Look up the common sense of China traditional opera, Huangmei Opera.

The origin of Huangmei Opera can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. According to historical records, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Huangmei tea-picking songs were very popular, and after the development of folk songs in the Song Dynasty and the influence of zaju in the Yuan Dynasty, the embryonic form of folk opera was gradually formed. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the opera style in Huangmei County was more prosperous. During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Weilun, the magistrate of Huangmei County, recorded that "October is a rural opera" in On Huangmei Feng Jiao. In the ninth year of Daoguang reign in Qing Dynasty, in Biejilin's Poem of Asking Flowers and Waterfront, a description of Zhi Zhu's ci is even more incisive: "There are many rice and sunflowers in Yinshan, and waves are caught in Taibai Lake. In the event of this year's club owner, the villages sang tea-picking songs. " [5]

Huangmei Opera was originally called tea picking tune, seed picking tune and Huangmei tune, and later called Huangmei Opera. The tune of picking tea in woodcutter's songs originated from Yinshan Mountain and Taibai Lake in Huangmei County, formed in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, and spread in the vast areas of Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and other provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Xing Xiuniang, Yu and other artists have made outstanding contributions to the formation, development and dissemination of Huangmei Opera. [6]

Huangmei is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River. In the past, most of the terrain was lower than the river bank. There is a saying that "the river walks on the house and people live in the middle". Natural disasters are frequent, and floods are more prominent. From the tenth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1377) to 1938, there were 103 catastrophic natural disasters in Huangmei County, including 65 floods, which occurred once every six years on average. Floods continued year after year, especially during the years of Qingganlong and Daoguang. During the Qianlong period alone, there were 12 catastrophic floods approved by Emperor Qianlong, and Oracle Bone Inscriptions is still collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Frequent disasters forced Huangmei people to learn to sing Huangmei Opera one after another to meet the needs of escaping from water shortage, fighting in boxes and begging for survival in different places in disaster years. This greatly promoted the development of Huangmei Opera from mountainous areas to rivers and lakes plain areas, and radiated to the adjacent areas of Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui. [7]

Huangmei Opera was in the early stage of development from the last years of Qing Qianlong to around the Revolution of 1911. Huangmei Opera, formerly known as Huangmeidiao or tea-picking opera, is a folk drama formed in the adjacent areas of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces in the late18th century. One of them gradually moved eastward from Huaining County to Anqing, Anhui Province, and was called "Huaiqiang" or "Huaidiao". This is the predecessor of Huangmei Opera today. Huangmei Opera has experienced four historical stages from its emergence to its development: one-man show, three plays, three hits and seven songs, and orchestral accompaniment. The first three stages were completed in Huangmei, Hubei Province, which provided sufficient preconditions for the final formation of Huangmei Opera. The period from Kangxi, Qianlong to Guangxu in Qing Dynasty was an important historical stage for the formation and development of "Three Strings and Seven Singing". At this stage, the accumulation of traditional plays, aria and performing arts and the wide spread of traditional operas have been fully practiced. During this period, the traditional repertoire was very rich, and artists could perform more than 200 kinds of dramas and operas, commonly known as "Big Ben 36, ditty 72". Many of them are based on the true story of Huangmei, such as Gao Jingcheng, Gao Bafei, Mercy and Compassion, Crossing the Boundary Ridge. In terms of repertoire, it is known as "36 major dramas, 72% off small dramas". The play mainly shows the people's dissatisfaction with class oppression, the disparity between the rich and the poor and their yearning for a free and beautiful life. For example, The Story of Buckwheat, Guan, Tian Xianpei, etc. Traditional Chinese operas mostly show the life segments of rural laborers, such as ordering barley, spinning cotton yarn and selling buckets. [5]

Huangmei Tea Picking Tune, Jiangxi Tune, Tongcheng Tune and Fengyang Tune, which originated and spread in Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi, were influenced by local operas (Qingyang Tune and Huizhou Tune) and combined with folk arts such as Lianxiang, stilts and dry boats, and gradually formed some operas. Further development, it absorbed the performance content and forms of folk art form "Luohanzhuang" and Qingyang tune and Huizhou tune, thus producing a complete story. There is also a transitional form from small play to this kind of play, which is called "string play" by old artists. The so-called "string play" is a group of small plays that are both independent and interrelated, some of which are "strung" by things and some are "strung" by people. The story of "cross-dressing" is richer than that of a small play, and the characters appear in it have also broken through three small areas: Clown, Xiao Dan and Xiao Sheng. Some old roles need to be played by Zheng Dan, Lao Sheng and Lao Ugly. This created conditions for the production of this play. In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), it was recorded in Susong County Records that "the city is in the southwest, bordering Huangmei, and Meihua is good at performing tea-picking operas, also known as Huangmei Opera." The name "Huangmei Opera" was first put forward. [5]

Huangmei Opera originated in Huangmei and developed in Anhui. Especially in 1950s, after the Huangmei Opera Troupe of Anhui Province adapted the traditional drama "Yong Dong whoring" into "Fairy Couple" and put it on the screen, Huangmei Opera became one of the "five major operas" in China. 1920 "Annals of Susong County, Anhui Province" records that "the city is in the southwest, bordering Huangmei, which is good at picking tea, also known as Huangmei Opera." The entry about Huangmei Opera in China Opera Quyi Dictionary is: "Huangmei Opera, a kind of opera. Formerly known as Huangmeidiao. Popular in Anhui and parts of Jiangxi and Hubei, it originated from tea-picking songs in Huangmei, Hubei. " 1959, the Preface to Selected Works of Anhui Opera, compiled by Anhui Provincial Cultural Bureau and published by Anhui People's Publishing House, wrote: "Huangmei Opera originated from tea-picking songs in Huangmei County, Hubei Province, and flowed into Anqing area after Daoguang Qing." Zhou, a China opera historian and theorist, said in the Outline of the Development of China Opera History: "Huangmei Opera originated from tea-picking opera in Huangmei County, Hubei Province.