Reflections on "Chopping an Only Son" in Shaanxi Opera

Killing an Only Son is a very famous traditional play in Qin Opera, and its story is roughly similar to The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties. This only son is Dan Xiong Xin, the fifth son of Jia Jialou in The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties. Killing an Only Son is a play with only one scene. It tells the story that after defeating the only son captured by the king in Luoyang at the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty and failing to surrender, he offered wine to the only son at the almsgiving field with the brothers of the former Wagangzhai, but was covered up by the scolding of the only son. The highlight of "Chopping the Only Child" is the swearing joke of the only child. From these curses, we can feel the history and life, and also get a glimpse of the cultural traditions rooted in our hearts.

In the play, Li Shimin, who was the first to bring wine to a single child, became the first object to be scolded. At this point, Li Shimin has not been defiled by the history of killing his brother and forcing his father. But Li Shimin's family does have a stain. The only son talked about the chaotic relationship between men and women between Li and his son in front of all the soldiers. The relationship between men and women in the Tang Dynasty has always been chaotic, so it is not nonsense to think of this only child. A generation of wise masters were scolded and stood by with their faces covered. There is another sentence in the curse of the only child that is worth taking out and writing here: "Kings and beasts are ordinary." This sentence tells the selfishness of kings of past dynasties, what is life in the world, not just for fame and wealth for women. Of course, it's a bit much for a single child to scold like this. A good king can still be half right and half right.

The second person who came up for a drink offering was a black charcoal-headed Jingdezhen, also called Weichi Gong. The only child was caught by Jingde. The only child praised Jingde more than scolded him. When the only child appears, there is a saying that "Jingdezhen does not blame people" and admits that he is not as good as others. In this passage, he first said that Jingdezhen was a blacksmith and defected to Liu Wuzhou. In January, he laid three passes and eight villages in Kyushu, Tang Dynasty, and praised them greatly. It was not until the end that Jingdezhen was accused of betraying the Tang Dynasty. This only son despises Jingdezhen, and besides serving the second master, he is more of a hero's pity.

The only child, the first two people were scolded by Dan Xiong Xin, one was Li Shimin, and the other was respecting morality. As far as personal feelings are concerned, there are only national hatred and selfless resentment. However, the people who came up to serve drinks next were different. The people who came up to propose a toast next were all from Wagangzhai, all his sworn brothers. These people "accepted his kindness and love one by one", which is the lyrics of an only child. Now these people are treacherous, so their grievances are not comparable to the first two.

McCullough was the first person in Wagang Village to come up for a drink offering. The only child was "furious" when he saw Luo's achievements, because Ronaldinho was trapped in Luoyang County because of illness and was rescued by Dan Xiong Xin and his wife. This Dan's wife also disrespected her husband because he didn't seek medical treatment for Luo's wealth. I think this only child values a word "righteousness", which is inseparable from this single aunt. There is also a warm lyric in "Scold Luo Cheng", that is, Dan Xiong Xin sang his little daughter Jinlian to comfort Luo Cheng who was sick: "Tell Uncle Luo not to be sad. No one has seven disasters and eight difficulties, and no one is a fairy. " This lyric is quite tear-jerking, because the audience in the play Chopping an Only Son is full of hatred and sadness, and the sad effect rendered by a low singing here is even stronger. Mccullough, who was saved by the Dan couple, swore never to vote for Tang, but later broke this oath, which was the most hated by the only child.

