The Historical Evolution of Gaojia Opera

Gaojia Opera is popular in Minnan-speaking areas with Quanzhou as the center, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan areas, and overseas Chinese communities in southern Fujian in Southeast Asia.

Gaojia Opera was originally named "Song Jiang Opera". According to the old artist Chen Ping (1884 ~ 1957), during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, villagers dressed as Liangshan heroes marched in the village or occasionally performed short plays on the spot during the holidays in the coastal fishing villages of southern Fujian. So, the children performed the story of Song Jiang, sometimes called "Song Jiangzai". After Daoguang (182 1 ~ 1850), the troupe played by adults was called "Song Jiang Opera" by the masses.

Song Jiang Opera is dominated by martial arts, and its scenery mostly adopts folk "lion cutting" (that is, artists dress up as warriors and hold various weapons to fight with lions respectively). There are several sets of martial arts dramas on the stage, such as "cold frying pan", "big collision field" and "phoenix wagging its tail", which retain the traditional performance of "cutting the lion" and also absorb the marionette. Suona is used for musical instruments, including Nangong and Nangu. The repertoires preserved in Song Jiang's operas include Li Kui jy's Make a Big Fight in Loyalty Hall, Robbery of Lu Junyi, Hu Sanniang's Wife Swapping, etc. Song Jiang Opera artists from Lingdou Village in Nan 'an, Zhu Ma Opera artists from Zhangzhou and a returned overseas Chinese jointly organized a troupe called Sanhexing. It broke through the limitation of specializing in the story of Song Jiang, and performed semi-literary and semi-martial arts dramas, including Guo Ziyi's Birthday, Trapped Hedong, Cut the Yellow Robe, Forced Palace and so on. After the emergence of Hexing Opera, it was very popular with the masses, and the troupe also increased.

During the development of "Hexing Opera", "Song Jiang Opera" still exists. In addition to the mutual performance of plays, the basic skills and performances of the two can also be absorbed from each other. At that time, it was stipulated that artists who entered Hexing class must be able to perform "drama in the barrel" (that is, the stereotyped repertoire of Sung River Opera) before they could enter Hexing class to perform "drama outside the barrel" (that is, the curtain scene of Hexing Opera), and the two plays gradually merged. By the end of Qing Dynasty, Sung River Opera and Hexing Opera were collectively called Gaojia Opera. According to legend, Gaojia Opera is called "Ge Jia Opera" because it stands on a high platform, wears armor and holds guns (the pronunciation of "Ge" and "Gao" is the same as that of Minnan dialect). Another said: the troupe performs overseas, and overseas Chinese call dramas from their hometown high-level dramas. The troupe came back and called themselves "high-level dramas". It is also said that Gaojia Opera has nine roles, so it is called "Jiujiao Opera". Minnan audience called it "big class" and "local class".

From the 1920s to the 1940s, Gaojia Opera developed rapidly, with more than 400 troupes in Jinjiang, Nan 'an, Hui 'an, Tong 'an, Anxi, Yongchun and Dehua, and troupes performed in the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and other countries every year. The competition among classes is fierce, and the "Top Ten Tiger Classes" emerge one after another: the five tigers are Fu Qingcheng, Lao Dafu, Fu, Fu Jinsheng and Jin Xiuchun; The last five tigers are rookie spring, great auspicious spring, Jin Chengxing, new happiness and prosperity. The best name is "Ban Long", that is, "Jinliansheng", so there is a saying that "Yi Long breaks five tigers".

In 1930s, some troupes were no longer satisfied with performing on the grass platform in the countryside. They continued to go abroad and traveled all over Southeast Asia. During this period, the troupe went abroad to reach a climax. There are: Xinlian Bank (1929- 1935), Sanmeiban (1929- 1938) and Fulianfang (1930- 1933). Quan Hexing (1934- 1936), Xie Yishe (1937), Fu Shunxing (1936- 1937), Jin Chunbao (1937)

During 1950, Quanzhou concentrated on learning senior opera artists in stages. Take Quanzhou Advanced Troupe as an example. It was in the opera reform at that time that five folk professional troupes were used for reference-Xinxiuchun Class, Sanhe Class, Fuqing Class, Xinlian Class and Tonghuaxing Class. They are: Dong, Wu, Shi, Xu Yangchuan, Ke Xianxi, Liu Zaisheng, Lin Xiulai, Chen Ziliang, Ke Xianke, Cai Xiuying, Huang Xiulang, Lin Guzi, Chen Yuyan, Lin Xiandian, Shi, Cai, Tian Jizai, Wu Zunrong, Xiao Dipin, Xiao Guangyi and Jiang Jinlong. Later, a number of new literary and art workers with professional skills such as screenwriter, director, composer and director were successively transferred. They are:, Lv Wenjun,, Zhang Boping, Chen Meisheng, Wang Zhenquan, Wang Dabi, Cai Zhanlong, She Mingmo, etc. And they have long-term cooperation with artists. Since then, Gaojia opera has changed from a stage art to a theater art.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Gaojia Opera was revitalized and developed. 1950, Quanzhou Drama Reform Committee was established. 195 1 year, famous actors from various troupes were transferred to form Quanzhou Popular Drama Club (changed to Quanzhou Gaojia Opera Troupe in 1957), with actors including Dong, Wu, Xu Yangchuan, Xiao Diping, Lin Xiulai and Cai. Since then, Jinjiang Folk Gaojia Class, Xiamen Jinlian Gaojia Class, Hui 'an Gaojia Class, Nan 'an Gaojia Class, Yongchun Gaojia Class, Dehua Gaojia Class, Anxi Gaojia Class, Tongan Gaojia Class and Datian Gaojia Class have been established successively.

