Can Peking Opera survive?

The drama crisis appeared in the mid-1980s, and it has been 20 years now. Great changes have taken place in the life of our people in these 20 years. With the in-depth development of reform and opening up, people's material and cultural life has been enriched and changed as never before. With the diversification of China's performing arts, the status of traditional Chinese opera as the leading cultural entertainment in urban and rural areas no longer exists. Traditional opera art has not only gradually withdrawn from the urban stage, but also the rural performance market is shrinking, and some operas have disappeared and are disappearing. In the process of global economic integration, China traditional opera culture has encountered an unprecedented crisis. How to protect the operas of all ethnic groups has become an important issue for our government and people. On February 22nd, 65438, the State Council issued a notice on strengthening the protection of cultural heritage, and designated the first Sunday in June every year as "Cultural Heritage Day". This is of great guiding significance to carry out education on the protection of traditional Chinese opera cultural heritage and strengthen the protection of traditional Chinese opera. Combined with the protection and development of China traditional opera, some learning experiences are discussed.

First, the survival dilemma faced by Chinese opera troupes.

From 2002 to 2004, the Opera Research Institute of China Academy of Art undertook the national key scientific research project "Investigation on the Present Situation of National Opera Troupe". We conducted field surveys in parts of Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Fujian, Anhui, Henan, Qinghai, Guizhou and Shanxi provinces, and distributed 65,438+000 questionnaires to opera groups and research units in more than ten provinces and cities.

1. State-run theatrical troupes have a heavy burden and are struggling for survival.

Most state-run China traditional theatrical troupes were established under the planned economy system from 1950s to 1960s. For decades, it has been used as a propaganda tool of the party and government and a non-profit organization. Most of the salaries and benefits of personnel are distributed by the government. After the reform and opening up, in order to meet the needs of the market economy, the state has introduced a policy of balanced distribution and established literary and artistic performance groups. Take Minnan as an example. The salaries paid by the government to state-run theatrical troupes are 80% for Liyuan Opera, Puppet Opera and Song and Dance Troupe, and 60% for Gaojia Opera and Puxian Opera. Since 1998, the financial allocation has been mainly used for retirees' wages, medical expenses and social insurance for on-the-job employees. On-the-job employees can only get 20% to 40% of their salary, and the rest is paid by performance income. Take Xianyou county carp sound troupe as an example: the salary and expenses for one year need 6.5438+0.4 million yuan. The financial allocation is 600,000, the performance income is 300,000, and the gap is 500,000. In such a tight economic situation, it is difficult for the troupe to improve the living conditions of artistic producers and cast members by its own efforts, and concentrate on producing fine works of art. At present, the average salary of Minnan state-run troupe is about 700 yuan, which is far lower than the local average salary. Therefore, most actors are forced by life to make a living by taking a second job. Recently, the first and second troupes of Puxian Opera in Putian County are still in a greater predicament. Due to various historical and practical reasons, one regimental headquarters belongs to Christianity, and the second regimental headquarters was demolished due to road expansion. The two troupes have no places to work, and the cast members have no houses and no places to rehearse. Just after the administrative division of Putian City, the original Putian County was changed to Licheng District, and the ownership of the troupe was uncertain for a while, which made the cast members' hearts float. The second regiment barely maintained its performance; The team of a troupe basically collapsed, and a considerable number of artistic backbones had to perform in folk professional troupes to make a living. Due to financial difficulties, apart from the actors, the troupe has been unable to pay the salaries of screenwriters, directors, choreographers, music designers and other artistic creators. Zheng, a screenwriter of Puxian Opera Group in Putian County, is an accomplished old screenwriter. The troupe was unable to rehearse his new play, so he became a burden to the troupe. He didn't get paid for three years, and later he was transferred to the Municipal Art Research Institute to study Puxian Opera under the care of Putian Cultural Bureau, which solved the salary problem. Chen Chengen, the music designer of the troupe, has not been paid for five years. He makes a living by rehearsing and composing music for a private troupe, and his life is insecure. Zhang, the former head of Nan 'an Gaojia Opera Troupe, is an accomplished screenwriter and management talent. His "Soul of a Big Man" won the Wenhua Award and the Five One Project Awards, and the troupe was awarded the national advanced art performance group by the Ministry of Culture. Unexpectedly, the troupe was contracted by an individual, and he became an unemployed laid-off worker. He hasn't been paid for three years. Linyi Hu Mei Troupe is a state-level troupe famous for its modern drama, because it is collectively owned. All the expenses of the troupe depend on the performance income, so it is unable to rehearse the new play. The first-class screenwriter of the troupe has not been paid for several years. Shanxi Jincheng Xiangyuan Yangko Troupe was established under the leadership of the Party during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period. Also because of collective ownership, wages cannot be paid. There are three musicians in the group working in 1946. They were deprived of their pension for three years and lived by selling vegetables at the farmers' market. After several reports to provinces and cities, I received a one-month pension from 500 yuan. Shanxi, Henan and Shaanxi are major provinces of opera. The masses love watching plays, and there are many kinds of operas. However, the economy is underdeveloped, and the local finance has little funding for the troupe. For example, there are only 20% municipal troupes in Xinzhou, Shanxi, and the county-level troupes are almost penniless. The troupe relies entirely on performance income. A well-run troupe can barely maintain the basic livelihood of the actors, while a poorly run troupe has been dissolved. More than 50% of the county-level troupes have been dissolved, and it is difficult to maintain them until now. For example, Shanxi Linxian Jin Opera Troupe is a well-qualified troupe in western Shanxi, with its own theater and actors' dormitory. In recent years, due to the sluggish performance market, the county finance is unable to invest, and the troupe sells theaters and real estate to purchase necessary performance equipment to barely maintain the performance.

