Jingzhou Huagu Opera

Jingzhou Huagu Opera

Jingzhou Huagu Opera, a local traditional drama in Hubei Province, is one of the national intangible cultural heritage.

Jingzhou Huagu Opera, once known as Huagu Opera in Wuyang, was renamed Tianwu Huagu Opera in 1954 and Jingzhou Huagu Opera in 1981. It was formed in the Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 200 years.

Jingzhou Huagu Opera is mainly popular in Hubei and its adjacent Henan and Hunan provinces, with emphasis on Xiantao (formerly Wuyang), Qianjiang, Tianmen, Jingzhou, Jianli, Honghu, Jingmen, Jingshan, Zhongxiang, Shishou and other Jianghan Plains. At present, there are 8 professional performing groups in Jingzhou Huagu Opera, including 6 state-run groups and 2 restructured and enterprise-transformed groups.

On May 20, 2006, it was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists; in 2008, it was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China to be included in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage expansion lists.

historical origin

Jingzhou Huagu Opera originated in Wuyang Prefecture in Qing Dynasty, which is the area of Xiantao, Tianmen and Qianjiang nowadays. Folk songs and dances such as flower drums, lotus boats, lotus falls and dishes in the bustling years and folk rap such as field songs and three stick drums, fishing drums and Taoist sentiments dominated by "singing by one person, singing by all" grassland songs constitute the source of Jingzhou Flower Drum Opera .

With the evolution of history and the continuation of folk culture, this form of folk art has gradually formed a means of livelihood. Farmers use it as a sideline in their leisure time, go out to run for meetings, and then perform on stilts once ugly, so as to form the first form of drama. Later, in the long-term "platform" singing and exchange performances with other operas, some "three small operas" were absorbed. With the development of the repertoire, its acting performance also gradually increased. From the past clown, Xiaodan industry, increased the Xiaosheng industry, so the content of the play is rich, the artistic type is more dramatic, the character and the idea of the play is more profound, the performance form and scale are expanded and enriched, forming a play with strong regional characteristics .

From the ancient Chu Dynasty, folk songs and dances were flourishing here. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, rich and colorful folk songs and dances, colorful rap and so on, formed Jingzhou flower drum. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Jingzhou Huagu Opera experienced roughly the primitive "pastoral period" and the "grass stage period" accompanied by bangqiang and Gong and drum.

During the reign of Qing Daoguang (1821-1850), it was the "idyllic period" of Jingzhou Huagu opera. Huagu opera had not yet formed a "drama". Flower drum was called "flower drum along the door" or "ground flower drum". In Tianmen, floods often occur in Wuyang, Shahu and Wuyang Prefecture, where there is no harvest for ten years. Flower drums are often sung by victims who flee to famine to ask for food. Therefore, the "Records of Wuyang Prefecture" says, "Wandering through the streets and begging for beggars to sing flower drums." The appellation of "flower drum along the door" comes from this. Most of the songs sung by flower drum artists in the "idyllic period" come from idylls, which are popular in Jianghan Plain. In addition to weed songs, local folk also popular stilts, lotus boats, mussel shell essence, three stick drums, fishing drums, dishes and other rap and dance arts, these rich folk songs and dances gradually evolved into two-person costume rap performances, that is, "idyllic period" flower drum opera. At that time, Huagu Opera mainly sang "Ten Plums" and "Sier" and other words.

During the reign of Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1862-1908), Huagu opera artists continuously absorbed the repertoires, voices and performances of Han opera and Yue Diao operas. Professional artists increased rapidly, and the number of theatre troupes with "seven panics, eight hurries and nine stops" increased. In the period of Caotai, Huagu Opera has developed greatly in terms of voice, repertoire, performance and artists. In this period, Huagu Opera has developed into "Gaoqiang", "Bishui Tune", "Siping Tune", "Dagong Tune", "Four Main Tunes" and more than 100 minors. The repertoire has also been enriched, with 18 "Water and Half Texts". The performance has also developed from "single play" to "Paizi Opera" and "Three Pairs Opera". Small Opera ", often performed in the repertoire of"Picking Vegetables, Double-Picking Bamboo Shoots"and"Three Official Halls". In addition, there have been artists of their own.

