The Stage Art of Fujian Opera

From the 1920s to the founding of New China, the scenery of Fujian Opera was customarily called "Fuzhou School Scenery". A local opera has its own unique scenery art, which is world-famous and popular in Southeast Asian countries. This is rare in the long history of hundreds of operas on the China opera stage. In the middle of Qing Dynasty, Huizhou class performed in the city hall, Jianghu class and Pingjiang class performed in the village temple fair. On the wall in the center of the stage, there are patterns such as "Fu Lu Xi Shou", "God Bless the People" and "Bat Tuan Shou" as the background, and banners of "Out of the General", "Into the Phase" or "Out of the Wind" and "Into the Elegance" are posted on the left and right sides of the patterns for the actors to go up and down the stage. In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), Li Yanyou painted realistic scenery for the drama "Liu Xiang Nv De Dao" performed by Fujian class.

Soft curtain, the first in Fujian Province.

In the 1920s, Yu Hongguan, He, He Xinru and He Mengyun filmed hard film scenes such as mountains, stones, houses and walls on paper-framed bamboo frames, as well as so-called "ordinary scenes" composed of screen background and hard film scenes, namely palaces, halls, living rooms, courts, security halls, bedrooms, temples, monasteries, mourning halls, fields and fields.

In 1 1 (1922) of the Republic of China, He Xinru painted a water curtain of bamboo sticks and fried dough sticks for the Fujian opera "Flooded tangyin county". After a turn, the stage was really like waves, creating a set of Fujian opera institutions. Soon, He Yiyun designed and produced a set of institutional settings such as holding fire pillars and frying pans for the Fujian drama "Liu Xiang's Ten Girls". They designed institutional settings for Fujian operas such as Chen Jinggu, Dou Eyuan, Legend of the White Snake, Burning Blue Cloud Palace, Liang Tianlai and The Journey to the West.

In the Republic of China 15 (1926), Yu Hongguan and He, the scenery designers of Fujian Opera, were employed to design the scenery of Shanghai Peking Opera, which was the first time in Shanghai. The organ suit designed by Yu Hongguan for Genesis, a Peking Opera, adds magic color to the story of Pangu, an ancient myth in China. He also designed organ sets such as Farewell My Concubine and Bonus List for Peking Opera masters Mei Lanfang and Zhou, and used ultraviolet lamps, fluorescent powder and magnesium powder to skillfully combine painting, machinery, electrician, carpentry, binding, magic and optical refraction to create a rapidly changing drama scene on the stage, which was deeply loved by the audience. Mr. Lu Yangchun, a famous stage artist, said: "At that time, there were three schools in Shanghai's stage art circle. The most powerful school was Fujian, headed by Yu Hongguan. They ... Samsung stage and five or six other small stages are included, which is more powerful in Shanghai ... "

Among the "Fujian Gang" in Shanghai's dance and beauty circles in the 1920s and 1930s, the Fuzhou School was mainly composed of Hong Guan, Cai Heting, Cai Hezhou, Hong Sanhe, Zhao Fengxiang, Huang Zixi and Chen Yifan. Lianjiang people mainly include three brothers: Lin Jinglai, Zheng Bin, Luo Zhiren, Huang, He Youqiu, and Huang Zuoteng. Among them, Lin Jinglai was invited to Thailand in February1(1932) to design and draw organ sets for the Siam Jing Lao Sai Baofeng Chaozhou Opera Troupe, and was known as the "Emperor of Scenery". Later, he was invited to Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia to design organ for various troupes. In the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), the Chua brothers and Hong Sanhe were invited to Tianjin to perform and paint for Ye, Shang Xiaoyun. In 36 years of the Republic of China (1947), Hong Sanhe was also invited to Vietnam to design scenery for the Cantonese Opera Troupe. Yu Hongguan and the Ho brothers have disciples all over Shanghai, Tianjin, Anhui, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

In 1930s, Yu Dafu, a famous writer, wrote in "On the Scenery of Fujian Opera": "I didn't know that the stage here was another school until I saw the scenery of Fujian Opera. As soon as the spotlight rang, the stage changed, and the magical and eccentric movements and the half-truths of the scenery changed rapidly. This magical scenery was popular in Shanghai ten years ago. Some people say that the scenery in Shanghai is sometimes set in Fuzhou, which may be true. " "I absolutely agree with the scenery of Fujian Opera. And more hope to use electrical equipment and electro-optic to enrich the scene changes. If used properly, you can receive scientific results. "

Professor Sun Jiaquan of the Central Academy of Drama once wrote: "Yu Hongguan and He are the pioneers of stage art in China." A large number of early artists in China moved from Fujian to the whole country. The flame of Fujian opera, also known as fire color, is also a special form of stage art of Fujian opera. Sprinkle rosin powder, the flame on the head of the fire fan is formed by paper sandwiched between fingers, which adds atmosphere to the whereabouts of ghosts, fire and fire battlefield in the plot.

After the founding of New China, Fujian Opera was further innovated on the basis of inheriting the traditional stage art skills, and its stage appearance has undergone great new changes.