2. Brain drain and faults are serious.

Due to the poor economic situation of the troupe, the basic salary of the on-the-job staff can not be guaranteed, and the living conditions of performing in the countryside all the year round are very difficult, which makes it difficult for many cast members to settle down to work. Some go abroad to work, some go into business or change careers, and the brain drain is serious. Even Wang, the best actress in Puxian Opera, the winner of the 17th Plum Blossom Award for Drama and the former head of the carp sound troupe in Xianyou County, Fujian Province, resigned as the head of the troupe and wanted to be transferred from the troupe. Talking about the reasons for quitting the group, she said sadly, "Being a performing artist is my ideal since childhood. Later, I went to an art school with my love for Puxian Opera. After graduation, under the training of teachers, I became the first actor in Puxian Opera to win the National Plum Blossom Award. During my years as the head of the troupe, I worked hard day and night for the construction of the troupe, racking my brains, but I still failed to get the troupe out of the predicament. In the past, leaders and teachers taught us that actors are engineers of the human soul, and it is enviable to be actors, especially famous actors. But now, like the actors in the old society, we can't rehearse new plays and show our artistic talents all the year round in order to survive. Now I am getting older and my health is getting worse. I can't adapt to going to the countryside for many years, and my life is not guaranteed for the rest of my life. I have to leave the troupe to make another living. " Liu Jinmiao, deputy head of Shangdang Bangzi Troupe in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, feels the same way. She said: "The life of the troupe is very difficult now. In order to increase the performance income, we must perform at 10 in the evening, so that we can enter another stage from one stage. Sometimes you can't eat a meal a day and still can't earn a basic salary. Call on superiors to pay attention to artistic talents and care about their lives. There are more than 40 people who graduated with me to work in the troupe. Because the life of the troupe is too bitter, now it's just me, Wu Guohua, Zhang Baoping and Li Xiuyun. I am worried that there will be no living security after retirement. "

