History of Shaoju Opera

Shao Opera is an ancient Han Chinese opera, originating from Qinqiang, which was formed in Shaoxing in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and then flourished in the Kangxi and Qianlong years of the Qing Dynasty. Influenced by Yiyang opera, Gan opera, Hui opera and other types of theater, and collected popular in the Shaoxing region of Yuyao cavity, Xinchang tune (high) cavity and the characteristics of folk opera, and gradually developed into the Shaoxing chaoban, and in the repertoire, music and singing and performing arts, etc., there is a great deal of development and improvement. It began to flourish in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1723-1735). Ming Jiajing years, Yuyao cavity, Yiyang cavity prevalent, Shaoxing around the emergence of the "tune cavity". In the beginning, it was a form of sitting and singing, such as singing and blowing the daoist class and the hall of fame class, with one person singing multiple lines of footwork and accompanied by gongs, drums, and cymbals. After moving to the stage, called the Shaoxing high tone class.

The end of the Ming and early Qing dynasties, the prevalence of Kunqiang, followed by the introduction of the chaotic bomb, the high tunes class have to sing both Kunqiang and chaotic bomb, the formation of the trio class. By the Qianlong period, it was in full bloom for a while, and the word "Qunyu" was used as the name of the class. By the Xianfeng, Tongzhi years, high and Kun cavity gradually lost the audience, especially in the countryside, chaobang is very popular, so the artists changed to sing chaobang mainly, called shaoxing chaobang class.

Shaoxing is an ancient city of culture, frequent opera activities. One of the "four great voices" of the Ming Dynasty, Yuyao cavity, that is, Yuyao, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Shaoxing Province, the source of the area. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Qin cavity spread to Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, from the north, and fused with the Yuyao cavity, gradually forming a new and exciting cavity known as "Tuning Cavity". The most distinctive features are the "Erfan", the tone and the Qinqiang. The tone of the cavity in the repertoire and music and other aspects of the Shaoxing opera has a greater impact.

The relationship between Shaoxing Opera and Anhui Opera is also close. In the traditional repertoire of Shao Opera, another basic singing style, "Sanwuqi", is used a lot, and its melody is similar to that of the Huizhou Opera's blowing style. "Sanwuqi" belongs to the southern opera system, so its musical style is also characterized by the southern opera, which is more euphemistic and long, long for lyricism. The repertoire of Shao Opera is also the same as that of Hui Opera.

Early Shao Opera, mainly mobile performances in the rural areas of the water towns, mostly "social theater" nature. The first month of the lunar calendar to perform the "lamp play", February to perform the "pay God play", March to perform the "Qingmiao play", April began to rural temples continue to welcome the gods race, and often perform the play. In July, during the Mid-Yuan Festival, the "Ghost Sacrifice Play" (inserted into the whole play, called the "Peaceful Play") was performed everywhere. After that, the main performances were "Ancestral Hall Operas": "Peace Operas" to mediate disputes between two villages, "Fine Operas" to punish those who stole forests, and "Returning Wishes Operas" for merchants who had made fortunes in foreign ports. "return the wish play", the rich and powerful family newborn, birthday "celebration play", as well as villages and towns to take turns on the annual duty of the "annual rules play" and so on. During this period, Shaoju opera groups also appeared in the neighboring areas of Shaoxing. In Shengxian County, there was a troupe that mainly sang chaobang and also sang the melodious tune.

The division of the classes into civil and military is said to have begun at the end of the Qianlong period in the Qing Dynasty. After that, there was a prosperous scene, and there were more than forty banjos, most of which were professional banjos, and some semi-professional banjos which were scattered and merged from time to time.

After the Opium War in 1840, the area of Shao Opera activity was shrinking and tending to decline, especially in the Wu Ban. To 1920 or so, the general actors are practicing the martial arts, the cultural class is added to the martial arts theater, cultural and martial arts class merged. Since then, the class society modeled on Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities, there is a stage for the class name. Such as the first stage of Quan Yuan, Yue stage, Tian Rong stage, with the spring stage. After the twenties, in Shaoxing local cities and towns, Shaoxing opera is quite prosperous. During the war, there were not many Shaoxing Opera troupes in Shanghai, and there was only one Tongchun troupe in 1945, but the lineup was strong, with many famous artists. In addition to Wu Changshun and so on, there emerged the old man seven Lingtong, thirteen Lingtong, martial arts six Lingtong, Dan foot Shin Linglong, Zhang Yanqiu and so on. Before the war, there were more than 20 classes such as Yuezhong First Stage, Civilization Stage, Lin Gui Dance Queen, New Great World, New Great Hongfu, and so on. After the war, the Shaoxing People's Education Museum to engage in the reform of the old drama, registration, has been registered nearly fifty classes, the vast majority of which are chaotic bomb class.

In the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were nine folk theater groups, such as Tongchun, Tongxing and Xinmin. After the registration, merger, although the number of slightly reduced, but due to the recruitment of new students to run several training courses, training of successors, so that the Shao Opera has been greater development. 1956 changed the Tongchun Shao Opera Troupe for the Zhejiang Shao Opera Troupe. 1965 there are six professional Shao Opera Troupe. In 1965, there were six professional Shao Opera troupes. Shao Opera was destroyed in the "Cultural Revolution" and recovered after the "Gang of Four" was crushed. By 1982, there are three professional Shaoxing opera troupes in Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing County and Xiaoshan County, and one Shaoxing opera training class.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Shao Opera Troupe organized and adapted many traditional plays, and created a large number of modern plays and historical dramas. The traditional repertoire that has been reorganized and adapted includes "Dragon and Tiger Tiger", "After Vermilion", "Flaming Mountain", "The Story of Reed Flowers", "Fragrant Belt", and "The Monkey King Beating the White Bone Demon", etc. The modern dramas that have been created include "Tears in the Blood" and "The Legend of AQ", and the historical dramas include "Yuqian". Among them, "The Story of Reed Flowers" won the prize at the 1954 East China Opera Festival; "Yu Qian" won the first prize for performance and the second prize for script issued by the Ministry of Culture in 1979; and "The Monkey King Strikes the White Bone Demon" was filmed into a color film by Tianma Film Studio in 1960.