Why is Kunqu Opera the “ancestor of all operas”?

Kunqu Opera is the most representative national art and a treasure of Chinese culture. The "Kun" in Kunqu Opera refers to the "Kun" of Kunshan. According to legend, Gu Jian, a native of Kunshan, created Kun Opera in the late Yuan Dynasty. After the reform by Wei Liangfu, the "Sage of Opera" in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Kunqu Opera became popular and dominated the Chinese theater from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty to the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. It formed a complete set of aesthetic concepts, abstract, freehand, poetic, and well-organized. Many local operas, such as Jin Opera, Pu Opera, Xiang Opera, Sichuan Opera, Gan Opera, Gui Opera, Yue Opera, and Fujian Opera, have absorbed its artistic nutrients to varying degrees. Therefore, Kunqu Opera is revered as the "ancestor of all operas" and the "master of all operas."

Although Kunqu Opera no longer holds the leading position on the Chinese opera stage, it has not lost its vigorous vitality. With the continuous inheritance and intergenerational relay, this ancient opera, like a pine tree rooted in rock crevices, is lonely and hardy, with towering branches, but it still thrives and enjoys infinite glory.

■Tender singing and performance

Kunqu Opera originated from the water villages of the south of the Yangtze River and is also heading towards the water villages of the south of the Yangtze River. In its own boat of life, it is filled with the agility of the water villages of the south of the Yangtze River. The structure highlights ups and downs: each drama is divided into many excerpts, each excerpt is a unit in itself, and has a relatively complete segmented plot that runs through the plot score. These segmented plots will also present a perfect curve of beginning, development, turning and ending. This is why many excerpts can shine so brightly. The singing style is like water and tenderness: "Shuimo tune" is euphemistic, delicate, fluent, and distant, which is manifested in the rhythm and speed of the rhythm and the pure and authentic pronunciation. The word tone, rhythm, syntax, and structure are staggered and scattered, and the melody will continue to present beautiful decorative florid tunes in the process of climbing, just like the singing of a lark. The performance is even more fluent: "If words are not enough, then dance it out", the dance flows from the inside out, the elegant imagery, the leaping soul, the graceful movements, dancing out the beauty infused in the lyrics, the void gives birth to each other, the form and the spirit fit together, and when the fruit is ripe, it is the state of natural development.

"The Peony Pavilion" is the pinnacle of Kunqu Opera, and its beautiful story is unrivaled in the opera world: the naturally beautiful Du Liniang has lived in the boudoir for a long time, bound by the shackles of feudal ethics and morals. When she reached the age of 16, she had a secret meeting with the scholar Liu Mengmei in her dream, but later died of grief. Her soul turned into a ghost but was still obsessed with love. The love between the human and the ghost was touching, and she finally came back to life, ending the love between Qin and Jin.

As for the theme of the work, it hopes to break through the conflict between emotion and reason in traditional Chinese ethics and morality, and go all out to pursue an ideal love of "where emotion is" and "the living can die, the dead can live". But behind this deep emotion, it all shows the many philosophical thoughts and worldly experiences of Tang Xianzu, the "Shakespeare of the East". If Kunqu Opera is his life, "The Peony Pavilion" is his lifeblood, and Du Liniang is his destiny of deep love. "I will never regret that my clothes are getting looser and looser, and I am exhausted for her", he sang softly, brewed the plot, pondered the words, forgot to eat and sleep, and focused on it, so that he became one with the characters, and even went into the woodshed to cry for love. It should be said that without the author's deep feelings, there would be no brilliant emotional realm of the characters.

■Inheritance and development of cultural bloodline

Kunqu Opera has won widespread favor throughout history with its elegant taste and ethereal realm. People have been keenly following the rise and fall of Kunqu Opera, and have been affectionately guarding the continuous inheritance and development of this cultural bloodline in their own way. Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-yung is one of the more prominent ones. He said: "My mother took me to see the most famous play in The Peony Pavilion, Dream in the Garden, performed at the Majestic Theatre. This was my first contact with Kunqu Opera. I didn't understand Kunqu Opera at that time. I just went to see Mei Lanfang, but I remembered the music of Kunqu Opera. As the Buddhists say, once you have a thought, there will be cause and effect." Unexpectedly, this cause and effect affected him for the rest of his life. He made an unswerving choice for this. He devoted his whole heart, no regrets, and poured his heart and soul into producing the youth version of The Peony Pavilion. It is a feast of words, the appreciation of singing, the love of life and death that runs through time and space, the daring and daring feelings, the love that comes from nowhere, the intention that does not know where to stop, the love becomes a dream, the dream becomes a play, the heart is tender and tangled, lingering and gorgeous, the deepest love penetrates the vast world, and the joys and sorrows of life meander.

Seeing the spring scenery in the garden, Du Liniang couldn't help but sigh deeply, "If you don't go to the garden, how can you know how beautiful spring is?" "It turns out that the colorful flowers are all in bloom, but they are all left to the broken wells and dilapidated walls. What can we do about the beautiful scenery? Whose yard can enjoy the pleasure..." This charming spring scenery with flowers blooming everywhere is not appreciated by anyone, but is given to the dilapidated broken wells and dilapidated walls; how should such a beautiful spring and precious time be spent? In such a pleasant and yearning atmosphere, "who will the flowers fall to" in the end? This is the question from Du Liniang's heart. In the words and in the yearning, there is a strong desire to break free from the feudal cage, smash the shackles of Neo-Confucianism, pursue the liberation of personality, and look forward to beautiful love. Through the sharp contrast between "colorful flowers" and "broken wells and dilapidated walls", Du Liniang sees her youth, sees through the true meaning of life, sees the value of life, and finally wakes up, fearing that it is too late, and feels that she should not live up to such a beautiful and bright spring.

■The mellow Kunshan dialect

In fact, I went to Shanghai to watch The Peony Pavilion. At that time, I only felt that the lyrics were brilliant, but I had not yet reached a good taste for the singing style. It was not until I went to Kunshan that I really reaped the amazing surprise of Kunqu Opera: there were only two ordinary young actors on the stage, and I did not have much expectation at the beginning. Suddenly, the whole audience held their breath, the music sounded, the pipa parted the legendary veil, the gongs and drums penetrated the confusion of time, the flute was like a human voice, the sound was gentle and slow, the flute blew out the scenery of the Ming Dynasty, and the tobacco was drunk and soft. At this time, a thin and sharp voice floated out from Du Liniang's throat, shocking the four people, the sound was like fine hair, curling up, resounding through the sky, slowly, gradually, seeping into the eardrum, occupying the soul, bit by bit, as if the mottled shadow of the sun was quietly flowing on the trellis, the flowers were in full bloom, the swallows were chirping like scissors, and everything had reached a dream.

It is said that the most popular southern operas in the Ming Dynasty were Haiyan Opera, Yuyao Opera, Yiyang Opera and Kunshan Opera. After comprehensive improvements, Kunshan Opera has shown a fresh and elegant vocal style in terms of the rhythm, palace tune, rhythm and level. This time, I was able to appreciate the magnificence, exquisiteness, charm, tactfulness and brightness of Kunshan Opera. After careful tasting, I found that it is rich in charm and is not inferior to the exquisite lyrics of the clouds and mist and the charming style of the spring.

(This edition's pictures were taken by Liu Chenghe)