The Study of Female Image in Ancient Chinese Literature

The Portrayal of Women in Ancient and Modern Opera Works and Its Significance

Wandering through the gallery of ancient and modern characters in Chinese opera, we can see the swaying and colorful images of women, such as Liu Lanzhi, Wang Zhaojun, Zhu Yingtai, Meng Jiangnu, Bai Suzhen, Wang Erjie, Wang Baochuan, Cui Yingying, Lin Daiyu, Chingwen, Du Shiniang, Hua Mulan, Mu Guiying, Jiang Zi, and the Old Lady with Two Guns, and so on, which bear deep historical memories and touching stories of either joyfulness or generosity, sung to this day. These names with deep historical memories and touching stories of sadness and joy or generosity are sung to this day.

The portrayal of women is a lengthy topic, so let's list a few key aspects here.

I. The image of a woman who pursues autonomy in love and happiness in marriage.

1. In love with love, diligence.

Love itself is the eternal theme of literature and art, for women, is also an important part of the pursuit of a better life, "reed reed, white dew for frost. The so-called Iren, in the water side." "Hold on to your hand and grow old with your son." Many of the poems in the "Classic of Poetry" reflect the Chinese women's active pursuit of love and romantic fantasy, even in ancient times, "matchmaking words of parents" under the ritual system, the protagonists of the story - whether it is the palace princesses, ladies of the house, or the common people, The protagonists in the story - whether they are princesses of the palace, ladies of the court, or commoners or courtesans of the green house - give their true love to their loved ones, are devoted to them, and are faithful to them in life and in death, reflecting the noble spiritual qualities of purity and sincerity, and the importance of love and justice. For example, the story of Daiyu, which is taken from the classical masterpiece Dream of Red Mansions, was first adapted by Han Xiaowan, a writer of children's books in the Qing Dynasty, as Tears of Dew, and thereafter there are a lot of pieces such as Daiyu Burial of Flowers, Daiyu Sorrow of Autumn, Daiyu Burning of Manuscripts, Farewell to the Purple Cuckoo and so on, which portray the story of a girl who is genuinely in love with her lover and who is looking forward to the union with him, but is mercilessly attacked and loses her fragrance and jade. The interpretation of this character is pure, beautiful, deep-rooted and very grounded. The story of The Story of the Western Wing originated from Yuan Zhen's The Story of the Meeting of the Gods in the Tang Dynasty, which was originally a tragic story about a man of letters who was unethical and "began to mess up and ended up abandoning", and then Dong Xiyuan's The Story of the Western Wing (The Tale of the Western Wing and the Tune of the Palaces in the Jin Dynasty) flipped the plot, with Yingying Zhang Sheng falling in love freely after a lot of twists and turns, and eventually coming to a happy ending. In the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Shifu adapted the miscellaneous drama "The Story of the Western Wing", in which the heroine Cui Yingying and the maid Hongniang's image became more full and real. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, the folk opera "West Wing Duan" was once prevalent, centering on the comedic elements of love between a talented man and a beautiful woman; Liu Baoquan's "The Great West Wing" of the Beijing Rhythmic Drums; "Yingying's Viewing of Flowers," "Yingying's Viewing of Paintings," "Cuffing the Red," "Hongniang Shushu" and so on; and Ma Rufei's lyrics, "Yingying's Listening to the Qin," which have all become popular classics. There are also the funnier pieces such as "The Crossing of the Western Chamber" and "The Tearing Down of the Western Chamber" by the Meihua Drum and the Jingdong Drum. Folktales such as the story of Liang Zhu and the Legend of the White Snake have been presented more perfectly from the perspective of the female figure. Shandong qinshu "Liang Zhu Goes Down the Mountain", two-people turn "Eighteen Sentiments", Henan pendant "Yingtai Wailing", Xuzhou qinshu "Nine Reds Puffing on the Tomb", Hubei Xiaoqiu "Nine Reds Getting Married", and Beijing Rhythmic Drums "Butterflies in the Formation of Liang Zhu", the poignant tragedy of the Liang Zhu Love Tragedy is a breathtaking experience. There are also many songs reflecting the image of the White Lady and the Snake Spirit, such as The Temple of the Golden Mountain, The Umbrella at the Lake, The Water Flooding San Francisco, The Broken Bridge Meeting, The Legend of the White Snake, etc. Other famous stories of free love are also performed. Other famous repertoire that expresses the story of free love includes Nanyin's "Chen Sanwu Niang", "Autumn River" that expresses the love story of Chen Miaochang and Pan Bizheng in Henan Liuzi and Hubei Xiaoqu, "Plucking Vegetables in Wujiapo" that expresses the story of Wang Baoshuan in Jingdong Drums, and "Sister Wang Thinking of Her Husband" and "Sister Wang Crying for the Building" and "Wrestling Mirror" in drums, which are based on the story of "Three Words" of Zhang Tingxiu. The drum lyrics "Wang Er Sister Thinks of Her Husband", "Wang Er Sister Wails on the Floor" and "Wrestling the Mirror Rack" are based on the story of "Three Words" by Zhang Tingxiu, and "Double-locked Mountain" by Leiting Drums, which is a story about the love at first sight between Liu Jinding and Gao Junbao. In that regard free love as a "flood of beasts" in the feudal era, these works of art through the portrayal of men and women in the city, the countryside in the free love, revealing the significance of breaking through the feudal rites, women's external beauty and the beauty of the soul so that these songs have a beautiful and long-lasting charm, and never fail to be sung.

