What is the division of labor in traditional opera?

Peking Opera: The content of the opera art comes from the real social life, but not completely in accordance with the original appearance of life to show, but through artistic refinement, processing, so that the content of the performance of a more typical significance. This is the principle of artistic creation "from life, above life".

The line is a unique performance system of Chinese opera, also known as "role line", "foot color line", or "line" for short. In fact, there is a difference between the original meaning of the line and the role. Roles are the types of characters in traditional operas, which are classified according to their gender, age, identity, personality and other characteristics. For example, the average man in an opera is called "Sheng", an elderly woman is called "Lao Dan", and a man with a rough character is called "Huafa face" (deputy net). The line is a type of professional division of labor for traditional opera actors, which is gradually divided according to the different types of roles played by the actors and the different characteristics of their performing arts. Role refers to the type of character in the play, and line refers to the professional division of labor of the actor. Later, due to a line of actors often specialize in playing a certain type of role, thus forming a variety of specialized line, in the customary role and line will often be borrowed from each other, the formation of the "role line when" the joint use of the expression.

The division of roles is common in Peking Opera and other local operas. Peking Opera's line, directly inherited the characteristics of the traditional Chinese opera line division, in the process of the development of the Peking Opera and the formation of the characteristics of the opera, has a strong representative.

(I) The Historical Inheritance of Beijing Opera's Lineages

The division of Chinese opera performances into lineages has a long history. As early as in the Tang Dynasty, there were two fixed roles in the military theater, namely, the "military officer" and the "cuckoo". In the Song and Yuan miscellaneous drama and Ming legend era, there are "miscellaneous drama twelve section" said, the role is divided into: vice end, the old man, the old man, the old man outside, big face, two face, three face, the old man, the Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan, post Dan, miscellaneous. 1790 Hui Ban to Beijing, Hui opera has nine roles: end, raw, young, outside, Dan, post, Fu, Jingsheng, clowns. The Han opera, which entered Beijing after Hui Ban, had the most complete roles and was divided into ten departments: the end, the net, the student, the dan, the clown, the outer, the small, the sticker, the husband, and the miscellaneous. This is the formation of the Peking Opera before the division of the line.

Since the formation of Peking Opera, there have been several changes in the division and categorization of roles. Initially, the Beijing Opera was divided into "ten lines of roles", i.e., Sheng, Dan, Jingsheng, Hou, Chou, vice, foreign, miscellaneous, martial arts, and streams. A little later, there was another "ten lines of roles", that is, "Sheng, Dan, Pure, End, Chou, heel (somersault) on the next hand", which "heel", "on the lower hand" belongs to the martial arts line, this statement, in fact, only six lines.

In the 1920s, the Peking Opera Guild (an organization of Peking Opera performers) divided Peking Opera performers into "seven lines and seven sections". Stage performers are divided into "seven lines": the line of the old man, the line of the young man, the line of the Dan, the line of the net, the line of the ugly, the line of the martial arts, popular. The "martial arts line" is a variety of supporting roles in the performance of martial arts theater. "Popular" is the performance of the flag, running actors, also known as "Wen Tang line", in addition to playing the flag, running, but also perform a variety of men's fragmentary work. Backstage service personnel and stage and backstage collaborators are divided into "seven sections": Music Section, that is, the cultural and military scenes, now known as the band; Brush Section, that is, the management of the wardrobe box, also known as "box herdsman", the management of the big wardrobe box, the second wardrobe box, the third wardrobe box and the flag bag box; makeup Section, also known as the The head combing, specifically for Danjiao make-up personnel; cap section, that is, the helmet box; play through the section, that is, check the field; traffic section, the past is responsible for urging the play, the runway children's fellows; by the Reed section, is responsible for contacting the theatre, the organization of the business of the personnel.

After the founding of New China, the seven lines and seven sections of the Peking Opera changed again. The seven lines were further simplified and merged, and gradually became four lines: sheng, dan, jing and chou. Among the seven sections, with the reorganization of the troupe, purification of the stage, and the improvement of the work management system, the Jingli Section, the Dramatic Communication Section, and the Traffic Section have been abolished, and the remaining four sections have been replaced mainly by the orchestra and the backstage management.

