Liyuan Opera

Liyuan Opera

Liyuan Opera is one of the traditional operas in Fujian Province. Liyuan Opera originated in Quanzhou in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It is also called "the voice of Fujian and Zhejiang" and "the living fossil of ancient South Opera" together with the Southern Opera in Zhejiang Province. Liyuan Opera is widely spread in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Chaoshan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in Fujian Province, as well as the residences of overseas Chinese of Minnan Language Family in Southeast Asian countries.

Liyuan Opera is an ancient opera genre, which still retains many Southern operas and music. In the forty-fifth year (1566) of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, there were two books of Chaoquan, Lijing Ji, which showed that Liyuan Opera was popular at that time. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Gaojia Opera rose rapidly in Quanzhou, Gezi Opera was also widely spread in Zhangzhou and Xiamen. Dacheng Opera appeared with a new look. Liyuan Opera was challenged severely. The class clubs were decreasing and the scope was narrowing day by day. Even Xiamen's Liyuan Opera changed to Gezi Opera. In the late 1940s, Liyuan Opera was on the verge of extinction.

Liyuan Opera can be divided into big and small pear orchards, and big pear orchards can be divided into "going on the road" and "going down to the south". Each of the three schools has its own "eighteen shantou" (retaining the repertoire) and special singing tunes. In Song Dynasty, the province of Xing was called Lu, and the provinces of Quan and Zhang in South Fujian were Shanglu, so Shanglu opera refers to the opera introduced from Zhejiang. Its repertoire is relatively old, and retains many scripts of Southern Opera, such as Cai Bochao, Wang Kui, Wang Shipeng, Zhu Maichen, Liu Wenlong, Sun Rong, Zhu Wen (that is, Zhu Wen Taiping Qian), including Gift Embroidery, Serious Face, Three Out of the Ghost), and Su Qin, Lin Zhaode, Meng Jiangnu, etc.

On May 20, 2006, Liyuan Opera was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Development history

Pear Garden Opera, popular in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Taiwan Province in Southern Fujian dialect area, extends as far as Chaoshan and Shantou areas in eastern Guangdong, and is introduced to many overseas Chinese living in Southeast Asia.

It has more than 800 years of history and is known as the "living fossil of ancient southern opera".

Liyuan Opera, Opera. Born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, it is popular in Jinjiang, Longxi, Xiamen and southern Fujian dialect areas of Taiwan Province. There are also performances in overseas Chinese settlements in Southeast Asian countries. Liyuan Opera has a long history, so far it still retains its music. In the forty-fifth year (1566) of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, there were two books of Chaoquan, Lijing Ji, which showed that Liyuan Opera was popular at that time. Liyuan Opera can be divided into big and small pear orchards, and big pear orchards can be divided into "going on the road" and "going down to the south". Each of the three schools has its own "eighteen shantou" (retaining the repertoire) and special singing tunes. In Song Dynasty, the province of Xing was called Lu, and the provinces of Quan and Zhang in South Fujian were Shanglu, so Shanglu opera refers to the opera introduced from Zhejiang. Its repertoire is relatively old, and retains many scripts of Southern Opera, such as Cai Bochao, Wang Kui, Wang Shipeng, Zhu Maichen, Liu Wenlong, Sun Rong, Zhu Wen (that is, Zhu Wen Taiping Qian), including Gift Embroidery, Serious Face, Three Out of the Ghost), and Su Qin, Lin Zhaode, Meng Jiangnu, etc.

From Jin Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, music, singing and dancing were very flourishing in Quanzhou. Up to now, the ancient music "Nanyin" (also known as Nanqu, Nanguan and chord), which is widely spread in the southern Fujian language family, has thirteen sets of major scores (titled instrumental music), including "Xianghe Song" in the Han Dynasty, "Qing and Shang three tones" in the Jin Dynasty, and "Yanyue" in the Tang and Five Dynasties. In the Five Dynasties, "King of Jinjiang" remained in Quanzhou County Nursery, where there were costume singing and dancing performances.

"Southern Opera began in the Song Guangzong Dynasty" (Ming Xuwei's Narrative of Southern Ci). After the first year of Shaoxi in Southern Song Dynasty (1190), excellent operas appeared in southern Fujian. During the Shaoding Period (1228-1233), when Zhendexiu, a student of Zhuxi, knew Quanzhou for the second time, he promulgated the "Advising Agricultural Literature" of "Prohibiting Opera" and "Don't Watch Hundred Opera". It shows that "Nanqu Opera" has been popular in Quanzhou.

At that time, there were three kinds of art forms: the native "off-south class", "on-the-road class" from Zhejiang and the family class of noble mansion (commonly known as "Xiaoli Garden"), each of which competed with each other in a different house-watching drama "eighteen shanty heads". Both "off-south shift" and "on-the-road shift" are organized by adults, each of which can "make good people work together", so they are collectively called "Big Pear Garden" and commonly called "Old Opera"; because the family group is purely a child actor, it is called "Small Pear Garden", or "Seven-child Class", and it is commonly called "Playboy". "Small Pear Garden" is not born of "Big Pear Garden". When Tongling grew up, he scattered his shed. It is not natural to become "Big Pear Garden".