Putian Art School is an important position to cultivate the reserve force of Puxian Opera, and has trained a number of actors and performers for Puxian Opera. In the past, there were thousands of applicants every year. In order to send their children to an art school to study drama, parents try their best to find relationships and enter through the back door. Students in art schools are often one in a million. However, at present, because the state-owned troupe is weaned, the rumor that the art school implements the tuition fee of more than 4,000 yuan per student per year has seriously affected the students of the school. Learning drama has always been a hard job. First, the study time is long, and it is difficult for students to become talents without learning dolls for five or six years. The second is hard work, getting up early and getting greedy, practicing three volts in summer and counting nine in winter; Third, there is no personal freedom, and people are often beaten and scolded. Most of the students who used to study drama were children from poor families. First, they don't have to pay tuition, but they can eat, wear and live. After leaving school, they have the skills and means to make a living. After liberation, the social status of actors has been improved, but influenced by traditional ideas, most of them are children of farmers with relatively difficult family economy. After the implementation of the high tuition system in art schools, farmers' children can't afford high tuition fees, and the number of people who come to sign up for drama is greatly reduced. Enrollment this year, only a dozen people signed up in three days. Both Xiamen Art School and Anxi Art School are facing the same problem. Art colleges can't train the talents needed by the troupe, and some old artists have died and retired one after another, which has caused the crisis of talent shortage, seriously affected the inheritance and development of Minnan opera art, and the same problem has also plagued Shanxi opera education. Jincheng Art School has failed to recruit students majoring in traditional Chinese opera for several years. When we went to investigate, it was the time to enroll students. Only a few students signed up in three days, so they couldn't become classes and classes, so they had to transfer students to other majors. In April 2004, when I attended the annual meeting of modern drama in Changzhou, I heard from comrades in Shanghai that Shanghai Opera School could not recruit students for three consecutive years. When we were investigating in Taiyuan last year, it happened that Shanxi Opera School enrolled students. Yan Yuting, deputy director of Shanxi Theatre Research Institute, is a research actor. He was invited to take part in the second interview of drama school enrollment. I asked him about the quality of students this year. He said that none of the students who took part in the second interview were good actors. Opera actor is a special industry, which requires not only a good figure and voice, but also artistic understanding. If the students we recruit don't have such conditions, how can we train excellent actors? The depression of drama education is the deepest outbreak of drama crisis, which will have far-reaching and serious adverse consequences for China national folk drama.

3. China traditional opera heritage is in danger of being lost.

China traditional opera culture has profound accumulation and rich heritage. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 5000 kinds of traditional operas 15600 and more than 5000 kinds of qupai 100 were unearthed in Fujian province alone, among which there were more than 5000 kinds of Puxian operas. Only a few of these scripts and qupai were compiled, some were collected by theatrical troupes, and quite a few of them were stored in the boxes of old artists, eaten by insects, kept in the heads of old artists, or scattered in society. However, due to insufficient funds, it is impossible to collect, purchase and properly protect it. The traditional repertoire and performance skills mastered by some old artists have not been rearranged and passed down, and they are in danger of being lost at any time because of the death of old artists.

Some operas have died or are on the verge of extinction. For example, Shanxi, a major province of traditional Chinese opera, had 49 kinds of traditional Chinese operas when 1983 compiled China Opera Records. Twenty years later, after investigation and statistics by the joint investigation team of China Academy of Art and Shanxi Theatre Academy, there are only 28 kinds of traditional operas in China, and 2 1 has died out. Among the 2 1 operas that died out, there are many operas with a long history and cultural value, such as Sai Opera, which was formed in the Song and Jin Dynasties and spread in Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, Group Opera, which was formed in the Song Dynasty and spread in Shangdang area of Shanxi, and Gong and Drum Zaju, which spread in southern Shanxi. Luoju Opera and Juanju Opera were formed in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties and were popular in Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong. Diao Han Huang Er, the second largest opera in Shaanxi, is not only an ancient opera with a long history and rich connotations, but also has an important influence on the formation of Peking Opera. In 1960s, there were more than 20 professional troupes in Huang Er, Diao Han. During the Cultural Revolution, the operas in Huang Er, Diao Han suffered setbacks, but as of 1982, there were still six professional troupes. After the reform and opening up, the second spring of the Han Dynasty fell into a more serious crisis. Due to the sharp drop in audience and economic difficulties, the troupe was dissolved one after another. When we went to Ankang in April 2002, there was only one Ankang Han Opera Troupe left. Moreover, it is such a unique China troupe that it is still on the verge of dissolution. Another example is Dacheng opera, which is a kind of opera with artistic characteristics in southern Fujian. At present, it is in a very difficult situation. There is not only no professional troupe, but also a folk professional troupe-Quanzhou Dacheng Drama Troupe, which can inherit the traditional art of Dacheng Drama. Due to a small audience, it has been losing money for several years and is on the verge of disintegration. Similarly, there are Chinese operas in Hanzhong area.

4. There are too many folk professional troupes, and their performances are random, which has caused great impact on the performance market of state-owned troupes and hurt the protection and inheritance of traditional arts.