(2) Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou

The general trend of the development of Peking Opera is from complexity to simplicity, until today, Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou have become the four major trades of Peking Opera. In the thousands of Peking Opera repertoires, there are countless characters who can be categorized into the four major roles of Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou. Within each of these four major trades, there are more subtle divisions that can be made. The following is an introduction to each of them.

1. Sheng Xing

Sheng Xing is a male role, which is very important in Peking Opera. Shengxing includes several categories such as Lao Sheng, Xiao Sheng, Wu Sheng, Hong Sheng, and Doll Sheng. With the exception of the Red Sheng and the Hook-faced Wusheng, the Sheng line is generally plain-faced, and is known in the jargon of the trade as "Junzheng," meaning that the costumes are clean and handsome.

1) Lao Sheng is also known as "Sheng", "Zheng Sheng" and "Beard Sheng". Generally, they are middle-aged or elderly men with a sense of justice. Character image to hang "black beard" (black beard) mainly. In the past, there were three lines of Peking Opera, namely, Sheng, Wai, and Mou, which were later collectively referred to as Lao Sheng. According to the different characteristics of the performance art, the Lao Sheng is divided into the An Gong Lao Sheng, the decline of the Lao Sheng and the Lao Sheng by the handle. An Gong Lao Sheng, also known as "singing cut Lao Sheng", "Wang Hat Sheng", most of the play emperors, scholars, a class of characters, mainly singing, quiet and steady on the stage, less action, so it is called "An Gong The "Decline School" is also known as "Doing Work Lao Sheng". Most of them play characters who are senile or in a declining mental state, mainly doing work, so they are called "Decay School", such as Song Tujie in "Four Scholars", Qin Qiong in "Selling Horses", and Song Jiang in "Sitting on the Floor and Killing Shih". By the old man, most of the characters play a class of generals, due to Za lean (wearing armor), the use of knives and guns handle (the weapons used by the play) and the name, plus "Dingjunshan" in the old general Huang Zhong, "War Taiping" in the flower clouds, "Zhentanzhou" Yue Fei and so on. No matter which type of Lao Sheng, it is mainly sung, all with the original voice. An Gong Lao Sheng to sing the melodious and gentle, the decline of the school Lao Sheng to sing the grief and indignation of the decadent, rely on the old man to sing the main impassioned and generous. In addition, in the history of Peking Opera, there are some actors and actresses who are good at literature and martial arts, and who can act in singing, doing and relying on plays. Later, they were called "literature and martial arts actors and actresses" because of their wide range, such as Cheng Changgeng, Tan Xinpei, and so on.

② Xiaosheng mainly play young men, make-up without beard, clean-cut, handsome. They sing with shrill falsetto voices and use both real and fake voices in reciting. The falsetto voice used by the young male is different from that of the female character. The singing style of the young male should be strong, powerful, wide and bright, and the voice should be clear but not soft and charming, and robust but not rough. According to the different characteristics of character and identity, Xiaosheng is also divided into robe with Xiaosheng, fan, plume, poor and Wu Xiaosheng. The "robe-and-belt boy", also known as the "hat boy", plays the role of a young man who is an official, wearing a hat as his main symbol, and most of these roles are literati, such as Wang Jinlong in Yutangchun, Zhao Favored in Qishuanghui, and Chen Kui in Chen Sanliang Crawling. Fans are often used to play the roles of young scholars and elegant gentlemen, holding a fan, wearing a scholar's scarf, and wearing pleats, so they are also known as "pleats". The fan is a special prop to help the character show his elegance and refinement. For example, Fu Peng in "The Jade Bangle" and Zhang Junrui in "The Story of the Western Chamber". Plume Sheng, also known as "Pheasant Tail Sheng", the head of the plume (pheasant tail) is its main symbol, most of them play the role of military generals or martial arts characters. Acting Plume Sheng should have martial arts skills, with the work frame, dance, with the plume to play out many dance movements. For example, Zhou Yu in "The Meeting of Heroes", Lu Bu in "Lu Bu and Diao Cicada", Yang Zongbao in "Mu Ke Zhai", and so on. Poor students, most of them play down-and-out scholars and scholars, "performances pay special attention to the work," to show the character's sour and rotten gas, used to put the back of the shoes down under the feet to show their scribbles, so they are also known as the "shoe leather student", wearing rich clothes is its main symbol. The rich and noble clothes are their main symbols. The rich clothes are green pleats with many colorful patches, meaning that although these people are poor and dressed in rags now, they are still going to be prosperous in the future, so they have the name of "rich clothes". For example, Mo Ji and Wang Mingfang in "Stick Fighting Thin Lovers" and "Lian Sheng Store". Wu Xiaosheng, most of the young and heroic characters, performances focus on martial arts, but also sing, read and do work. From the point of view of martial arts, Wu Xiaosheng and Wu Sheng are almost the same, but the singing and reading are all done in the way of Xiaosheng. For example, Lu Wenlong in Eight Hammers, Zhao Yun in Borrowing Zhao Yun, and Shi Xiu in Shi Xiu's Visit to the Village.

