Wang Kui

Photos of the performance of the Peking opera "Little Cattle". Courtesy of Beijing Opera Academy

Qingming, a bright time when all things are born. After dormant winter and spring ploughing, people enjoy the natural fun of grass growing and warblers flying. There are many works in Chinese opera, which use poetic language and singing to respond to the comfort and pleasure brought by the Qingming Festival.

The song and dance drama "Little Cattle", which has many songs in the north and south, tells the story of the life of the shepherd boy and the village girl enjoying the spring together, amusing each other and falling in love. The two young men and women in the play, one question and one answer, you sing me and, a romantic and innocent atmosphere. Just like the song in Peking Opera: "On a sunny day in March, herd cattle to the edge of the village." The wildflowers are red and bright, the mountain grass is green and fresh, the yellow warblers are calling on the branches, and the white geese are playing in the water. Today's scenery is good, the mountains sing even the sky", heaven and man are harmonious, all things coexist, and people and things are extremely clean and pure. Everything in the world moves according to the rhythm of its own life, showing an unrestrained will to live.

In the play, the singing and dancing of the shepherd boy and the village girl mix a lot of folk knowledge, and use easy-to-understand lyrics to make a visual interpretation of the poem "Qingming" by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu. "The shepherd boy said, girl, you are listening: with a finger with your hand, pointing to the east and west, pointing to the south and pointing to the north, after this high slope, there are several households, there is a big signboard hanging on the willow tree, the village girl, you come here, you want to buy good wine in Xinghua Village, which babbling hi", a song is full of fun. The stage expression is no longer the melancholy of the drizzle and the sad expression in the literati poems, but between the fingers of the characters and the comings and goings of you, it reflects the festival meaning of "Qingming" that conforms to nature, conforms to nature, and publicizes nature.

The miscellaneous drama "Liangshan Bo Li Kui Negative Jing" created by Yuanren Kang Jinzhi also set the background of the routine three-day holiday in Liangshan during the Qingming Festival. Li Kui is preparing to go out to enjoy the fun and buy wine to get drunk. The unique warmth and comfort of the landscape, flowers and trees during the Qingming Dynasty is in line with the psychological feelings that Liangshan brought to Li Kui. Therefore, in the face of the natural scene of the yellow warbler eating the petals on the peach tree, he actually "picked up the peach petals", looked carefully, and on his "black finger", he not only saw "this rouge that is just lined with powder", but also felt sorry for the passing water and floating peanuts. Such a reckless man with five big and three rough shows such delicate and even feminine feelings, with great artistic contrast, filling the image of Li Kui with lively humanity and pure emotion, and also paving the way for Li Kui's misguided main plot in the play.

The Qingming Festival has changed from a natural solar term to a folk festival, and has a cultural relationship with the Cold Food Festival and the Shangsi Festival. In particular, the legend of Jin Wengong's heavy ear fire burning Mianshan not only continues the collective cultural memory brought to future generations by the system of banning fire and changing fire in ancient times, but also allows the character of Jie Zitui to carry the Confucian ethical concept of "loyalty and filial piety" in later generations, so that ritual activities such as tomb sweeping, ancestor worship, and willow planting have a more stable image support. From the Yuan Dynasty miscellaneous drama masterpiece "Jin Wen Gong Huo Burning Jie Zi Tui" to the repertoire such as "Burning Mianshan" that is still circulating in modern times, it can be seen that it has been continuously inherited.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, opera has repeatedly used folk activities such as worshipping ancestors and going to the tomb during the Qingming Festival as an important part of shaping characters and promoting the plot. In the Yuan miscellaneous drama "Horse on the Wall", it was precisely because Pei Shaojun went to the grave to worship his ancestors instead of his father during the Qingming Dynasty that Pei Shangshu found the fact that Pei Shaojun and Li Qianjin had a hidden marriage in the back garden. In the twenty-second play of the southern opera "Killing the Dog", "Sun Rong's Tomb", it was also during the Qingming Festival, Sun Rong and his brother were already rich and poor, and they cried in front of their parents' graves. In "Hitting the Nephew and Going to the Grave" performed by many dramas, Chen Daguan squandered his family wealth and ended up begging for a living, and when he sacrificed his parents during the Qingming Festival, he repented to the fullest. In the Peking Opera "Little Shang Tomb", which originates from the story of Southern Opera, Xiao Suzhen cried at the grave during the Qingming Festival, complaining bitterly about the difficulty of supporting her life independently, so she reunited with Liu Lujing and his wife who returned to their hometown to worship their ancestors. Many folk dramas also use the background of Qingming sacrifice to relatives to express the sad feelings of loneliness and helplessness.

These works through the folk activities of the Qingming Festival, the Chinese family concept of cautious pursuit of the far away, the characters in the play, regardless of their background, whether they are depressed or Tengda, all show the ethics and morality of not forgetting their ancestors and not losing their family affection, and this value position makes the cultural connotation of the Qingming Festival have a richer expression of human nature. The "Qingming" of spring also has different shades of sentimental colors. The miscellaneous drama "Peach Blossom Human Face" created by the Ming Dynasty playwright Meng Chengshun is based on the Tang Dynasty Cui Hu's "Title Capital City Nanzhuang" "The human face does not know where to go, and the peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze", and uses the story of the Qingming Festival in the two years before and after, delicately showing the melancholy of "the spring water is boundless, and the spring dream is far away for no reason". This delicate and euphemistic emotional psychology and character story have been more complex rendered in Shaanxi Wanwan's "Jin Wanchai", among which the excerpt "Taoyuan Borrowing Water" has become popular so far.

The common emotions of Chinese make the Qingming Festival extremely inclusive, and also make a festival reflect the rich human brilliance and life content. This is the most sufficient reason for us to keep this festival and continue this kind of opera.

(The author is the director of the Institute of Chinese Opera of the Chinese Academy of Arts and the president of the Chinese Opera Society)

People's Daily (08/0/0 0 Edition)