Following McCullough's drink offering is Xu Maogong, the soul of Laojiagang Village in Jiajialou, formerly known as Xu Shiqi and later renamed Li Ji. This aria cursing Xu Maogong is the most wonderful and crucial part of the play. Xu Maogong was a down-and-out scholar and lived by selling fortune-telling. One day, I met Dan Xiong Xin, who has a lot of money. A sweet talk made Dan Xiong Xin build a mansion for him and make friends with all the heroes in the world. Then it was said that Jia Jialou became sworn brothers and went to Wagangzhai. The heroes of the one-child gang have always used less brains and more hands. They only talked about roads and helped each other, but they didn't know that there was another rebellious king in another world. Xu Maogong encouraged us to go to Wagangzhai to fight for the world. Scholars are firm and timid, so is Xu Maogong. After arriving in Wagang Village, the patron king of Sui Dynasty came to suppress it, and his old reputation became famous. Xu Maogong was frightened at the moment. He didn't trust his brother's martial arts in the village, so he sent someone to invite Luo Cheng of Yanshan. Although McCullough knows martial arts, he almost lost his life if he didn't run fast in the war, but Wagang Village is still surrounded by Yang Lin. The only child saw this situation alone. Yelling and rushing into the old Yanglinying, the old Yanglinying was frightened for a moment, just like Cao Cao in front of Dangyang Bridge, and ran away. Sui Jun in Yanglinying was also in chaos, and all the brothers in Wagangzhai were able to break through. It's a pity that this single Wu Ye was separated from his brothers because of the war. Later, all the brothers voted for Tang, and the second one voted for King Luoyang.

Only children hate Xu Maogong more than others, because Xu Maogong really decided Dan Xiong Xin's life. If Xu Maogong hadn't given him a life, he would still be a small rich man in a small town in Luoyang, and he could help others from time to time, but Xu Maogong gave him a life, so he went to the crock to rebel. The patron saint king attacked. If you weren't timid in Xu Maogong and didn't trust many brothers, our single Wu Ye wouldn't have been separated from many brothers, so he took refuge in King Luoyang and finally fell behind and declared war on his brothers. Therefore, the only child is very critical of Xu Maogong's aria.

The only child hates McCullough and Xu Maogong more than others, not only because they have received his great kindness, but also because of their profound historical and cultural roots. Buddhism did not spread to the Han Dynasty in China. The mainstream of China's ideology and culture should be Confucianism, Mohism and Taoism. After Buddhism spread in China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, the mainstream of China culture became Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, among which Mohism became Buddhism, but in fact Mohism never dissipated and has been believed by the lower classes until now. Compared with Confucianism and Taoism, Mohist thought can be simply expressed in one word; Confucianism, on the other hand, is mostly embodied in Confucianism, putting aside fundamental ideas and emphasizing the word "reason" in external performance. As for Taoism, in the history of China, it was regarded as a model by the royal family. Throw away the roots of Taoism, look more at appearances and talk more about conspiracy politics.

In Cut the Only Child, Harmony is the representative of Taoism and Confucianism, while Dan and Cheng are the followers of Mohism among the lower classes. It is very strange that the Mohist school is difficult to explain. A word has been used for thousands of years without knowing its specific meaning. To understand this word by feeling, including "loyalty, faith and benevolence" and many other behavioral standards, the first word should be "faith", which is why the only child hates Luo Cheng. At that time, McCullough swore to Dan that if he voted for Tang, his life span would be shortened by 23 years. In the play, he found such a reason for McCullough's early death. Although the word "righteousness" contains many contents such as kindness and faithfulness, it is not entirely true. Sometimes, because of one of them, other contents can be ignored. The only child, because of the word "loyalty", threw away everything else. So the meaning of the word "righteousness" is really difficult to grasp and clarify, but one thing is clear, that is, none of the many meanings of the word "righteousness" is about "benefit".

And this word "Li" is often written as another word in modern times and in the past. What word? "Li" may be a depressing conclusion, but history and reality have proved that many "Li" lead to a "profit", and "Li" and "Li" are interlinked, and this word "Li" is the signboard of many scholars. In many novels, faithful scholars and heroes form a classic combination of wisdom and courage, but it is true that these scholars and heroes who only say the word "righteousness" have always been sworn enemies in history. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sun Hong, a scholar from Buyi, destroyed Guo Jie, a chivalrous family at that time, on the grounds that many brave men broke the law. I won't mention this story here, but there is one fact that cannot be denied. That is to say, many literati in official positions in history really regarded heroes and rangers as enemies. Having said that, I don't mean to despise Confucianism. What I'm saying here is that most scholars don't necessarily represent true Confucianism. The royal family and scholars, the two groups who shouted the most fierce slogans of Confucianism in history, could not really represent Confucianism. The former is "Confucianism on the outside, Taoism on the inside" and "Huang Lao". This phenomenon confirms the old saying that barking dogs don't bite.