Fujian, Henan, Shanxi rural opera performance market is active, and there are many folk professional troupes. For example, there are 168 folk professional troupes in Quanzhou, and 99 folk professional troupes in Putian County, which perform more than 80,000 performances every year. These folk professional troupes have played an important role in meeting people's cultural life needs. For well-run folk professional troupes, such as Henan "Little Queen" Henan Troupe, Henan Linying Nanjie Village Troupe, Henan Kaifeng Feng Baoyu Troupe, etc., it is necessary to sum up and popularize their experience of serving farmers in rural areas. However, the problems existing in the development of folk professional troupe can not be ignored. Because most folk professional troupes have no formal art education, lack creative talents such as screenwriter, director, music design and dance design, their performances are rough and lack of norms. If the emperor appears, there are no eunuchs; Marshal appeared without Zhong Jun; Miss, there are no maids here. Some private troupes even add Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera and popular song and dance to Puxian Opera at will in order to achieve a certain dramatic effect, which has caused damage to traditional art. Some private troupes, in order to obtain business licenses and seize the performance market, sing other operas under the banner of this genre, and even pretend to be other troupes. Such as Dacheng Opera, in addition to the Quanzhou Dacheng Opera Troupe headed by Wu Tianyi, several other folk professional troupes of Dacheng Opera are performing Gaojia Opera. Due to the chaotic management, some folk professional troupes compete with professional troupes for the performance market by reducing the price of repertoires with the advantages of less personnel, less investment and low cost. Others use high salaries as bait to "dig corners" and steal the artistic backbone of professional troupes; There are also some people who take advantage of the loopholes in our management and use the evil forces in society to kill tigers. Through illegal means such as bribery, they set the stage at a high price and then transferred it to the troupe at a low price, making huge profits from it, controlling the performance market and exploiting professional troupes and folk professional troupes. There is a "tiger killer" in Putian who earned millions in three years, bought a house and paved it. Because there is no law to follow, the cultural management department can't effectively crack down on this kind of "tiger hunting" behavior. It has become a common phenomenon that brokers control the opera performance market by bribing grassroots cadres. Wei Guanglin, head of the Art Department of Jincheng Cultural Bureau, Shanxi Province, said at the forum: "In order to get high kickbacks, brokers introduced foreign troupes with poor performance to compete with local troupes, which made it difficult for local troupes to operate and lowered the price of repertoires. Now a well-run troupe can only make ends meet and cannot develop. It is necessary to severely crack down on illegal opera brokers and rectify the opera performance market. "

5. Drama creation is seriously out of touch with the performance market, and the award-winning plays are not popular.

After 1980s, in order to promote and prosper China's opera creation, the Chinese Dramatists Association set up the Plum Blossom Award, the Ministry of Culture set up the Wenhua Award, Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China set up the Five One Project Award, and various provinces also set up corresponding awards. These awards have really promoted drama creation and produced many excellent situations. Some award-winning plays have been staged for a long time, and they have been well received by experts and loved by audiences, such as Hu Mei's "A Late Rose" and Henan Opera "A Red Plum on the Haycutter". But many plays are not very popular. In recent years, Fujian operas have won awards in national performances such as Wenhua Award of the Ministry of Culture, Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Five-One Project Award, Caoyu Drama Award of Chinese Dramatists Association, China Art Festival and China Drama Festival, such as Puxian Opera Tears in the New Pavilion, Autumn Wind Poetry, Champion and Beggar, The Story of the Ugly Duckling, Liyuan Opera Women's Festival, and Gaojia Opera. However, none of these award-winning dramas with an investment of hundreds of thousands or millions can be welcomed in the current performance market. According to our investigation, there are three reasons: First, the audience of rural drama has limited knowledge of history and culture, and likes to watch stories and characters they are familiar with, such as the traditional plays adapted from China classical novels such as The Legend of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, The Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin, The Journey to the West, but the contents of these award-winning plays are unfamiliar to the audience and cannot attract people; Second, township performances are often combined with folk customs, such as Chinese New Year, birthday of bodhisattvas, birthday of the elderly and so on. Audiences like to watch light comedies rather than tragedies; I like watching soap operas with strong stories and lively scenes, and I don't like watching dramas with incomplete stories and strong philosophies. Most of these award-winning dramas are tragedies and are good at speculative philosophy. Third, the current award-winning plays often attract the audience with gorgeous scenery and big song and dance scenes, but the grass stage equipment in towns and villages is simple and cannot perform these plays.