③Wusheng play good at martial arts of young men, divided into long by wusheng and short hit wusheng two categories, commonly known as "pierzi wusheng", "skimmer wusheng", "pierzi" is Dunzi" refers to wearing boots with thick soles, and "Skimmer" refers to wearing boots with thin soles. Long leaning wushengs wear big leans and emphasize both fighting and work, such as Zhao Yun in Chang Ban Po, Ma Chao in Battle of Jizhou, and Gao Diao in Picking the Sliding Car. The short-fighting martial arts students wear short, tight-fitting suits. They favor martial arts stunts, such as Ren Tanghui in Three Forks, Wu Song in Cross Slope, and Lin Chong in Night Run. Playing middle-aged and elderly characters called Wu Laosheng, such as "Bai Liang Lou" in the Wu Zhen, "Jianfeng Mountain" in the Qiu Cheng and so on. Wusheng also plays some of the hook-face plays (wu jing plays), such as Jiang Wei in "Iron Cage Mountain" and Gao Deng in "Take Gao Deng". The Monkey King in the Monkey Opera is usually played by Wusheng.

④Red Sheng refers to the old man with a red face, mainly playing the roles of Guan Yu, Zhao Kuangyin, etc. The singing voice is high-pitched and thick, and the performance has a special frame and modeling, so the actor should have solid martial arts skills and special training. The main repertoire includes "Huarong Road", "Going to the Wheat City", "Ancient City Meeting", "Drowning Seven Armies", "Chopping the Yellow Robe" and so on.

5 doll life play specializing in playing children's roles. Most of them are played by child actors, wearing a child's hair, wearing a tea jacket, using their voices to sing, mostly in the old man's voice. If two children's roles appear in a play, they are played by a lifetime once, such as Xue Dingshan in Fenhewan, Xue Yiguo in The Three Maidens' Teaching of the Son, and Shenxiang and Qiu'er in The Lotus Lamp. Many famous actors and actresses sang Doll Sheng when they were young.

2. Dan Xing

The Dan Xing of Peking Opera plays a variety of female roles of different ages, personalities and identities. The dan line is divided into the main dan, flower dan, flower shirt, knife and horse dan, wudan, old dan and other specialized lines.

1) Zhengdan is commonly known as "Qingyi", so named because the character he plays often wears green pleats. They mainly play solemn young and middle-aged women, and their performances are characterized by singing and small movements. Actions are more stable. The performance is characterized by singing, and the movements are small. For example, Wang Baochuan in "Three Palms", Li Yanfei in "The Second Palace", and Luoshi in "Mulberry Garden Club".

②Hua Dan Mostly young women. They wear short clothes, such as lab coats, pants, skirts, and jackets; sometimes they wear long clothes, also embroidered with colorful patterns. Most of the characters are lively and cheerful, and their movements are quick and clever. The performances are mainly based on doing work and speaking, and the speaking is mainly in Jingbai, with less rhyming. For example, Jin Yu Nu in "Beat the Thin Man" and Yan Shijiao in "The House of Oolong".

