Huizhou Women, a newly staged Huangmei Opera, has attracted
and excited a great flow of people to see it in southwest China.
The producers of the opera should congratulate themselves as their
success is something of a coup for the Chinese Opera genre.
As
is the case with other endangered cultures, the traditional Chinese
form is gradually dying out, having had its hay day in a fully
integrated agricultural society, which it no longer is. Today, the
opera form rarely has the mass appeal it used to.
"The success of Huizhou Women and Huangmei Opera as a whole
does not result from mere saving and preserving of work but from
prudent and courageous reform," says Huang Xinde, Huangmei Opera
performer and one of the producers of the show, Huizhou
Women, who is also a member attending the First Session of the
10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.
"Although Huangmei Opera has a relatively short history among its
counterparts in China, it nevertheless needs reform to keep it
fresh and abreast of the times. Its short history gives it more
space for reform and we are actually doing that," said Huang.
Traditional Chinese opera has a long history. It dates back to the
third century, when simple plays were performed as part of court
entertainment. Huangmei Opera only came into being in the
eighteenth century in Anqing in east China's Anhui Province, a
region that contributed remarkably to China's arts and culture.
The opera was born from local folk songs, dancing, and performances
by villagers and first gained popularity in the countryside.
Professional performances of Huangmei Opera in cities began in the
early 20th century and only won overall recognition after 1949.
Since then Huangmei Opera has experienced unprecedented development
and Huangmei Opera performances and films have swept over China and
overseas to Chinese communities.
At
the 1st China Shakespeare Festival in 1986, the Anhui Provincial
Huangmei Opera House staged an adaptation of William Shakespeare's
Much Ado about Nothing.
"Reform sometimes aims at catering to the changing tastes of an
audience. However, the reformers didn't want to play to the gallery
and essential artistic characteristics of the opera should never be
sacrificed to the box office. Reform should be deemed a part of the
development of the opera itself," said Huang, who also holds the
post of the vice president of the Anhui Provincial Huangmei Opera
House.
"We have restored and adapted some old operas such as The
Emperor's Female Son-in-law, An Employer Deceived,
Fallen Stars, A Goddess' Marriage; A Dream of Red
Mansions" and we are also writing new operas such as the
Eternal Regrets," said Huang.
"Besides the reform of old dramas, we also reformed the managerial
system of our opera house, which includes the management of human
resources, assessment of staff performance and the faculty salary
system, and so on," said Huang.
Breaking away from the previous practice of isolated work, the
opera house has expanded its cooperation with many colleagues from
other parts of the country. It has also put a lot of energy into
nurturing a new generation of Huangmei Opera performers, as the
successors to the present, represented by Huang.
Last year the opera house staged more than 200 operas across the
country and received warm welcome from audiences everywhere.
"This year will see the debut of the reform of public institutions.
With the new policies to be unveiled, we'll further the managerial
system of our opera house and we want to present some excellent new
works before the audience," said Huang.
China launched a gargantuan project aiming at saving its folk
culture heritage in February. The project, initiated by the Chinese
Folk Literature and Art Society, includes major plans to
investigate record, categorize and publicize various kinds of
Chinese folk culture heritage, in ten years, according to Feng
Jicai, the president of the society and also a CPPCC National
Committee member.
"I
think protection is necessary for some cultural forms that are out
on a limb; as for us, we also seek external support mechanisms, but
we'll always count for hard work and reform efforts on our own
initiative as the lifeblood of the survival and prosperity of
Huangmei Opera," said Huang Xinde.
(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Chen Chao, March 13, 2003)