2. Loyalty and steadfastness.

The Tang Dynasty changed in the "Han Peng Fu" from the "Book of Sojourn", "Han Diploma couples" were forced to break up by the king, both martyrdom story, extolling the Han with his wife and husband chaste husband do not want the rich and powerful, do not fear violence, the virtue of unswerving chastity. Meng Jiangnu thousands of miles to find her husband crying down the Great Wall story, from the "Meng Jiangnu change the text" to the Qing Dynasty children's book "Meng Jiangnu", to the Beijing drum "Meng Jiangnu", Shandong drum "Meng Jiangnu crying the Great Wall", etc., people's impression of a weak, lonely and sad "little woman" was molded into a woman of hard-working character, perseverance and resistance to the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. The image of a woman with hard-working character, perseverance and courage to resist the tyrannical Qin Dynasty. Reflecting the tragedy of love between Lan Ruilian and his son Wei Jingyuan, "The Meeting of the Blue Bridge" has been widely circulated in the northern folklore, and has been interpreted by Shandong qinshu, Errenjun, and Xiehe drums, which glorify the two men's fidelity to their love. In those traditional stories of infatuated women with negative hearts, the female characters are praised for their rigid fidelity and condemned for their negative men. For example, the story of Du Shuniang is sung in Shandong drums, "The Hate of Qinglou", "Du Shuniang", and "Du Shuniang's Throwing into the River", which tells the story of Du Shuniang, a woman in a Qinglou, who redeems herself from adversity and joins her husband, Li Jia, a son of a rich family. But Li Jia betrayed her trust and sold her to Sun Fu. Under the despair, Du Shiniang scolds Sun Fu, denounces Li Jia, throws the treasures in the treasure chest she has been collecting for years into the river, and finally leaps into the rolling waves. The singing of the stone faction of the single string to the wonderful, a love than gold, fierce determination of Du Shiniang and her strong resistance to social oppression, the maintenance of human dignity of the emotional world, full, complete and perfect in front of the audience audience, let a person tears long sigh. Such repertoire also sings the story of "Dream of the Red Chamber" You Sanjie "You Sanjie" "mandarin ducks sword", sings the story of Wang Kui Negative Guiying pop lyrics opening "love probe" "Yang told", sings the Li Shilang negative Huo Xiaoyu's son of the book "negative hate" and so on.

Second, shaping the world to build a career, the courage to sacrifice the image of women heroes.

Women heroes are divided into five categories, the first is the image of female generals.

