What are the main aspects of Mr. Mei Lanfang's innovative spirit in art?

As we all know, in the early stage of the development of Peking Opera, the boundary between Hua Dan and Tsing Yi in Danxing was very strict. Tsing Yi, with a dignified expression and petite figure, is mainly famous for her clear and gentle singing, which conforms to the dignified and virtuous female beauty recognized by ancient society. Hua Dan, on the other hand, shows a lively woman, even an evil person, so she dresses up as a girl, a prostitute and a dissolute woman. In short, these images have low social status or low moral quality. However, Hua Dan, with rich expression and handsome figure, is naturally more popular with the audience than the rigid Tsing Yi. Therefore, Hua Dan's influence in the early stage of Peking Opera surpassed that of Tsing Yi, and Hua Dan actor Tian Guifeng was the first to hang the top card in Danhang. In view of this situation, some Tsing Yi actors are determined to reform and innovate. Yu Ziyun is the first person to do this. He combined the acting skills of Fu Xiao, a famous traditional Tsing Yi at that time, and Tian Guifeng, a leader of Hua Dan, "combined the specialties of Tsing Yi and Hua Dan to complete a beautiful role" (a 200-year history of Peking Opera), and was the pioneer of the flower shirt line. During the period of Xuan Tong, Wang Yaoqing continued to explore along the road of Yu Ziyun, integrating the performances of Tsing Yi and Hua Dan, and through the innovation of headdress and costumes, and by creating new dramas such as Mei Yupei, Mu Ke Zhai and Hong Ni Guan, which were suitable for her own performances, the art of flowered shirts was greatly developed and won the recognition of the audience.

Mei Lanfang/Kloc-Before the age of 0/7, the performances were all traditional Tsing Yi operas, following the path of traditional Tsing Yi school. However, he is keenly aware that the traditional monotonous performance skills in Tsing Yi can no longer meet people's aesthetic needs. Therefore, in the third year of Xuan Tong and the early years of the Republic of China, he began to learn from Wang Yaoqing. With the help of the surrounding literati, the development direction of "Far Ziyun near Yaoqing" was established and strengthened. Soon, Mei Lanfang and the literati around him further believed that Dandan should show beautiful women of different times, different temperaments and different personalities, which prompted Mei Lanfang and his colleagues who wrote Yuxuan to create new dramas of fashion and ancient costumes. This kind of innovation and development, whether it is headdress, costumes, dance and other aspects towards "beauty", or the "new" in opera characters tends to new ideas and new faces, is in line with the aesthetics of that era, so it quickly swept the country. His innovative spirit continued until the last rehearsal of Mu Guiying, so his innovative consciousness was consistent. His innovative spirit also influenced his generation of Peking Opera artists. For example, three other famous artists edited and performed a large number of new plays, created more female images and greatly enriched Dandan's artistic expression. The same is true for other businesses. It can be said that it was Mei Lanfang's artistic innovation spirit that made Peking Opera achieve a high degree of prosperity in the Republic of China.

Secondly, Mei Lanfang's innovation is based on a comprehensive and in-depth grasp of the artistic noumenon of Peking Opera, which is a basic principle that we should follow in artistic innovation today. If we can't realize this deeply, innovation will become a tree without roots and water without sources. Before the innovation, Mei Lanfang studied hard the skills of Beijing Opera's corner performance and practiced it repeatedly in traditional plays in order to master it comprehensively. In Forty Years of Stage Life, I recalled that I had mastered the basic movements of hands, eyes and body steps in Tsing Yi through long-term practice. It is also very hard to practice singing now. I have to practice singing twenty or thirty times in a short time. The teacher who taught him was Wu Lingxian, a disciple of Shi. Stone is known as "typical and pure Tsing Yi" (200 Years History of Peking Opera). Mei Lanfang began to practice on the stage while studying drama. He has studied more than 30 traditional plays in Tsing Yi and performed them on stage one by one, which has greatly improved his acting skills and laid a solid foundation for future development.

These 30-odd repertoires were the basic repertoires that Tsing Yi actors had to master at that time. Most of them were created in the early stage of Beijing Opera. After decades of polishing by artists, they have become classics. In fact, these classic plays are all specimens containing Beijing opera performance skills and artistic aesthetics. Mastering them means mastering the essence of Beijing opera art, and there are artistic standards to distinguish beauty from ugliness, so it can develop to the realm of deep-rooted, free change and free will. For example, when he realized that new dramas such as Daughter Laughs broke through the ontological norms and failed to meet the artistic standards in his mind, he immediately revised them. These experiences and insights formed his theory of "moving without deformation" when talking about the development and reform of Beijing opera.

Today's opera innovation should follow the rules summarized by the masters from their own artistic experience, and learn from Mei Lanfang's artistic spirit deeply rooted in the essence of Peking Opera and traditional opera art. Some actors make so-called innovations before creating seven or eight traditional operas, thus creating four images that deviate from Peking Opera art, which is very dangerous. Nowadays, the opera director who occupies a very important position in all kinds of new plays is a puzzling problem. Needless to say, a "drama director" without rich experience in drama performance often hinders the development of Beijing opera art itself.

Thirdly, the purpose of studying Mei Lanfang's artistic spirit is to create works with Chinese style, which can convey excellent national culture and spiritual connotation. Opera art, including Peking Opera art, is the carrier of China's traditional culture and artistic aesthetics, and it must have distinctive national characteristics. This is not only manifested in the performing arts of traditional Chinese opera, such as pursuing the artistic effect of spirit likeness, emphasizing the beauty of neutralization and having poetic artistic conception beauty; It is also reflected in the narrative art of traditional Chinese opera. The art of traditional Chinese opera has its own narrative style, which embodies the core connotation of China culture handed down from generation to generation, such as deep patriotism, etiquette norms that ordinary people should follow, the integrity and backbone of intellectuals, admiration and praise for love, affection and friendship, elegant and beautiful life interest and so on.

Mei Lanfang's opera works have such national spirit and Chinese style. He started his own unique artistic path by creating new fashion dramas and ancient costume dramas. Daiyu Buries Flowers embodies a pure and beautiful soul, My Daughter Scatters Flowers shows a dignified and elegant taste, Farewell My Concubine shows a heroic tragedy repeatedly written in China's cultural classics, and Cosmic Frontline is an aesthetic photo of women's marriage in ancient society, The Great Warrior Against Gold and Mu Commanding. In reality, Mei Lanfang is also a person with national spirit and literati feelings. He loves traditional literature and art, writes poems, sings with friends and paints well. During his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, he kept a clear beard and was unmoved by the Japanese. He showed the backbone and personality charm of a "mighty and unyielding" oriental gentleman, and embodied deep patriotic feelings and national integrity. Therefore, his ideological realm, moral sentiment and aesthetic taste are consistent with the spiritual background of China's traditional art. Only such an artist can truly explain the history, feelings and dreams of China people with art, thus creating works that the people of this nation will appreciate and hear. At the same time, because Mei Lanfang's opera art shows the uniqueness of China style and China culture, he is admired and appreciated by people of other countries and nationalities. The world also learned about China's plays through him, and learned more about China culture and the emotional and psychological world of the Chinese nation.