Liu Shusheng, Shen Lin, Sun Ge, Qian Chunsong, Zhang Zhiqiang, Zhou Feizhou, Wang Hui
Guo Baochang and Tao Qingmei's book "Great Games: Where is Peking Opera Really Good" (Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore 2021 Edition) has received widespread attention from all walks of life since its inception. On November 21, 2021, many scholars gathered at "Movable Type Culture" to discuss the novelty of the book. The event invited Liu Shusheng, a senior drama theorist; Shen Lin, professor of the Institute of Drama of the China Academy of Drama; Sun Ge, distinguished professor of the Beijing Second College of Foreign Chinese; Gan Chunsong, professor of the Department of Philosophy of Peking University; Zhang Zhiqiang, researcher of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Zhou Feizhou, professor of the Department of Sociology of Peking University; wang Hui, professor of the Institute of Advanced Studies of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University.
Liu Shusheng: This book is a very important work in the academic field of Chinese opera, and it also adds a valuable document to the history of world theater.
I was worried about whether the concept of "game" would hold up, but then I found that "game" became a philosophical problem in this book. The "play" of the ancient character, the left half is above the head of a tiger, the bottom is a "bean", and the right side is a "go", which is likely to be a cruel game in which a person wearing a mask with a tiger pattern fights with a samurai who holds a tiger pattern. In hermeneutics, the concept that drama is a "game" can be established. In the Tang Dynasty, Liu Yan wrote "Yong Wang Da Niang Dai Rod" at a very young age, and was known as a prodigy. At that time, Yang Guifei carried him to his knees, watched the performance, applauded, and powdered Liu Yan, and then let him compose poetry to help entertain. This is the interactive game.
In addition, "game" is a hot word in the West, from Aristotle to Kant, Schiller, Spencer all believe that the history of human civilization is the history of games. Civilization begins with games, which in turn create art. We Chinese did not attach much importance to the traditional cultural significance of games in the past, but Baochang explored it in a philosophical sense by proposing the "game" theory. In this process, Tao Qingmei made great contributions, helping him straighten out the theoretical logic. I remember Li Tuo saying in the preface that the book was built in the garden of opera theory, and it was a tall building. Now it seems that this building is standing.
Shen Lin: In my opinion, this book not only provides knowledge and insight, but also tries theoretical thinking. What is even more valuable is that this book, unlike some slightly boring academic papers, is discussed in a vivid way.
The book uses "games" as the core concept to talk about Peking Opera, which reminds me of the "Olympic Games". The original meaning of the Olympic Games is actually "Olympic Games". This tournament originally had the meaning of a god-greeter, dedicated to Zeus, while pursuing both skill and confrontation, which alluded to the essence of "game". In my opinion, the rules of sports competitions are the "formula" of Peking Opera: rules. Why do many spectators who can't understand the Olympic games be anxious and need commentary? Because the rules of the game are artificial and have nothing to do with everyday life, viewers cannot draw experience from their daily lives to understand how these rules work. This may be the difference between Peking Opera and realist dramas and movies, professionals need to introduce the rules of the game to the audience, and even when the audience watches the performance, someone must explain it to be more interesting. The great thing about The Great Game is that it sheds some of the "rules of the game" for us.
It's especially important to be clear about where the "game" is good. In the past, Hu Shi and Fu Sinian neither played nor disdained games, saying that they would sweep the "great game" of Peking Opera into the garbage heap of history. I think they mainly don't understand the rules of this "game". In the process of modernizing Chinese theater, many sages had lofty aspirations and wanted to learn from the "game" of the West and use their rules to transform their "old game". However, Mr. Guo Baochang wrote in the book: We should follow our own "game" path, so that whether it is opera, film or drama, we can usher in innovation and usher in "innovative games".
At the same time, we also need to see the problems that accompany "games". Art education is progressing and curricula are reforming, but fewer and fewer people seem to be learning the rules of the "game", whether old or new. In this mode of education, students gradually become unable to play games, and even fewer and fewer people can explain the game of Peking Opera, which needs our attention.
Finally, I think this book reiterates Zhuangzi's statement that "skill is close to the Tao", which is also in line with the ancient Greek view that art is technology. This book takes into account both the introduction of skills and the way of Peking Opera, reflecting the "unity of knowledge and action".
Sun Ge: Mr. Guo Baochang has a "fan", and this book is also a book with a "fan". If you can't read the "model", only read some of the ideas in the book, then the value of your reading this book will be greatly reduced. Therefore, the book's appeal to me is not in its literal content, but in the feeling it conveys between the lines, which is aesthetically called a meaningful form. When form and content are opposed, content represents meaning, and form may have various and fullest states, although you cannot transform these forms into direct meanings, but this is the so-called model.
