Where did Huangmei Opera originally come from?

The history of the origin of Huangmei Opera was first recorded. Mr. Lu Hongfei listed three legends about the origin of Huangmei Opera in his book The Origin of Huangmei Opera, but he did not draw a final conclusion. All kinds of existing academic and non-academic articles and dictionaries are written according to this choice of materials. Here, the views of this book are completely introduced as follows:

One of the legends: "Huangmei Opera was developed on the basis of Huaining Opera. ..... Whenever spring is planted and autumn is harvested, farmers are used to singing' Huaidiao folk songs' to celebrate the harvest of their labor. This kind of folk beautiful and lyrical folk song minor is collectively called' Huaining tune'. "

Legend 2: "... Huangmei Opera originated in Anqing, Anhui. In the past, every Huangmei season was often flooded, and farmers in the four townships held a meeting to meet the gods at this time in order to pray for a bumper harvest. At the meeting, various singing and dancing performances appeared, and a form of opera based on this singing and dancing performance was named' Huangmei Tune' because it was related to the Huangmei season. "

Legend 3: "Huangmei Opera originated from the folk song tune of Huangmei County, Hubei Province, that is, Huangmei tea-picking tune." This is unlikely.

Modern scholars have also explored the origin of Huangmei Opera. For example, Mr. Wu Furun recently wrote in Huangmei Opera Art magazine that Anqing Huangmei Opera is famous all over the country, but there are different opinions about its origin. Some people think that it originated in Huangmei County, Hubei Province, which may be a misinformation caused by the word "Huangmei". Huangmei Opera is indeed closely related to the word "Huangmei", but "Huangmei" is not what people call Huangmei County, but "Huangmei Mountain". Legend has it that this mountain was named after the yellow plum blossoms all over the mountain in the cold winter. Later, "Huangmei" gradually became scarce, and now "Huangmei" can be found occasionally.

Mr. Zhang Jianchu, a famous scholar of literature and history, pointed out: "This Huangmei is not that Huangmei".

When interviewed by reporters, the 8-year-old Zheng Lisong, the former director of Huangmei Opera Art Research Institute, also listed the information he had collected for decades and his own views one by one.

Zheng Lao told reporters that the core of the argument about the origin of Huangmei Opera lies in the word "Huangmei", which has two interpretations: one is the Huangmei season; Second, Huangmei County, Hubei Province, that is, "the folk tune originated from Huangmei County in eastern Hubei Province, that is, Huangmei tea picking tune, came to Anqing area with the local victims who fled the water shortage during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty." Zheng Lao thinks that the saying of "Huangmei season" is not unreasonable, but in the latter, he thinks it is not appropriate.

Zheng Lao showed the information he had collected. There are two records in the Annals of China Opera (Anhui Volume): In March of the sixth year of Xianfeng (1853), Shi Dakai, the general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, recovered Susong, and staged a three-day Huagu Opera (later Huangmei Opera) in the county town to welcome the heavenly soldiers into the city; In the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), the Qing army built a theater in susong county, performed a Huagu (Huangmei) opera, and invited battalion captains and literary officials to watch the opera. Zheng Lao has also seen a manuscript of a collection of drama couplets in the late Qing Dynasty, which records that in the sixth year of Bingchen in Xianfeng, Qing Dynasty (1856), there was a couplet circulating across the river in Anqing, saying, "Ode to virtue should express snow, but not sing Huangmei".

Zheng Lao thinks that these are the earliest records about Huangmei Opera, which should have been formed in Xianfeng period, and the name of Huangmei Opera was named by Anhui people. "During the Qianlong period, there was no Huangmei Opera. The victims who fled the water shortage brought Hubei folk songs, not even tea picking tunes." Zheng Lao also affirmed that Huangmei Opera is unique to Anhui. In the early years of the Republic of China, Cheng Yansheng, a scholar from Huaining, wrote a sentence in "Wan Youpu" as proof: "Today, there are also so-called caotai operas in villages all over Anhui, and all of them sing Huangmei tunes. ..... He saved this play. "

During the conversation, Zheng Lao also told the reporter about Hubei Province's invitation of Huangmei Opera to her parents' home. After this slogan was put forward, around 1984, the China Journalists Association invited Zheng Lao to interview in Hubei. During the interview, the Hubei drama circle had different views on the official point of view. Some drama researchers, represented by Gui Yuqiu, a Hubei drama expert and senior scholar, thought that Hubei Province did not need to invest too much in Huangmei opera, and should develop its own drama art on the basis of picking tea in Hubei, and "inviting Huangmei opera back" would only increase "Anhui"

Another related scholar thinks that Tongcheng Song, written in Tongcheng, Anqing, Anhui Province, was spread to Huangmei (Hubei-Yinzhe Press) in the Ming Dynasty. Huangmei Opera is sung by Yan Fengying from Luojialing, Tongcheng County, whose dialect is pure Tongcheng dialect.

This shows that Anqing is the most convincing source of Huangmei Opera.

There are also some folk legends in Jiangxi. Huangmei Opera originated in Jiangxi, but this statement is basically not recognized by the public.

Some people think that it is meaningless to argue about where Huangmei Opera belongs now, and it will not promote the development of Huangmei Opera. He suggested that experts and scholars should pay more attention to the development law of Huangmei Opera itself, and further consolidate and improve the position of Huangmei Opera, a local opera, in today's drama field.

There are also some folk legends in Jiangxi. Huangmei Opera originated in Jiangxi, but this statement is basically not recognized by the public.

Some people think that it is meaningless to argue about where Huangmei Opera belongs now, and it will not promote the development of Huangmei Opera. He suggested that experts and scholars should pay more attention to the development law of Huangmei Opera itself, and further consolidate and improve the position of Huangmei Opera, a local opera, in today's drama field.

The first batch of national intangible cultural heritage-Huangmei Opera protected areas in China are Anqing City in Anhui Province and Huangmei County in Hubei Province.

The three national non-genetic inheritors of Huangmei Opera announced by the Ministry of Culture are all from Anhui: 39-year-old Han Zaifen (from Anqing, Anhui Province), 41-year-old Zhao Yuanyuan (from Anqing, Anhui Province) and 61-year-old Huang Xinde (from Wuhu, Anhui Province).

from Huangmei county, but not in Anhui province, but in Hubei province. Huangmei Opera belongs to Huangmei County local opera, but it is famous in Anhui Province.