The Origin of Huangmei Opera

Huangmei Opera, formerly known as Huangmeidiao or tea-picking opera, is called the five major operas in China together with Beijing Opera, Yue Opera, Pingju Opera and Henan Opera. Huangmei Yunshan, which originated in the border of Hubei, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, originated in tea-picking dramas in eastern Hubei and northeastern Jiangxi. Its original form is the tea-picking song of Huangmei, Hubei Province. Huangmei opera is sung in Anqing language, with simple and smooth singing, lively and lyrical, and rich expressive force; Huangmei Opera's performance is simple and meticulous, and it is famous for its authenticity and vividness. Huangmei opera, from the folk, enjoys both elegance and popularity and is enjoyable. It infects the audience with its rich flavor of life and fresh local flavor.

Huangmei Opera is the main local opera in Anhui Province, which originated from the Wanjiang River Basin centered on Anqing City, Anhui Province (from Dabie Mountain area at the junction of Anhui and Hubei to the vast Wanjiang River Basin including Susong, Yuexi, Taihu Lake, Wangjiang, Buried Hill, Huaining, Anqing City, Zongyang, Tongcheng and Chizhou in Anhui Province). As a complete independent opera, it was born in Anqing, grew up in Anqing and flourished in Anqing. Huangmei Opera, formerly known as Huangmei Tune, Huaiqiang Tune or Fudiao, is mainly distributed in Anqing City, Anhui Province and its surrounding areas. The earliest source of Huangmei Opera may come from Dabie Mountain, the border of Hubei and Anhui (this view is quite common at present). According to legend, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the tune of tea-picking in Dabie Mountain in Huangmei County, Hubei Province was introduced to Huaining County, Anhui Province and other surrounding areas, and it was combined with local folk art, sung and sung in Anqing dialect, and gradually developed into a new kind of drama, which was called Huaiqiang or Huaidiao at that time. This was the early Huangmei Opera. Later, Huangmei Opera borrowed and absorbed the music, performances and repertoires of Qingyang and Huizhou tunes, and began to perform "this drama". After more than one hundred years' development (from the beginning of the 9th century to the liberation), Huangmei Opera has become the main local opera in Anhui, and it is also a well-known major drama in China. The aria of Huangmei Opera is a plate variant, which has three major cavity systems: coloratura, coloratura and main melody. Coloratura mainly plays a small play, with healthy and simple tunes, beautiful and cheerful, and a strong flavor of life and folk songs. Multicolored tunes are cheerful and have been widely used in colorful operas. Huangmei Opera is a traditional theme in the original drama, which is divided into Pinghua, Huogong, two lines and three lines. Among them, Pinghua is the most important aria in the original work, and its tunes are solemn, graceful and generous. Huangmei Opera is famous for its strong lyricism, rich charm, simple and fresh singing, delicate and touching, lively and lyrical, rich expressive force and easy to understand, and is deeply loved by people everywhere. In terms of music accompaniment, in the early Huangmei Opera, three people played percussion instruments such as drums, cymbals, small gongs and big gongs at the same time and participated in the entertainment, which was called "three strikes and seven sings". After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Huangmei Opera formally established an accompaniment system with Gao Hu as the main instrument. The role system of Huangmei Opera is developed on the basis of "two plays" and "three plays", including Zheng Dan, Zheng Sheng, Xiao Dan, Xiao Sheng, Hua Dan, clown, Lao Dan, Laosheng, Huahua, Beijing Opera Blues and Wuerhua. Although there is a division of labor, there are no strict restrictions, and actors can often play other roles. Huangmei Opera performance is simple and meticulous, real and vivid, full of life breath, famous for advocating emotional experience, and has a fresh, natural, beautiful and smooth artistic style. There are many well-known outstanding plays in Huangmei Opera, among which the most representative ones are Fairy Match, Woman Xu, Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Couple Watching Lights, Beating Pig Grass and Spinning Cotton Yarn. Huangmei Opera is one of the five major operas in China, with far-reaching influence. At present, the popular area of Huangmei opera is shrinking day by day, and the survival of Huangmei opera troupes at all levels, especially county-level troupes, is becoming increasingly difficult, which requires the concern and support of the government and the whole society.

The origin of Huangmei Opera can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. According to historical records, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Huangmei tea-picking songs were very popular, and after the development of folk songs in the Song Dynasty and the influence of zaju in the Yuan Dynasty, the embryonic form of folk opera was gradually formed. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the opera style in Huangmei County was more prosperous. During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Weilun, the magistrate of Huangmei County, recorded that "October is a rural opera" in On Huangmei Feng Jiao. In the ninth year of Daoguang reign in Qing Dynasty, in Biejilin's Poem of Asking Flowers and Waterfront, a description of Zhi Zhu's ci is even more incisive: "There are many rice and sunflowers in Yinshan, and waves are caught in Taibai Lake. In the event of this year's club owner, the villages sang tea-picking songs. " Huangmei Opera

The early development stage of Huangmei Opera is from the late Qing Dynasty to around the Revolution of 1911. Huangmei Opera, formerly known as Huangmeidiao or tea-picking opera, is a folk drama formed in the adjacent areas of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces in the late18th century. One of them gradually moved eastward to Anqing, Anhui Province, and combined with local folk arts, sang and spoke in the local language, forming its own characteristics, called "Huaiqiang" or "Huaidiao". This is the predecessor of Huangmei Opera today. Huangmei Opera has experienced four historical stages from its emergence to its development: one-man show, three plays, three hits and seven songs, and orchestral accompaniment. The first three stages were completed in Huangmei, Hubei Province, which provided sufficient preconditions for the final formation of Huangmei Opera. The period from Kangxi, Qianlong to Guangxu in Qing Dynasty was an important historical stage for the formation and development of "Three Strings and Seven Singing". At this stage, the accumulation of traditional plays, aria and performing arts and the wide spread of traditional operas have been fully practiced. During this period, the traditional repertoire was very rich, and artists could perform more than 200 kinds of dramas and operas, commonly known as "Big Ben 36, ditty 72". Many of them are based on the true story of Huangmei, such as Gao Jingcheng, Gao Bafei, Mercy and Compassion, Crossing the Boundary Ridge. In terms of repertoire, it is known as "36 major dramas, 72% off small dramas". The play mainly shows the people's dissatisfaction with class oppression, the disparity between the rich and the poor and their yearning for a free and beautiful life. For example, The Story of Buckwheat, Guan, Tian Xianpei, etc. Traditional Chinese operas mostly show the life segments of rural laborers, such as ordering barley, spinning cotton yarn and selling buckets. Huangmei Tea Picking Tune, Jiangxi Tune, Tongcheng Tune and Fengyang Tune, which originated and spread in Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi, were influenced by local operas (Qingyang Tune and Huizhou Tune) and combined with folk arts such as Lianxiang, stilts and dry boats, and gradually formed some operas. Further development, it absorbed the performance content and forms of folk art form "Luohanzhuang" and Qingyang tune and Huizhou tune, thus producing a complete story. There is also a transitional form from small play to this kind of play, which is called "string play" by old artists. The so-called "string play" is a group of small plays that are both independent and interrelated, some of which are "strung" by things and some are "strung" by people. The story of "cross-dressing" is richer than that of a small play, and the characters appear in it have also broken through three small areas: Clown, Xiao Dan and Xiao Sheng. Some old roles need to be played by Zheng Dan, Lao Sheng and Lao Ugly. This created conditions for the production of this play. In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), it was recorded in Susong County Records that "the city is in the southwest, bordering Huangmei, and Meihua is good at performing tea-picking operas, also known as Huangmei Opera." first