In the traditional opera stage and opera programs, Shudo wisdom and courage to kill the enemy's glorious image of female generals, they are jingo and iron horse, dancing sword and gun, to protect the family and defend the country, cut off the sycophants. This kind of image goblet in the northern dynasty folk song "Mulan resignation", the woman dressed as a man for his father from the army Hua Mulan is known as the first ancient heroine, Sichuan yangqin "Mulan from the army", Lanzhou drums lyrics "Mulan from the army" Mulan out of the jambs "Mulan Ronggui", the West River drums book "Hua Mulan sweeping the north", Xu Lixian play lyrics to open the new Mulan resignation "and so on, to shape the Guanshan flying across the border, galloping," "I can recognize my female and male. The image of the valiant General Hua who can recognize me as male and female". Review of the book "Saying Yue", Northeast drum "Liang Hongyu", Henan pendant "drum battle Jinshan" to shape the image of the Ming Dynasty female general Liang Hongyu, other conquests such as the story of the Yang family generals in the West River drums "Mu Guiying descended from the mountain", the West River drums "Yang Jinhua seized the seal", the West River drums "twelve widows conquest of the West", and so on. After the liberation of Lin Hongyu sang the Peking Rhythm Drum "Mu Guiying Hangs Up the Marshalship", transplanted from the opera, She Taijun and Mu Guiying played chess and talked about the military situation at the border, when Yang Wenguang sent the Marshal's Seal, Mu Guiying said that the Yang Family Generals were loyal and brave for the country, and wrapped up the corpse in a horse leather, but the Song Emperor, who was immoral and mediocre, was angry and didn't take the Marshal's Seal. She Taijun taught her granddaughter-in-law to put the country first, Mu Guiying was 53 years old and went back to the battlefield, saying, "I don't hang the marshal who hangs the marshal, I don't lead the troops who leads the troops", and went on the battlefield to clear the wolves, and made a great achievement. Chinese women, represented by Hua Mulan, Yang Men Women Generals, Liang Hongyu and other female generals, conveyed the spiritual meaning of "magnificent beauty", which is different from the feminine beauty of Chinese women.

Following this tradition, many revolutionary heroines have emerged in the red classics since the founding of the People's Republic of China, such as the interpretation of the heroic death of Qiu Jin of the Xinhai Revolution, the Peking Rhythm Drums "Lady of the Lake", Zhou Wenyong, Chen Tiejun, the revolutionary couple in the face of danger and laughs to meet the butcher's knife of the Plum Blossom Drums "tragic wedding", based on the "Red Guards of the Honghu Lake," adapted from the Peking Rhythm Drums "Han Ying to see the mother". portraying the Red Guard commander Han Ying and his mother. Based on the novel "Red Rock", the story of Jiang Sister has the commentary "Jiang Sister on board", Sichuan bamboo qin "Jiang Sister on the mountain" and Hubei Xiaoqu "Jiang Sister into the mountain", "Jiang Sister arrested", "Jiang Sister inaugurated", etc. Plum Blossom Drum "Embroidered Red Flag", Quick Script "hijacking the criminal car" portrayed the glorious image of the Huayhuash guerrilla commissar, the old lady of the double-guns with the wit and bravery. The Chinese commentary "Liu Hulan" sings about the glorious deeds of Liu Hulan who "lived a great life and died an honorable death", the Hubei Xiaoqu "Blue Blood and Danxin" sings about Li Daniang who sacrificed her life to cover the platoon leader of Wang during the liberation war, and the Peking Rhythm Drums "The Party's Daughter Xiang Xiu Li" celebrates the sacrifice of the young female worker who sacrificed her life to extinguish the blaze of a pharmaceutical factory in Guangzhou, and the "Farewell by a Thousand Miles" renders the novel "A Farewell to a Thousand Miles of Tide". Dike Farewell" interpretation of the novel "Red Flag Spectrum" in the Chunlan and Yuntao, as well as drum lyrics, "New China's Mulan Guo Junqing", "Jinchaji little girl", "Zhao Yiman", until the Shaanbei Express Script "Model of the Times Huang Wenshou", countless singable female heroes, female fighters, female heroes, female eight-roaders, female cadres, women members of the party, female models, etc., sung the main theme of the art of song.

The second category is the image of female warriors.