As early as the Yan 'an period, Chairman Mao Zedong criticized the bad tendency that literature and art were divorced from the broad masses of the people, and this problem reappeared under the new historical conditions. In some places, high investment and large-scale production are getting worse. Minnan opera has not yet formed such an atmosphere, but it should be vigilant. The content is divorced from real life, and the form is divorced from the aesthetic consciousness of most people and the law of opera art, which is an important reason for the decline of Yuan Zaju and Kunqu opera, and also an important source of the crisis of some traditional operas at present.

6. The facilities such as theater and rehearsal field are dilapidated, and the living environment of the troupe is bad.

Shaanxi Ankang has a poor economic foundation. The only theater in Ankang, which was built in 1950s, has been out of service for many years due to lack of maintenance funds. Minnan is a relatively developed area in China, but there are few comprehensive cultural performances in Xiamen and Quanzhou, and there are no decent theaters in counties, towns and villages. The investigation team is located in the streets and suburbs of Quanzhou, Fujian, rural areas of Jinjiang and suburbs of Putian. The performances seen in towns and villages in Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Anhui and other places are a few fixed outdoor theaters built before the 1970s, which are old and narrow. Most of them are temporary theaters, which are very simple and can only stage traditional plays and small plays, but not new large-scale plays. It is difficult to stage a new play in a town. In addition to the content problem, the rough stage is also one of the important reasons. Except for a few troupes such as Quanzhou Gaojia Opera Troupe, Quanzhou Puppet Troupe and Anxi Gaojia Opera Troupe, which have good rehearsal venues, most troupes don't have rehearsal venues, or they were built before the 1970s and are now dilapidated and leaky, and rarely have their own theaters. Although Xiamen Jinliansheng Gaojia Opera Troupe and Jinjiang Gaojia Opera Troupe are located in the downtown area, the rehearsal venue is like a simple work shed. They don't have their own theater, so they can only rent venues to perform in the city. The rent of the venue is expensive, which is not worth the loss. They have to quit the city performance market and perform in towns all the year round. When Wang was the head of the Xianyou county carp sound troupe, many people called for it, won some funds and built a theater. However, due to lack of funds, the theater only built a shell, and there was no money to decorate the interior and purchase stage equipment, so it could not be put into use.

Second, the reasons for the survival crisis of China traditional opera

There are many reasons for the survival crisis of traditional Chinese opera, which can be summarized as three aspects:

The first is external reasons, that is, social and times reasons. Since 1980s, with the deepening of reform and opening-up, the rapid development of science and technology and the rapid growth of national economy, great changes have taken place in our people's lifestyle, culture and entertainment. Formed in the farming era, China traditional opera, which has been the main form of cultural entertainment in urban and rural areas of China for thousands of years, has been greatly challenged by foreign culture and modern media, resulting in an unprecedented crisis. The external manifestation of this crisis is that from urban to rural areas, the audience is getting less and less, and the performance market is getting smaller and smaller. Before 1980s, foreigners wanted to watch Peking Opera in Beijing, Shaanxi Opera in xi and Sichuan Opera in Chengdu. Now, on a normal day, it is not easy to think of Xi 'an watching Shaanxi Opera, Beijing watching Peking Opera and Chengdu watching Sichuan Opera. More than 95% of the young people under the age of 20 have never been to the traditional China Opera Theatre. In Ankang, Shaanxi, there is a China-tuned Huang Er drama. When we went to the local investigation, most primary and middle school students didn't know there was such a local opera. The audience of traditional Chinese opera is rare not only in cities, but also in rural areas. We went to Fujian, Henan and Shanxi to investigate the situation of acting in rural areas. In the performance theaters in rural areas, few people used to go to the theatre. Most people who go to the theatre are old people and preschool children, and there are few young and middle-aged audiences. According to the general rule, young people are the most lively, so where are the young and middle-aged opera audiences in rural areas? We interviewed a farmer when we were investigating in southern Fujian. There are only two old people in the three-story compound, the old man and the old lady. My son took his daughter-in-law and grandson to work in Beijing, and only came back for a few days every Spring Festival. Jiangsu and Zhejiang coastal rural areas are vast and sparsely populated, and many young and middle-aged people work in other places. This situation has developed to some remote rural areas in the mainland. For example, during the Spring Festival this year, we went to Liping, Guizhou Province to collect information about Dong Opera. According to local cadres, it is difficult to carry out amateur Dong opera in rural areas now, because young people who love performing have gone to Guangzhou and Shenzhen to work, and they have only come back for a few days during the Spring Festival, so they have no time to rehearse the program. This may be an important reason for the decrease in the audience of young rural dramas. A large number of rural surplus labor force flows to cities, especially young and middle-aged people make a living in cities, which reflects the profound changes of China people's production mode and lifestyle from cities to rural areas after the reform and opening up in 1980s. The change of production mode and lifestyle has led to the change of people's entertainment mode and aesthetic taste, which is the fundamental reason for the sharp decrease of opera audience.