Before and after the Revolution of 1911, folk artists in Tianmen, Wuyang and Qianjiang launched and organized a group of Huagu Opera Troupes, whose performances developed from rural areas to towns. In 1909, Huagu Opera first went to Hankou Railway Station to perform "Station Huawall" and "Liulin Description" etc. In 1917, more than 20 artists such as Chen Xingou and Chen Jialin went to Jiangcheng to perform in the famous Shengping Tower of the Republic, which caused a sensation. However, due to the persecution of reactionary rulers and rogues, they failed to gain a firm foothold in Hankou, which seriously affected the development of Jingzhou Huagu.

Unfortunately, Huagu Opera is often regarded as a "lewd play" and banned. There are two major prohibitions, one in Tongzhi 2 years (1863) and the other around 1945. Many bans have led to flower drum artists returning home for farming or exile. Many flower drum troupes have been forced to disband and are on the verge of extinction on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In September 1952, a dramatic reform campaign was launched all over the country to "change dramas, people and systems". At the same time, the "First Opera View and Exhibition in Central and South China" was held in Wuhan. Jingzhou Huagu Opera, together with Chu Opera, Yunmeng Huagu Opera and Huangmei Opera, was classified as "small opera", and together with Han Opera and Nanju Opera, supported Jingchu Opera with various colors.

In 1954, the Hubei Opera Improvement Committee officially named the opera Tianhe Huagu Opera, and in 1981 it was renamed Jingzhou Huagu Opera.

Representative repertoire

According to statistics, there are 197 performances of Jingzhou Huagu Opera, including "Drawing the Bar", "Pinching Vegetable Moss", "Lao Ye", "Standing Flower Wall", "Double-skinned Bamboo Shoots", "Dalian Hunan", "Jianghan Tu", "He Duanyang", "Patching the Nail", "Playing Toad", "Three Official Halls", "Cidian", "Yin Judgment", "Sui Jing Cheng" and so on.

Distribution area

Jingzhou Huagu Opera is a well-known local opera in Jianghan Plain. It is mainly popular in Xiantao, Tianmen, Qianjiang, Honghu, Jianli, Jingshan, Zhongxiang, Hanchuan, Jiayu, Puqi, Tongcheng, Hanyang and other places. Its performance activities cover most areas of Jingchu, and theatre troupes also perform in northern Hunan and southern Henan.

Inheritance and protection

Inheritance value

As one of the most important local operas in Hubei Province, Jingzhou Huagu Opera not only embodies the essence of the opera culture of Jingzhou, Jingzhou and even Jingchu. At the same time, it deeply reflects the needs and love of the people living in Jianghan Plain for the folk art culture. From the origin and basic characteristics of Jingzhou Huagu Opera, it is very "corresponding" and "consistent" with the development history of Chinese opera. There are "Nine Songs" in Chu. Wang Guowei said in "Song and Yuan Opera Textual Research" that "Nine Songs" is the "germination of backward operas". In front of the bells unearthed after sleeping in the ground for more than two thousand and four hundred years, we can fully exemplify that Jiang Hanping is the kingdom of song and dance music when we appreciate the first complete twelve-tone system created by the ancestors of Chu. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the stage of Chinese opera was no longer the world of legendary opera, but in this period, Jingzhou Huagu opera sprouted, developed and formed. She is related to the Han Opera, Chu Opera and Peking Opera in Jingchu. Therefore, the exploration, rescue and protection of Jingzhou Huagu Opera is of unique value to witness the vitality of the traditional Chinese culture, and will play a certain role in enriching and perfecting the history of Chinese opera, Chinese music and excavating Jingchu folk culture and art.