From the various existing plays, Fan Li, Liang Hao and Zheng Yuanhe of Xianan have local characteristics, which are quite different from the legends of Ming Dynasty, such as Qiaopao, Qingpao and Xiujiao. Yuelin is a play written by Yue Ke for Jinjiang people's nephew (Liu Gong's tomb in Anxi), which is only seen in the national opera. The repertoire retains the original dialect and strong earthy flavor. The performance takes Jing, Du, Wai and Ugly as the "four pillars" and does not focus on Sheng and Dan. It has the characteristics of Tang teasing, the end of Northern Zaju, Du Jing's performance form and humorous laughter. Nanyin is used in the aria, preserving such ancient music as "Prince Yousi Men". Other operas only have dozens of common opera cards, such as "Shuishui Ling", "Qianhua", "Dijin", "Tiiyin Lantern". They also have the characteristics of bold voice. They are simple and primitive, and still have the style of Southern Song and Yuan operas.

Zhao Zhennu, Wang Kui, Liu Wenlong, Zhu Wen, Wang Shipeng and Zhu Maichen are all ancient operas compiled in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. They are quite different from the Ming Dynasty's Pipa, Incense Burning, Linghua, Jingchai and Yuqiao, which are only seen in the whole country. Zhu Wen is even more an isolated version in China. Its themes are mainly family plays of married men and women's joys and sorrows, which are different from those of "going down south" focusing on the struggle of loyalty and treason and the drama of public affairs. The acting industry should take life, dan, Jing and ugliness as the "four pillars". Musical singing is also Nanyin. The treatment of music licensing is mainly rigid, simple and plaintive. It has a unique style and is more abundant than "Xia Nan". Mahodola in Cai Bozhao Mituo Temple is a relic of ancient music. This play still has the prototype characteristics of Zhao Zhennu, which is the most important one in Southern Opera. Although only "earnestly tolerate", we should "go to the grave together", and there is no afterword of "Lei Shu", we can see that "Pipa Ji" was changed to "all loyalty and filial piety" according to its ancestral edition.

"Xiaoli Garden" plays such as "Lu Meng Zheng", "Guo Hua", "Jiang Shilong", "Liu Zhiyuan" are "old editions of Song and Yuan Dynasty", which are different from Ming Dynasty magazines such as "Broken Kiln", "Carmine", "Lady of Youth" and "White Rabbit". Dong Yong only uses "picking flowers" to create character tangles, rather than "road encounters", and ends with "fairies from Huangdu" as comedies. All themes are the love of young boys and girls, mainly young children Xiaodan, so its line of business "four pillars" is life, Dadan, Xiaodan, ugly, and different from "Dali Garden". Nanqu is used in music singing. Different plays have different music cards, suites and famous songs, which are rich and colorful.

From the artistic connotation of the three, we can see that the word "Shanglu" originally refers to the Song Dynasty's "Liangzhe Road". It can be seen that it came from Wenzhou Class and was adapted from the localized Yi language. It is also a foreign opera with the "Xiaoli Garden" family. After the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it retreated from the city to the countryside and coexisted with the "Xianan" agriculturalists. It completed the transformation of its customs and dialects, and strengthened the regional voice. It merged into one at the end of Yuan and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, and entered a period of great development. "Lower South" includes Liu Yong, Zhou Dewu, and "On the Road" includes "Su Ying" and other new plays. The play "Chen Sanwuniang" with "Xiaoli Garden" symbolizes the artistic peak of the development of Liyuan Opera. In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing Ming Dynasty (1566), Lijing Ji, published in Masha, Jianyang, is a reprint of Hechao and Quan's "Litchi Ji". The provincial experimental opera troupe of Liyuan Opera is still in the "Litchi Ji" of Guangxu Decade of Qing Dynasty, while Chaozhou has the "Litchi Ji of Rural Talk" of Li Shi, the Eastern Moon, published in the Ming Wanli Dynasty "Quanqiang" has absorbed the tidal tone in its vocal cavity; Zhuyiyang Opera integrates a "Yiyang Opera" into the "Golden Cup" Nanyin Rolling Gate; and "Down South" Zheng Yuanhe's "Goose Mao Xue" is absorbed from "Kunbei". When the four tunes of Ming Dynasty were in vogue, Liyuan Opera was flourishing in Minnan dialect area. With the spread of Nanyin, Quanqiang has become an independent tune, melting the external artistic nourishment of singing and developing, thus flourishing in Qing Dynasty. According to "Tong'an County Chronicle, Etiquette and Customs" published in Qianlong's Thirty-second Year (1767), "In the past, people only performed in temples, although they were only on the road, going down to the South and seven sub-classes. After Guangxu, he began to employ Jiangxi Ban and Stone Code Opera. Before Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, only the three schools of Liyuan Opera had taken the lead in Zhai Maofeng; at the end of Qing Dynasty, Gaojia Opera rose, and then Taiwanese Gezi Opera was introduced. Liyuan Opera was handed down from generation to generation with strict teacher inheritance, and tended to decline due to its self-styling and was on the verge of extinction.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party and the government concerned about the art of opera, gathered together Luo Zhi, a renowned veteran performer of Liyuan Opera who had been scattered among the people "down south", "on the road" and "seven sub-groups". In 1952, the Dali Garden experimental theatre troupe was set up in Jinjiang County. Cai Youben, a renowned teacher of Xiaoli Garden, taught "Chen Sanwuniang" personally. The next year, it was established at the provincial level and named Fujian Minnan Opera Experimental Troupe (later renamed Fujian Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe), which vigorously rescued and recorded the traditional operas, Musical Singing and performing arts of the three schools. First restore the original appearance of the tradition, and then arrange and process, so that the old opera is rejuvenated.

