhu Butterfly". In particular, Gao Junyu's long sword dance shows the pride and ambition of the revolutionaries during the May Fourth period. All these reveal the artistic law that content determines form, form enhances content, and promotes and contrasts with each other.
Most of the genres in the history of Peking Opera were in the early Republic of China and the early Republic of China, when a group of Peking Opera masters with their own unique styles created their own scripts created unique characters and designed their own unique forms of singing, chanting, dancing, and dancing, which were not only inherited by many disciples, but also loved by the audience, so as to form their own styles. Since the reform and opening up, although it is difficult to establish a new genre, there are still a number of Peking Opera masters who have artistic talent, lay a solid foundation, have an innovative spirit, and are willing to dedicate themselves to their careers. Under the starry eyes of many literary, musical, dance, fine arts, and directors, they will surely be able to add brand-new Peking Opera works to the socialist culture with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and form a unique Peking Opera genre.
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(Started on June 30, 2020, finished on September 30, 2020, put aside due to the new crown epidemic, fourth draft on June 13, 2024)
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(Liang Celebration Butterfly)
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【About author】Zou Qixin, male, born in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1938, graduated from the Chinese Department of Hunan Normal University in 1962, transferred to the Chinese Department of Hunan Shaoyang Teachers College in 1970, joined the Communist Party of China in 1978, was promoted to professor in 1995, and retired from the Chinese Department of Hunan Shaoyang University in 2007.
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[Recommended reading of the works of the Mountain Trail Literature Society]
Click the link-Shaoyang Normal College (Shanjing Literature Society)_Anthology_Urban Headlines
Click on the link "Notes of the Mountain Trail Literature Society" - "Link"
Click on the link: Xiao Dianqun's "Fighting Meishan Girl" - 鎼忓懡女呭北濂迂紙灞州淞栨缇わ級
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[Edited by Xiao Dianqun of the Mountain Trail Literature Society]