3 knife horse Dan Most of the young women who play good martial arts, martial arts is not as intense as the martial arts Dan, do not have to "fight out of the hand" (that is, throwing, kicking, catching, weapons, stunts), the more heavy singing, doing and dancing. For example, Liang Hongyu in "Battle of Jinshan" and Mu Guiying in "Mu Ke Zhai".

④Wudan plays the role of a woman who is good at martial arts and courageous. The performance focuses on martial arts, especially the use of stunts "hit out of hand". The difference between Wudan and Duo Ma Dan, in the past, there are two main points, one is the Wudan stilts, Duo Ma Dan does not stilts; the second is the Wudan "hit out of hand", Duo Ma Dan does not have this skill. Wudan wears short clothes, focusing on martial arts, not on singing and reading. For example, Yang Paifeng in "Playing Jiaozan" and Sun Erniang in "Wu Song Playing Shop".

5. The Huashang (flower shirt) is a new type of danjia that was developed after the 1920s by synthesizing the artistic characteristics of the Qingyi (green coat), Huadan (flower Dan), and Diamadan (sword and horse Dan). Before the formation of Huashang, it was generally impossible for an actor to play both the Qingyi and Hua Dan roles. In order to enrich the performing art of the Dan role and enrich the artistic expression ability, Wang Yaoqing combined the quiet and dignified style of the Qing Yi, the lively and dexterous performance of the Hua Dan, and the martial arts stance of the Dagger and Horse Dan, and created a Dan role that emphasizes on singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, which is named Huashang (a combination of the Hanadan and the Qing Yi). Most of the new dramas written and performed by the Four Great Masters of Peking Opera belong to the category of Huashang, and each new drama strives to satisfy the audience's viewing requirements in singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, such as Yu Ji in Farewell My Concubine, Wang Zhaojun in Princess Han Ming, Xue Xiangling in Lock Lin Pouch, and You Sanjie in Red Mansion II You, and so on. There is another kind of Flower Shirt Opera, Flag Dan, who wears the clothes of the Qing Dynasty, combs the head of the flag, wears shoes with flower pot bottoms, and speaks Jingbai. The characters performed by the flag costume dan are not limited to women of the Qing Dynasty, but to those of any other dynasty, including Hu Ayun in Suwu Shepherd's Sheep (Han Dynasty) and Princess Tiejian in Four Langs Visits the Mother (Song Dynasty), and so on.

6 Laodan (Old Dan) A line that specializes in playing the roles of elderly women. The costume, figure, and steps are different from those of the Qing Yi, mainly highlighting the characteristics of the elderly. Singing with this noise, singing and Lao Sheng close to, but with a woman's gentle meandering flavor. For example, the She Taijun in "Yang Men Women Generals", the Mother-in-Law in "Mother-in-Law Pricked Words", and the Kang's in "Hooked Golden Turtle".

3. Pure line

Pure, also known as "flower face", "flower face". They mainly play male characters with outstanding features in terms of character, quality or appearance. Facial make-up is used to depict the face, and wide and false voices are used when singing, with a wide range of performance movements to emphasize the character, temperament and momentum. Pure lines are categorized into three types, namely, positive purity, sub-pure purity and martial purity.

1) Pure Pure Commonly known as "big flower face". It is also known as "Singing Flower Face" because it is mainly sung. Xu Yanzhao in "The Second Palace" is a typical singing flower face, because he carries a copper hammer in his hand, so "copper hammer flower face" has become a synonym for singing flower face. In many Bao Gong plays, singing is also very heavy, because Bao Gong is a representative character of black face painting, so "black head" has also become a synonym for singing flower face. Most of the characters played by Zheng Jing are positive characters with upright character, such as Xu Yanzhao in <>, Bao Zheng in <>, Wei Jiang in <>, etc. The characters played by Zheng Jing are mostly positive characters with upright character.