The earliest legendary images of chivalrous women appeared in folklore and novels of the Wei and Jin dynasties, such as Nie Yinniang, Hong Fu, Red Thread and other female chivalrous heroes in the Tang Legends, and Bao Jinhua in the commentaries "Three Heroes of the Tang Dynasty" and "Green Peony". Beijing Rhythm Drum "Thorny Tang Qin" is Liu Pai Beijing Rhythm Drum retained repertoire, also known as "Xue Yan Thorny Tang", based on the Qing Dynasty Zidi book "Thorny Tang", "Xue Yan Thorny Tang Qin woman's true martyrdom, she is half reward for her husband's ambition and half to call the fools and blind," portraying the Xue Yanniang for her husband's revenge for people to get rid of the evils of the people, defying the strong violence and not afraid of sacrifice, resolute and resolute chivalrous woman image.

The third category is the image of a chaste woman.

Jingyun Drum "Chang Ban Po", adapted from Han Xiaowen's children's book "Chang Ban Po", also known as "Mee's Orphan", Mrs. Mee was injured in the war, holding the young master, Zhao Yun rode alone to come to the rescue, Mrs. Mee, in order not to get General Zhao into trouble, the young master threw a withered well and died, to the fine art of artistic interpretation of the delicate and delicate, though weak and the image of Mrs. Mee, to take the righteousness of the life and become a long-lasting classic. The story of Zhong Wuyan (Salt), the mother of the state of Qi during the Warring States period, is widely spread among the people. The earliest prototype was the story of a woman from the land of saltlessness who risked her life to admonish the king of Qi, and her name evolved from the relatively old-fashioned "saltless" to "Wuyan" in later times. According to the drum lyrics of "Spring and Autumn of the Martyrs", Wuyan was originally a fairy, who bathed in the Yaochi Pond one day, spied the wars on earth and the suffering of the people, and was determined to come down to the earth to quell the wars, but in her haste, she mistakenly wore the skin of a nightjar, and was reincarnated in the Zhongli Mansion. The king of Qi, who was recommended by the wise prime minister of Qi, Yan Ying, visited Zhong Wuyan in the Mulberry Garden and appointed her as the Queen, but she later repudiated her decision. Zhong Wuyan went to war for Qi and repeatedly defeated the powers. She was framed many times in the palace and survived nine deaths in the chessboard meeting to protect the King of Qi from danger. However, because of her ugly appearance, she was always disliked by the King of Qi, who said, "If there is something wrong with Zhong Wu Yan, there is nothing wrong with Xia Yingchun." In the end, she breaks the rules and invites her husband to the cottage, and the King of Qi finally changes his color and welcomes back Zhong Wuyan, making the Qi country strong and the king and concubine happy together. The "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Martyrs" is one of the famous "Six Spring and Autumn Annals", the Guangdong wooden fish book "Zhong Wuyan Niangniang", the commentary "Ugly Wushan" or "Legend of Niangniang Wushan" (a "Zhong Wuyan"), and the Mongolian storytelling book "Zhong Guomu", etc., which praised Zhong Wuyan's literary and military strategies, and portrayed a person who was extremely ugly in appearance but very talented, who cared for the gods and godfathers of the world and bravely assumed the responsibility for the whole world, and who had the courage to take charge of the country and to take responsibility for the whole world. She is a woman who takes the world into her own hands, bravely assumes the responsibility of settling the country, defies the prejudices of the world, rebels against the shackles of ritualism, and goes forward towards the set goal.

The fourth category is the image of the mother who knows what is right.

In ancient times, women's vocation was to teach their children, and mothers in particular played an important role in the education of their children, and the works of the opera show that mothers inculcate in their children positive values, such as helping those in distress, upholding the ideals of justice, patriotism, and so on. Two people turn "Mother Yue stabbed words", Lanzhou drum lyrics "Mother Yue stabbed words" Yue Fei's mother in Yue Fei before the war on the back of the stabbing writing "loyalty to the country", it is the mother of Yue Fei's this action prompted Yue Fei life "heroic" to become a hero of the anti-Golden. The mother of Xu in "Cursing Cao and Training Her Son" and the mother of Zhou in "Ningwuguan" of the single-stringed "Cursing Cao and Training Her Son", etc., all know the righteousness of the truth, scolding the traitorous ministers, teaching their children to serve the country, and even sacrificing their lives to inspire their "children" to engage in battles. In addition to the anti-epidemic "opera" there are also a lot of praises of the medical staff mother "sacrifice the family to care for everyone" to support their children to fight against the "epidemic" of the works.