In the 1950s, Liyuan Opera adapted a number of excellent traditional plays, such as "Chen Sanwuniang", "Guohua", "Gaowenju", "Zhu Wenping Qian", and won prizes at all levels. Among them, "Chen Sanwuniang" and "Guohua" were made into movies, and "Zhu Wen Taiping Qian" was praised as "a lone book in China", highly praised by opera experts, and won the title of "living fossil of Southern Opera of Song and Yuan Dynasties" and "living cultural relics".

After 1980s, Liyuan Opera entered a new period of creation and research. The newly-edited ancient costume drama "Festival Women's Yin" won the first prize of script, director and music in the 17th Drama Conference of 1987; in 1988, it also won the first excellent performance award of the Chinese Drama Festival and the fourth national excellent script creation award; in the "National First Group of the World" excellent drama show, it also won the top of the list of various awards, and the actor of Yan in the play Zeng Jingping won the first National Drama Plum in Fujian Province. Flower award.

In 1990, the Ministry of Culture awarded the Liyuan Theatre Troupe the title of National Advanced Art Performance Group, which was awarded the title of National Advanced Cultural Work Unit in 1991. From 1980 to 1995, the troupe visited Japan, Philippines, Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong, and established contacts with many cultural and artistic groups and scholars around the world. In September 1983, Wu Jieqiu, director of Liyuan Opera, went to Taiwan to give a speech on "The Art History of Liyuan Opera in Quanqiang" at Taiwan University, Tsinghua University, Art College and Nanguan Opera Communication Center of Success University.

In November 1994, the director of Liyuan Opera, Su Yanshuo, went to Japan to attend the International Symposium on "East Asian Folklore and Performing Arts", at which he introduced the performing folklore of Liyuan Opera. In March 1995, Dong Sheng and Li Shi won the first prize in the provincial first Hundred Flowers Literature and Art Award. In January 1996, Fujian Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe invited Jinjing to participate in the live performance of the Spring Festival Literature and Art Gala at the invitation of CCTV. In August 1997, Fujian Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe went to Taiwan to perform. Experts and scholars who accompanied the troupe visited Taiwan to discuss the history and current situation of Liyuan Opera with their counterparts in the literary and artistic circles.

Honor

The experimental theatre troupe of Liyuan Opera has won many awards from the Ministry of Culture. Among them, the newly edited Liyuan Opera "Dong Sheng and Li Shi" won the first Cao Yu Drama Literature Award, and won the "Ten Top Quality Catalogues" of the National Stage Art Project from 2003 to 2004. Another newly edited Liyuan Opera "Festival Women's Yin" won the Excellent Performance Award of the First Chinese Drama Festival, the Fourth National Excellent Drama Creation Award and was selected as the preliminary selection of the National Stage Art Project from 2005 to 2006. The troupe has visited Italy, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries, as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, China. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, Liyuan Opera was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Protection status

As a living fossil of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties, Liyuan Opera is not only an artistic treasure of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, but also an important part of excellent Chinese opera culture. However, the lack of talent training has put the inheritance of this ancient drama on the agenda.

Liyuan Opera Teaching and Practice Base of China Opera Academy was set up in Liyuan Classical Theatre of Quanzhou, Fujian Province on the 30th. From then on, the experimental theatre troupe of Liyuan Opera in Fujian Province, the highest school of Chinese opera education, the Chinese Academy of Opera and the First Group in the World, began to cooperate and build together to train more excellent talents for Liyuan Opera and promote the inheritance and development of Liyuan Opera.

Establishing a teaching practice base will break the current situation that there are no undergraduate students in Liyuan Opera Troupe, and strengthen the learning and exchange of Liyuan Opera, one of the oldest operas in China, with many domestic operas and international fashion drama trends.