②Associate net Commonly known as "two flower face". Because of the work frame, reading and performing the main work, it is also known as "frame flower face", "frame flower". Shelf flower also need to have a singing foundation; many shelf flower of the repertoire is the work of frame and singing, such as the "chain set" in the Douerdun. Therefore, the frame flower face actors, not only to have a superb martial arts, but also to be good at performing, reading, but also singing. Shelf flower play is mostly bold and straightforward characters, such as Zhang Fei, Yu Liang, Jiao Zan, Niu Gao, Li Kui, Dou Er Dun, Cao Cao and so on. In addition, the two-flower face, which is similar to the style of clown performance and outlines the face, also belongs to the category of deputy net, such as Wei Hu in "Counting Grain" and Liu Biao in "Fahmen Temple".

③Wu Jing is commonly known as "Wu Huafang" and "Wu Erhua". Because of the performance of the main pouncing and wrestling, also known as "wrestling flower face". Since some of the roles of Wujing are now played by Wusheng, the scope of Wujing opera is getting narrower and narrower. Wujing roles such as "White Water Beach" in the green-faced tiger, "picking the cart" in the black wind Li and so on.

4. Chouxing

Chouxing, commonly known as "small flower face". Because of make-up on the bridge of the nose to smear a small piece of white powder, so the name "ugly". And because of the net line and the big flower face, two flower face side by side, also known as "three flower face". The term "ugly" refers to the lack of beauty, not exclusively to the quality of ugliness. The roles played by clowns include both sinister and cunning characters, as well as upright and kind-hearted figures. There are two types of clowns, namely, the literary clowns and the martial arts clowns.

①Wen Chou All kinds of witty characters in Peking Opera are played by Wen Chou. The clowns are divided into square scarf clowns, robe and belt clowns, tea clothes clowns, scarf clowns, colorful Dan and so on. The square-toweled clowns mainly play the role of literati wearing square towels, including Confucian scholars, clerks, strategists, schoolteachers, and other identities and professions, such as Jiang Gan in The Meeting of Heroes and Zhang Wenyuan in The House of Oolong. Clowns in robes and belts play the roles of officials, including civil officials, military officials, positive and negative characters, such as Tang Qin in "The Judgement of the Heads of Prickly Soup", Cheng Biting Jin in "Chessboard Mountain", and Wang Long in "Zhaojun Out of the Seaside". Tea-clothes clowns play the roles of lower-class laborers in various industries, and are named for the short blue cloth lab coats (tea-clothes) they wear, such as the boatman in Qiujiang, the bartender in Wu Sung Fighting Tigers, and the cowherd boy in Little Cowherd. Scarf clowns are between square scarf clowns and tea-clothes clowns, and their performance style is slightly more rigorous than that of tea-clothes clowns, such as the shopkeeper Dong in Lian Sheng Shop, and Chong Gong Dao in Women's Rise and Fall, and so on. The colorful dan, also known as the "ugly woman", is a woman played by the clowns, such as Liu's mother in "Pick Up the Jade Bracelet".

②Wu Chou Commonly known as the "opening jump", playing a male character who is good at martial arts, vigilant and humorous. Wu Chou focuses not only on jumping martial arts skills, but also on clear and powerful speech. For example, Liu Lihua in Three Forks, Yang Xiangwu in Three Thieves of the Nine Dragons, and Shiqian in Yan Lingjia. (C) which role in the Peking Opera repertoire is played by an actor in which line, there are clear provisions, but sometimes there are occasional breakthroughs, that is, the actors in this line to play the role of a non-line, which can be divided into the "work" and "counter-story "