Said a little bit about history and culture, and then let's watch "Cutting the Only Child". Xu Maogong happens to be the representative of the integration of Confucianism and Taoism, and is the mortal enemy of heroes such as the only son. The author of "Chopping the Only Son" probably knows the above historical reasons, so the only son reprimanded Xu Maogong with extremely vicious lyrics: "We went to the Ten Halls of Yin Cao, went up the knife mountain and finished frying pan, and only played with enmity." Having said that, I can only sigh an ancient poem to end this passage of Xu Maogong: "Every dog beater is a scholar."

The last one who came up to offer a drink was Cheng, the devil incarnate. This passage is also the best part of the play. Cheng looked at his leader and many colleagues and brothers in front of him and scolded him. Then he came over and plopped down on his knees. At this time, shallow people thought that Cheng's kneeling was to avoid being scolded by his only son, but from the back, his kneeling caused far more trouble than being scolded. How can this "devil in troubled times" not understand the consequences of being unconventional in front of his own leadership? So he would never kneel to avoid being scolded, so why did he kneel?

In the whole novel Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Cheng has always been a fireman. He has been busy running for his friends and their descendants, and he often appears when they are in trouble. This is the so-called "killing a journey halfway". Knowing this, we can see that Lao Cheng is not as strong-willed as Dan Xiong Xin, but he is the kind of person who values "righteousness". Therefore, Cheng's kneeling is a word of "righteousness". He is an only child who can't kneel down, but he can't be ashamed if he is killed.

The only son also knows the power of "devil incarnate", so in the following lyrics, he did not entrust his wife and children to He Luocheng, who had accepted his great kindness, but to Cheng, who had accepted his least kindness. The only son knows that Cheng is a trustworthy person. On the surface, this passage seems to make Cheng kneel down and ask the single child not to scold him, but in fact, Cheng has nothing to scold. After the only son sings his entrustment to Cheng in a sad voice, he will drink his offering wine. It's really hard to break the old routine, because you haven't drunk the wine of Li Shimin, the former leader, and other colleagues and brothers, and it's all cursing. Since you don't scold me, you still have to drink. Doesn't this make it difficult for me to be a man? In the play, when Cheng heard that his only son wanted to drink his sacrificial wine, his face was in a dilemma. The "devil incarnate" is in trouble again, which is also the last request of my brother's life. How could he fail?

After three glasses of wine, I scolded all the people present and confessed. I want to come to Wu Ye alone and shout out his famous saying "Revenge in 20 years", but looking around, I can't see Qin Qiong. It turns out that in those days, Qin Qiong was exiled, and only Dan Xiong Xin saved him. At this time, his brothers would go to the grave, but they didn't come to see him off. As a result, it was another child abuse. Later, the mountain shouted a famous saying that was regarded as the last sentence of life by later heroes or robbers.

In Beijing opera, the "single-child" of Qin opera is called "Lock Five Dragons", but the feeling of "Lock Five Dragons" is not as strong as "single-child". The reason may be that the heroic color of the single master in Beijing opera is greater than the tragic color, which also shows that Qin opera is good at expressing tragedy. "Cutting the Only Child" lasts about 30 minutes, full of tragic atmosphere, but after reading it, it gives people a sincere feeling. Presumably, this only son's aria is full of shouting and cursing except Cheng, including cursing respecting virtue, cursing Mai Cheng and cursing peace. I don't know if I can vent my grievances, but I have completely vented the grievances of the audience.