Inheritance status

Jingzhou Huagu Opera is rooted in the fertile soil of Jianghan Plain. Around the 21st century, Jingzhou Huagu Opera has encountered an irresistible crisis. It is very important to explore and rescue Jingzhou Huagu Opera for the inheritance, protection and research of Jingchu folk culture and art.

Inheriting characters

Hu Xinzhong, male, Han nationality, born in Tianmen, Hubei Province in 1953. The second batch of national intangible cultural heritage project representative successors, Qianjiang City, Hubei Province declared. Declaration items: Jingzhou Huagu Opera.

Pan Aifang, the representative successor of the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, declared in Xiantao City, Hubei Province. Declaration items: Jingzhou Huagu Opera.

Li Chunhua, the representative successor of the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, declared in Qianjiang City, Hubei Province. Declaration items: Jingzhou Huagu Opera.

protective measures

Research and arrangement

In 1981, the Jingzhou Huagu Opera Society was established to strengthen the research of art. The Cultural Bureau of Jingzhou Executive Bureau organized celebrity artists'seminars, sorted out traditional operas and performing arts experience, made live videos of excellent traditional operas, and published the music integration of Jingzhou Huagu Opera, collecting and recording traditional singing tunes. After reorganizing and adapting the excellent traditional opera "Station Huawall" and renamed "Huawall Club", color opera films were produced by Zhujiang Film Studio and released nationwide.

personnel training

The Jingzhou Huagu Opera Art Research Institute of Jianli County has carried out the activity of "Opera Entering Campus". It teaches in a local school and sends some students to Wuhan for training to enhance the training of Huagu Opera art talents.

social influence

Honorary commendation

Since the 1980s, his play Family Justice has caused a sensation in Beijing. "Wild Love and Enmity", "Dragon Boat", "Lotus Island Head", "December Waiting Lang" won the "Five-one Project" Award of the Ministry of Propaganda, the "Wenhua Award" of the Ministry of Culture and other national awards .

In January 1984, Qianjiang Jingzhou Huagu Opera Troupe created the modern drama "Family Justice Case", which was arranged by the Ministry of Culture to take the lead in Jinjing and perform 14 consecutive performances. It was highly praised by the Ministry of Propaganda, the Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Opera Association, the capital literary and artistic circles, the press, the political and legal circles and the broad audience, and was praised as a "rare good modern drama".

In 1997 and 1998, "Wild Love and Enmity" won the Chinese Cao Yu Drama Literature Award and the Chinese Mandarin Chinese New Play Award successively. The three leading actors Hu Xinzhong, Li Chunhua and Sun Shi'an won the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award and the Chinese Mandarin Chinese Performance Award respectively.

Performance activities

In November 1986, the Jingzhou Huagu Opera Troupe entered Beijing to perform the new historical play "Strait Situation" in the auditorium of the CPPCC National Committee.

In April 1987, the Jingzhou Huagu Opera Troupe of Tianmen City came to Beijing to perform the modern opera "Water Hometown" and performed in the Zhongnanhai Auditorium for the first time.

In September 1988, Xiantao Jingzhou Huagu Opera Troupe came to Beijing to perform the modern drama "Recruiting Son-in-law to the Old Three".

In October 1990, the Jingzhou Huagu Opera Troupe of Qianjiang City was invited to Beijing to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Cao Yu's engagement in theatrical activities. It performed the Huagu Opera Wilderness adapted from Cao Yu's drama of the same name.

In 1996, Huagu Opera "Love and Enmity in the Wild" was performed for the sixth National Cultural Congress in Jinjing for the second time, and was invited to perform for Renmin University of China, Central Academy of Drama and CNPC successively.

On November 17, 2016, the Huagu Opera Art Festival in Jingzhou, Hubei Province opened in Qianjiang, during which the Huagu Opera "Incense Story" was staged.