The fifth category is the image of women contributing to national harmony.

In ancient times, there was a special group of women - courtesans or princesses of the royal family, due to the policy of peace at that time, was the court "far married" minority areas, they said goodbye to their loved ones, far from home, for the consolidation of peace on the borders, to maintain the unity of the nation to make contributions. They said goodbye to their relatives and stayed away from home, contributing to the consolidation of peace in the border areas and the maintenance of national unity. The famous historical figure Wang Zhaojun is a prominent representative. Its deeds were first seen in the "Book of Han", the Tang Dynasty has "Wang Zhaojun change text" and Shu female "turn Zhaojun change". Wang Zhaojun's real name was Wang Qiang, a female court lady with a beautiful face. It is said that Mao Yanshou, a painter, intentionally painted an ugly picture and was not favored, and then she voluntarily (or forcibly) married a monarch of the Xiong Nu, and died of loneliness and sadness because of longing for her homeland. Fujian Nanyin in many works is sung about the story of Wang Zhaojun, such as "the mountains are steep", "heard the sadness of the geese", "for the life of the timid", "away from the Golden Emperor", "the heart of the sadness", etc., Meihua drums and other types of songs in the "wild geese to send a book," Gansu Heshi region, there is "Zhaojun out of the Seaside Treasure Rolls," such as Treasure Rolls. These works everywhere exude Wang Zhaojun's loyalty to the Han Dynasty and the longing for her hometown is the embodiment of Confucianism's "loyalty to the emperor and love of the country" ideology. The story of "Zhaojun out of the plug" has been passed down through the ages, and the image of the beautiful and loyal Wang Zhaojun has had a far-reaching influence. Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty made peace with Songtsen Gampo of the Tubo Dynasty, creating a new era of friendship between the Tang and the Tubo. The newly created work Plum Blossom Drum "Princess Wencheng" narrates and sings the deeds of Princess Wencheng's journey to Tibet, who traveled westward without hesitation with a sense of courage, and sowed the seeds of Chinese culture on the plateau, which blossomed and bore fruits. Wang Zhaojun and Princess Wencheng, as "peacemakers" of national harmony, will be remembered for generations to come.

Third, the image of women who rebelled against the shackles of feudalism and had the courage to fight.

Ancient orthodox literature, it is difficult to find such a figure: smooth-tongued, straight-talking, export logic, natural love of speech, unrestrained, Song Dynasty book "fast-talking Li Cuilian record" (in rhyme, the system is similar to the fast board) shaped the image of such a hot bride Li Cuilian, from the Tang Dynasty, popular fugue "齖? Book". Li Cuilian is a comedic character that should be rarely seen in the history of literature, because she is dissatisfied with the cumbersome etiquette, scolded the matchmaker and hit the bridesmaid at the wedding, disobeyed the in-laws in the in-laws after the marriage, and tried to argue with the sharp tongue and finally ended up being repudiated by her husband, and her maiden family was not allowed to leave the family's home in a tragic end. Li Cuilian insists on her own individuality and fights for women's rights and equality with her "speech", which is the first voice of her rebellion against rituals. These characters were not accepted by the world at that time, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties, where science was the dominant discourse, and these female figures fell silent. Until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Shuangshuang appeared on the screen as a representative of the struggle for equality between men and women and women's "spirited beauty", and was adapted from the Teochew Songbook. In terms of the height and breakthrough of women's rebellious image, the play lyrics written by female writers in the Qing Dynasty, such as "Yu Chuan Yuan", "Tian Yu Hua", "Renewal Yuan", "Pen Born Flower", "Zi Xu Ji", "Fenghuang Fly", "Dream Shadow Yuan" and so on, demonstrated the rise of the independence and self-consciousness of the intellectual women in the Qing Dynasty, and the play lyrics of Qiu Jin, "Jingwei Shi", seemed to be more like a declaration of women's breakthrough of the family cage to realize equality between men and women, and Jingwei was precisely the symbol of the female revolutionary who was soaring to the skies with a strong ambition. The symbol of the female revolutionaries is Jingwei.

Fourth, the image of a woman who is talented and rich in Chinese virtues.