Since then, Gaojia Opera has changed the habit of performing on the screen and entered a new era of new drama and drama. In the early 1960s, the newly-edited ancient drama "Ascending Third-rate" toured Shanghai, Nanjing, Jinan, Tianjin and Beijing. President Zhu De, Premier Zhou Enlai, Vice Premier Chen Yi, Tan Zhenlin, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Deng Tuo and drama experts Cao Yu, Tian Han, Zhang Geng, Lao She and Lin Mohan all came to watch. Guo Moruo, Lao She and Deng Tuo. They all praised poems after watching "Ascending Level 3".

After the "Cultural Revolution" began, Gaojia opera "Ascending the Third Order" was first attacked and publicly criticized as "poisonous weeds" in newspapers and periodicals. Writer Wang Dongqing was sent to the "bullpen". Then the troupe was dissolved, and a large number of famous old artists and literary and art workers were sent to the countryside. After Jiang Qing's counter-revolutionary group was crushed, the Gaojia opera troupes in all parts of southern Fujian resumed and entered a period of revitalization. 1982, Quanzhou Gaojia Opera Troupe went to Hong Kong to perform, bringing plays "Three consecutive championships", "True and False King Cave", "Flower House" and an ugly little play. 1983, the dream of the rockhopper, written by Zhuge Ti, a senior troupe in Anxi County, participated in the drama performance in Fujian Province 15, and won the first prize for the script, as well as seven awards for director, music, performance, beauty and actor, and won 1982 ~ 1983.

During the period of 1986, Quanzhou Gaojia Opera Troupe received many foreign students from Britain, France, Italy, Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries to watch the clown performance. During the period of 1986, Quanzhou Gaojia Opera Troupe went to Shanghai to participate in the first China Art Festival, and performed comedies such as Bamboo Shoots, Jiangbo, Guanfu Song, Wang Haixing, Water Delivery, and Riding a Donkey to Visit Family. The clown's performance in Gaojia opera won high praise. 1989 Anxi county advanced opera Yuzhu string and Quanzhou Wang Haixing participated in the performance of the provincial art festival. In addition, in the 1980s, a large number of new dramas created by old, middle-aged and young writers, such as Reversing Gan Kun, True and False, General Gao, Shi Lang, Anecdotes of Tang Zong, Prelude to Kaiyuan, Pearl of the South China Sea and Love in Tangshan, won provincial drama awards.

1993, The Rhyme of the River, which was created and performed by Quanzhou Gaojia Troupe, won the Excellent Drama Award, Excellent Screenwriter, Director and Performance Award of the National Local Opera Southern Film Exchange Performance. 1994 won the "Wenhua Award", Cao Yu Screenplay Literature Award and "Five One Projects" Award from the Ministry of Culture. The Soul of a Big Man, created and performed by Nan 'an Gaojia Troupe, won the first Cross-Strait (Fujian-Taiwan) Drama Festival and Fujian 19 Drama Festival, and was invited by the Art Bureau of the Ministry of Culture to perform in Beijing on 1994. On March 5th of the same year, Xiamen Jinliansheng Gaojia Opera Troupe went to Taiwan Province Province and Kinmen to perform.

"Dahe Ballad" won the special honor award of 1995 First Provincial Hundred Flowers Literature and Art Award; Soul of a Great Man 1995 won the national "New Culture Drama Award"; Yuzhuchuan 1996 won the 6th National Wenhua New Drama Award, 1995 won the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award, and 1996 won the Five One Project Award from the Propaganda Department of the CPC. At the same time, Examining Chen San, performed by Xiamen Jinliansheng Gaojia Opera Troupe, won the first prize for comprehensive performance, screenwriter, director, music and dance in the 4th Yingshanhong Folk Drama Festival in China (Hunan) in 1996. 196 In the 20th provincial drama performance, Jin Kuixing, who was performed by Jinjiang Gaojia Troupe, won the excellent drama award, excellent director, music and other awards. 197+00 went to Chengdu to participate in the 5th China Art Festival, and 12 participated in the Fujian drama performance in Beijing.