The Origin of Heyang Line Opera

The origin of line opera is very ancient, and now it is generally believed that it started in Han and flourished in Tang, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Duan Anjie of the Tang Dynasty compiled "Miscellaneous Records of Lefu - Puppet", "Since the past, the rumor that: 'started in Han Zu in Pingcheng for the siege of Boldon, one side of the city, that is, Boldon's wife Xiongnu, the soldiers are strong in the three sides. Base in the hunger strike, Chen Ping visit to know the Xiongnu jealousy, that is, make wooden puppets, transported in the organs, dancing in the PI. Xiongnu look, said it is a living person, consider its city, Boldon will be prostitutes, so retreat.'' ...... after Lejia turned for the play." The late Heyang line theater artist Lei Qingyun recalled in his early years that the Heyang line theater has been passed down from generation to generation, and had been a great success for the King of Han. When the Huns attacked Daikoku, the King of Han was trapped in Pingcheng.

The king knew that Xihe (ancient name of Heyang was "Xihe") had a wire play and told Chen Ping. Chen Ping ordered the craftsmen to imitate the big puppet. Lifelike, by the night moon dance in the city. Xiongnu King's wife saw, jealous, afraid of the city after the King of Xiongnu to Han's daughter, so the net is open, let go of the King of Han. Later, the king abandoned his country and was pardoned as the Marquis of Heyang. He was pardoned and became the Marquis of Heyang. Daiwangxi is the brother of the king of Han, Liu Zhong, according to the "Heyang County Quanzhi", Liu Zhong City in the northeast of today's Square Town, five miles. Heyang new Zhi data ", Liu Zhong City in the Square Town, five miles northeast of the village and Yang. Legends of the artists and historical records basically match. The record of "Daiye Gleanings" reads: "Emperor Yang of Sui made Huang Yan make a wooden man of two feet, clothed in beautiful clothes, decorated with gold and blue, and was able to utilize it freely." This record is very similar to the image and size of the puppets in the Heyang Thread Hu Opera. That is, the form of the performance, Tang Du You "pen stag" in the record is very much the same as today: "Puppet son, the end of the Han Dynasty used in the Jiahui, the Northern Qi Gao Wei is particularly good," "Today's custom hanging silk and theater, called the puppet, to hold the end of its hand, out of its tent above (outside)."

Hanging silk puppet is the ancient name for string puppets, and the "tent" is called "Liangzi" in the Heyang Line Hu Opera. When performing, the artist stands behind the bright, and the hand-held puppet is out of the bright. General Dictionary" said that the Tang Dynasty has been included in the song and dance category of line opera. The actual record of Emperor Ming has a poem of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang "chanting puppet" (one said to be made by Emperor Liang): "carve wood and pull the thread an old man, chicken skin and crane hair with the real same. It takes a moment to get rid of it and nothing happens. Like life in a dream:" Although the poem does not explicitly refer to the He Yang line Hu opera, but "carved wood and silk" structure, "chicken skin and hair" appearance has been exactly the same with the He Yang line Hu opera puppet modeling, but also shows that in the Tang Dynasty line theater has been very popular. It also shows that wire opera was already very popular in the Tang Dynasty. It was sung while knocking, and sung while performing.

Heyang line opera class society belongs to half-farming half-art performance groups, artists busy farming, farming leisure play. Line opera in the development process, the famous artists come out. Only in modern times, for example, sitting on the drum board Huai said opera Wang Wuhan (stage name "six eight children"), Du Jinhu, Yan Xijiang (red-eyed child), Wang Yurun, Lei Zhennan, Ma Dongxun (a nest of turtles), Wang Xiaoxian (thirteen children), Li Yinxue (wolf bite) and so on. Their attention to the voice, voice and emotion, each person can say fifty or sixty plays, the most can be said to more than a hundred: although the death of many years, but still for the masses to enjoy. The "playwright" has a great responsibility, and he is responsible for the performance of a play in which he is the only one who can do it, with a loud voice and clear words. Line cavity opera singing in the music in the interval, only to Zhengzi beat rhythm, sounds pleasant. Heyang people watch the puppet theater mainly to "listen", so many people in the crispy back to the stage, a full ear.

The puppetry line is the main performance method of the Heyang puppet theater. The puppeteer's line ranges from five to twelve depending on the role, and increases to seventeen, eight or even more than twenty depending on the circumstances. The puppeteer is 80-90 centimeters high and weighs 3.5-5 kilograms. The puppeteer skillfully uses the methods of lifting, plucking, hooking, picking, twisting, whirling, flashing, shaking, etc. to give the puppeteer artistic life, and the movements are lifelike, but with strong puppet characteristics. The puppet can naturally do stunts such as unloading hats, undressing, moving chairs, swinging poles, and single and double flashing official wings. Li Guan, an opera singer in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, had boldly reformed the puppet structure, modeling, and singing of the Heyang Thread Opera, and wrote a script specifically for it. Wang Wuhan, "Liu Liuzi" and Dang Wenhui are all famous artists. Newcomers Wang Hongmin, Xiao Wangfeng, etc., created a lot of difficult actions such as end chair, writing zhangzhang, flash flat, etc., and won numerous commendations.

The traditional repertoire of the line cavity is quite abundant, roughly divided into three categories of love plays, historical plays, and public case plays, with about 500 kinds of plays, including "Twelve Mandarin Ducks," "Twelve Dragons and Phoenixes," "Twenty-four Scrolls," "Seven Scrolls," "Seven Scrolls," and "Seven Scrolls.

Heyang puppets, simple and ancient modeling, singing voice, with the generosity of the Sanqin land of the wind, and still shine. Its music, singing, speech, puppet modeling and stage art are unique.