The new opera shaped the image of women in real life who are hard-working, kind, dedicated and helpful. They are the good doctor Li Yuehua who insisted on treating the sick and saving lives with her wonderful hands in the Beijing Rhythm Drum "Night Invitation to Li Yuehua", the city beautician and sanitation girls who worked hard in the morning sun in the Tianjin Time Tune "Golden Dawn", the volunteer Ernier who sewed and mended the clothes of the workers in repairing the river in the Henan Liuzi "Little Erni on the Embankment", and the anti-epidemic nurse who cut off her long hair in the opening of the Commentary "Xiu Fa". ...... The women in the new opera are portrayed in a bright and fresh manner that commands respect. The new art also portrays female literary figures and artists, such as the Jingyun drum "White Girl Talking Book", which recreates the scene of white girl and black girl talking book on the shore of Daming Lake, and the Jingyun drum "Pipa Xing", in which Bai Juyi listens to the pipa woman's excellent playing skills and the woman's unfortunate destiny to produce a **** love. The Chinese drama "The God of Embroidery" interprets the growth story of Shen Shou, a master embroiderer in Suzhou. The Chinese opera "Lin Huiyin" sings the story of Lin Huiyin, a talented woman of literature, and her love affair with architecture. The opera portrays female intelligent characters and praises women's intelligence. Yang Bajie's Spring Tour" She Taijun wants to gift that section of the song cleverly rejected the Song Emperor, the children's book "three difficult bridegroom", the new Chinese opera "Meng Lijun", "Xi Shi", "Diao Cicada", "Big Foot" and other repertoire of the heroine are not only the showy, clever and resourceful, but also have the main idea, can become a big deal of the ancient women. The new opera works are happy to show the lively, cheerful and healthy women in their daily lives, such as the Tianjin tune "kicking the shuttlecock", "flying a kite", "dropping a watermelon", and the Henan tune "picking cotton", "borrowing the development", etc. The new opera works are also very popular among the female audience, and they are very popular among the female audience.

In summary, we can look at the characteristics of women's image in opera in two stages, before the founding of the People's Republic of China, women's life is very limited, women's image of love and family themes. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the emancipation of women and the promotion of the national policy of equality between men and women, women were able to show their ambitions and talents on various fronts, and the portrayal of women's image in the red themes became a prominent highlight. With the development of the times, the proportion of women's image in opera has been increasing, not only influenced by social changes, but also from the main body of creation and performance. Since the 1930s, in many kinds of operas, female actors have gradually become the main body of stage presentation, and works with female themes are their specialty, and their artistic creativity has been stimulated, and the image of women in the works is organically integrated with the image and emotional world of the actors, such as the plum blossom queen, Flower Sibao, in Daiyu Burying Flowers, Shi Huiru, in Du Shi Niang, in Peking Rhythm and Drums, Sang Honglin, in Prickly Tangqin, and Zhu Huizhen, in Jiaman Bombing. The "living insurer" enables artists to climb to the peak of their art, such as Zhu Huizhen's "Recognizing Mother in the Nunnery" and "The Legend of the White Snake". In addition, in reflecting the "public sphere" and "private sphere", opera represents the ultimate flower Mulan type and Lin Daiyu type are equally important and have the same artistic charm, and the "big woman" has the "big" charm, and the "big" woman has the "big" charm. The "big woman" has a "big" respectable, "small woman" has a "small" lovely, swaying and reflecting each other.

But compared to the major role played by women in today's social life, the female image and discourse expression in opera is very insufficient, and there is also an insufficient and unbalanced situation between the various types of opera, such as comedy, jingju, fast-panel, quick book and other types of opera female discourse deficiencies, the relative lack of female image. For example, more than 70% of the medical personnel on the battlefield against the new crown epidemic are women, and also emerged Li Lanjuan, Xia Sisi, Gan Ruyi and other heroines, fearless, tenacious women's volleyball team spirit has long become a dazzling spiritual flag in the hearts of thousands of people, but few excellent works of music and art to reflect them. We expect our writers and actors to pay more attention to women's main discourse expression in the future, and to shape the image of women who love the Party and love the country, who are enterprising, positive, and successful, and to diversify and comprehensively display the style of China's women "half the sky", and to build beautiful and charming landscapes.