The second is the internal reason of traditional Chinese opera. China's traditional opera, which was formed in the farming era, lags behind the changes of the times, both in form and content. The old traditional plays can't attract the thoughts and feelings of modern audiences, especially young audiences. The original means of expression of traditional operas can't keep up with the development of the times, and the artistic skills can't meet the needs of reflecting modern life. Traditional operas are displayed from the epoch-making of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors before Xia and Shang Dynasties to the revolutionary history of modern China. Many great dramas have the saying that "there are three thousand dramas in the Tang Dynasty and eight hundred dramas in the Song Dynasty, and there are endless dramas of the Three Kingdoms". There are more than 5,000 dictionaries of Peking Opera plays and more than 3,000 dictionaries of China Bangzi plays. In the early 1960s, a province in Fujian collected more than 15600 kinds of traditional plays. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the scheduled actors of a major drama can perform at least 100, and artists such as Peking Opera actor Tan Xinpei and Bangzi actor Guo Baochen can perform more than 300 performances. They not only inherited the essence of this kind of drama as a traditional play, but also constantly introduced new drama purposes; Not only is the repertoire rich, but the repertoire is not repeated in a theater for several months, and the skills are comprehensive. "Civil and military chaos is unstoppable." But now, due to various conditions, Hugh said that he can perform a lot, and it is very good to be able to perform twenty or thirty performances. Processing and arranging traditional plays and rehearsing new plays are aimed at winning prizes, not starting from the audience. In recent years, there have been frequent rehearsals and many award-winning plays, but few of them can become reserved plays and last on the stage for a long time. As a result, "the old drama is old, the old drama is old", the performance quality declines and the audience drops sharply, which has become a common phenomenon and a strange circle that can't get out.

To maintain the prosperity and artistic youth of traditional Chinese opera, first, the artistic means should be updated, and second, the ideological content of the repertoire should be closely linked with people's hearts. The reason why China traditional opera can continue to this day is that it can constantly absorb national, folk and even foreign artistic nutrition and bring forth new ideas with the development of the times. Since the formation of China traditional opera, the artistic form has changed many times, and it has been more than 200 years since the formation of plate opera in Qing Dynasty. China society has ended the farming era and entered the period of industrialization and informationization. Will the form of China's traditional operas change again? According to the requirements of the times and the law of the development of traditional Chinese opera, such a change is inevitable. Therefore, in the period of social transformation, we should encourage various forms of innovative practice of traditional Chinese opera. As long as the artistic form conforms to the basic characteristics of "song and dance story" and can be recognized by the audience, especially the young audience, it should be enthusiastically supported and gradually improved.

China is a country with a very unbalanced economic and cultural development, and the development of traditional Chinese opera art is also very uneven. The emergence of new drama forms does not mean the rapid demise of the old drama forms. The new era and new life call for new forms of drama expression, but the old form of drama still has its own audience, but it is the young audience that determines the future and destiny of drama. If a drama can't be close to real life and can't reflect the feelings of most people, it will inevitably decline or even die. Beijing Opera, Shaanxi Opera, Henan Opera, Pingju Opera, etc. It is the main drama in China. In 1950s and 1960s, a large number of new operas were created and staged, which reflected modern life, revealed social contradictions, reflected people's voices and shaped the image of contemporary youth. However, how can the current repertoire creation attract the audience by staying away from real life, avoiding social contradictions, making a fuss about historical themes and playing tricks on lighting sets? Although there are artistic reasons for the crisis of national drama, the main reason is that the content is stale and divorced from real life.