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The so-called should work, is the actor was always playing the role of this line, and sometimes also break through the line to string to play other roles that are not their own line, this string of performances once the formation of the practice is known as the "should work", should work by the formation of long-term customary practices, from the customary rules, such as raw line should work to play the Hua Face The rules were established by custom. For example, when a student performs a flower-face play, he should perform a flower-face play, such as Yuchi Baolin in Bai Liang Guan, Zheng Zi Ming in Fighting the Dragon Scaffolding, and False Bao Gong in The Case of the Two Bao Bao Bao, etc. When a dancer is called upon to perform, he should perform a small prince's play, such as Liu Chuan in Fetching Chengdu, Zhang Xiuyu in Theft of the Zong Scrolls, and Luo Chun in Luo Cheng Calling for Guan, etc. When a purifier is called upon to perform, he should perform an old master's play, such as Sima Yi in Easy Access to the Jin River, and Yang Chun in The Four Scholars, etc. When a flower face performs a clown role, such as Si Lang Si, etc. The clowns, such as the Great Uncle of the country in the "Visitation of the Mother by the Four Langs" and the Grand Master of the country in "Playing Noodle Jar", etc..

Because of the work, the formation of different lines of mutual play, commonly known as the "two doors hold" play. The play of inter-acting, is a character role can be played by two different lines of actors. For example, in "Qingfeng Pavilion", the He's, the old Dan and the clown line can be played, and in "Playing Dragon Robe", the Chen Lin, the old man, the old Dan or the clown line can be played. Once assigned to perform in a play, the actors of each line are not allowed to resign.

The counter-star is also an actor who does not sing his own line, but plays the role of other lines. However, it is different from the work of the workers, the work of the string of other lines is the customary provisions, the reverse is not subject to customary constraints, belonging to the freedom of the actors.

In the past, the line of work is not allowed to act in tandem, if you feel free to act in tandem, you will be rejected by peers and punished by the class society. This kind of skewering is wipe can not be in the official performance of serial performance, but in other occasions of performance, such as voluntary theater, cooperative theater and other non-business performances, skewering (reverse skewering) is allowed. And there are non-business performances, the organizers often intentionally arrange counter-play, with a view to achieving unexpected results.

There are also some rules for the counter-acting between different trades. Such as the Lao Sheng and Wu Sheng between the two acting, the Lao Sheng does not bring a beard, acting martial arts, then counted as a counterpart; Wu Sheng with a beard, not a counterpart. Such as "Yangping Pass" in the Zhao Yun, "Nine Dragons Mountain" in Yue Fei, "Wu Zhaoguan" in the Wu, etc., is the Lao Sheng, Wu Sheng two door string of plays.

The reason why actors are able to perform in tandem is related to the teaching methods in the past. In the past, the students in the class to learn the play, and not strictly divided into lines, all the roles in the play, the students must learn all, and then focus on learning the role of the line. This teaching method is not line line fine, but it is line line will be, its purpose is for the students in the future out of the section, can be taught to act, a way to make a living. This teaching method lays the foundation for the counter-story.

Beasts and gods in Peking Opera, the troupe also clearly defined by which line to play. Beasts in the "big form", including dragons, tigers, donkeys, cranes, etc., played by the top hand (martial arts plays the role of the front of the mass of actors); beasts in the "small form", including foxes, dogs, rats, etc., played by the bottom hand (martial arts plays the role of the opposite of the mass of actors) The "small forms" of animal forms, including foxes, dogs, rats, etc., are played by the underlings (actors who play opposite roles in martial arts theater). Various types of gods and monsters, such as male gods and monsters in the drama played by actors in the Sheng line, female gods and monsters in the drama played by actors in the Dan line, Lei Gong in the drama played by actors in the Wusheng line, the God of Wealth in the drama played by actors in the Chou line or the Jingsheng line, and the Kaguan in the drama played by actors in the Sheng line, and so on. The division of the Beijing Opera line is also reflected in the ancestor worship activities in the past. In the past, when an opera troupe offered sacrifices to the gods, they often had to put up five kinds of offerings to represent the five main lines of Sheng, Dan, Jingsheng, Mordecai, and Chou. For example, a plate of peanut rice on behalf of the Sheng line, a plate of eggs on behalf of the Dan line, a plate of salt on behalf of the end of the line, a piece of tofu on behalf of the ugly line. This five kinds of offerings on behalf of the five lines of worship should be relatively old, because in this kind of worship in the last line is still independent of the line of existence, to the beginning of this century, the last line has been merged with the line of life, losing its independence as a line of work.