The third reason is the management system of the troupe. Most of the existing literary and art organizations in China managed by governments at or above the county level were established under the conditions of planned economy before 1980s. Before the founding of New China, the management mechanism of most professional drama clubs was flexible and dynamic. The troupe is not fixed in a certain place, and the actors are not fixed in a certain class club. Where there is a performance market, you go to perform, and when the price offered by that troupe is high, you go to that troupe to perform. After the founding of New China, with the public-private partnership and socialist transformation, private and collective troupes became state-owned or local state-owned troupes. The actors are fixed in a troupe, and the troupe is fixed in one place and managed by a certain level of government. The troupe is funded by the government, the artistic creation is guided by the competent government department, and the repertoire is examined and approved by the competent government department. Under the condition of planned economy, this management system has played a positive and important role in protecting and rescuing opera. For example, at the beginning of the founding of New China, many endangered operas, such as Hebei Bangzi, Shanxi North Road Bangzi and Kunqu Opera, were rescued. Traditional plays were excavated in various places in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and China Opera Chronicle and China Opera Music were compiled and published in the 1980s and 1990s. These major projects are difficult to achieve under the conditions of market economy. At that time, the leaders of cultural departments and opera workers who participated in these projects made selfless contributions, and those of us who live in them today should not forget their achievements, let alone deny them. However, the troupe management system formed under the planned economy does have disadvantages under the market economy. If the troupe and the actors are fixed in one place and one unit, it is not conducive to the development of the troupe and the growth of the actors. The current salary distribution system of the troupe has not broken the disadvantages of eating from the same pot and seniority, and does not conform to the law of artistic production. The intervention of the administrative department in the artistic production of the troupe derailed the market of repertoire creation and performance, and restricted the emergence and popularization of new dramas. The contradiction between the development of market economy and the lagging reform of the management system of the troupe has aggravated the survival difficulties of the troupe and accelerated the demise of the operas.

Third, thinking about the protection of traditional Chinese opera cultural heritage.

The State Council's Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage is of great significance for strengthening the protection of cultural heritage and inheriting and developing Chinese national operas. Let me talk about my specific views on the protection and development of traditional operas in China.

1, we should take the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage as the strategic height of building a well-off society and socialist spiritual civilization in an all-round way in the new period, and improve the consciousness of the broad masses of the people, especially governments at all levels, to protect and develop opera culture.

The State Council's notice on the protection of cultural heritage pointed out that China is an ancient civilization with a long history. In the long years, the Chinese nation has created a colorful and precious cultural heritage. Traditional Chinese opera is the epitome of China culture and the concentrated expression of national spirit. However, the development of China opera has encountered unprecedented impacts and challenges. Protecting and developing China's traditional opera culture is not only a simple work to protect a cultural heritage, but also a major event to protect Chinese cultural genes from foreign invasion, which is an urgent event before the whole party and governments at all levels. The operas of various nationalities in various places not only reflect the uniqueness of China culture, but also reflect the uniqueness of local and national cultures. Therefore, protecting the cultural heritage of China traditional operas should not only become a slogan and a kind of consciousness, but also be implemented in the protection of every specific opera.

2. According to the development history, artistic value and cultural value of various operas in various places, the protection of excellent cultural heritage including operas should be given appropriate positioning, practical policies should be formulated and legislation should be made.

According to our investigation, there are basically three kinds of existing operas. First, the state and governments at all levels should protect operas with a long history, rich artistic background and high cultural and historical value, such as Kunqu Opera, Peking Opera, Minnan Liyuan Opera, Puxian Opera, Puppet Opera, Northwest Shaanxi Opera and Southwest Sichuan Opera, and establish theaters, perform on stage, train talents and collect research. In terms of funds, full funding is implemented, and the funds needed are mainly paid by local governments, with key support from the state and the province. Second, although it has a long history and certain artistic characteristics, there are not many plays and few audiences, such as Dacheng Opera. The content and performance form of these operas are difficult to be accepted by the current audience, and it is inevitable that they will be eliminated naturally. However, some things are of cultural value and research value, and the state and local governments should allocate special funds as soon as possible to record the characteristic plays, music and performances of these operas by modern means. Third, there are more audiences, more prosperous performances, and developing or emerging operas, such as Minnan Gaojia Opera, Henan Gezai Opera and Shanxi Opera. The state and local governments should encourage and create conditions for them to enter the performance market. The funds mainly depend on the performance income, and the government will give appropriate subsidies. However, colleges and troupes with better conditions should be selected as art experimental demonstration units. The main tasks of these experimental troupes are to create and stage excellent plays, conduct artistic exploration and experiments, and promote excellent plays for the people.