One of the details that struck me the most in the book was that the actors of traditional Peking Opera could not enter the play; the actor sang halfway through, took off his beard and said, Baby you go home and cook. No one will feel that this is disengagement. Some people may ask, what is the logic behind this?
This logic means that traditional Peking Opera has its own set of procedures, which is a meaningful form, and this form can be disconnected from the content to be conveyed by the drama. No matter how boring the content of Peking Opera is, what it conveys through performance is a relatively independent form of Peking Opera. This form and content are not mutually exclusive or completely separated, and the form is precisely to use the content as a medium to improve itself.
Therefore, the form is not to convey the content and give shape to the content, it is to convey some meaning that is misplaced with the content and even seemingly unrelated by using the content as a medium. This is the beauty of Peking Opera, which Mr. Guo Baochang has repeatedly emphasized.
Moving forward from the starting point of "full form", we have the problem of the game. At the heart of the game is its lack of practical effect; and form is valuable precisely because it is not meaning and cannot be implemented into a certain kind of content. But because of this, content and form can have an interrelated, intermediation relationship.
Today's cultural products are straight to the point and lack form. Today, we are too devoid of a true sense of form. We lack a medium that can unite society and order in a coordinated way. In this sense, Great Game reminds us that creating a sense of form in this sense is actually a way of changing.
Gan Chunsong: I think that what Teacher Guo calls "games" is to criticize the things that are too formal in modern Peking Opera performances, and to hope that Peking Opera will return to the spirit of games and the spirit of playing that are closely related to the essence of life. In the history of Peking Opera, there was a "dispute over huaya", when Peking Opera had more vitality than Kunqu opera and won the audience more, because Kunqu opera was divorced from the appreciation of the people. An art, a game, or a playful skill develops to an advanced stage, and some particularly refined programs are produced. This kind of program will create the possibility of self-closure, and eventually it will become more and more detached from daily life. This is the drawback of self-sublime. Now local dramas, such as Yue opera in my hometown, also face such problems. Peking opera is "flower" relative to Kunqu opera, but for local opera it is "elegant". Fu Quanxiang, a famous Actor of Yue Opera, came to Beijing to visit Peking Opera actors and opera singers, and she said that she had the sound of opera "shaking" in her singing voice. This kind of psychology is to hope that Yue opera is more "refined". There is a big difference between the performances of the Grass Stage Group and the performances of the troupes of Yue Opera. The grass platform team was to make a mouthful of rice to eat, and even joined the gag to ask for food. If the drama is self-exalted and the actor sees himself as an "artist", it will be out of touch with the aesthetics of the general audience.
In addition, the current plight of Peking Opera is related to whether it chooses to become an "intangible cultural heritage". If Peking Opera becomes an "intangible cultural heritage", it will lose the possibility of reflecting real life. There are complex historical reasons for the emergence of model plays, but he broadened the scope of Peking Opera, that is, there is a closer connection with reality, if Peking Opera is to develop, it should continue to create new plays, and performance also needs to make breakthroughs. In short, I agree with The attitude of Guo's book to model drama: Peking Opera and Yue Opera should continue to create works that reflect modern life.
Zhang Zhiqiang: This book is not only about Guo's Peking Opera experience, but also contains many theoretical ambitions. The way the theory is spoken of in the book is not organized through concepts; the process of reasoning is not the deduction of categories, but the study of life. Regarding "games", Confucius said: "Aspirations are in the Tao, according to virtue, according to benevolence, and in art." It can be seen that "youyuyi" is not independent, but is integrated with "Tao", "Virtue" and "Benevolence". It is worth noting that "Yi Yu Ren" realizes its embodiment through "traveling in art". It can be said that all abstract ideas, including ideals, are expressed through the reaction of the body. I think that "physicality" best illustrates the characteristics of Chinese culture, which does not mean "do whatever you want"; it is also different from the liberal discourse that "the individual's body is at his disposal", but it is precisely through a set of stylized rules, procedures, disciplines and other ways to establish contact with the world. This set of procedures shaped Peking Opera.
In the West, the philosophy of viewing since Greece has been based on the sense of seeing, and after our stage becomes a theater, embodiment also arises, and the actor will play on the stage, and the interaction between the actor and the audience (applause) will form an interactive subjectivity. This interaction occurs at any time, which also illustrates another fundamental feature of Chinese culture: the understanding of temporality. The interactive subject of the theater makes everything have an improvisational meaning. This forms its temporal characteristics: it can be created at any time, there is no fixed program, it depends entirely on the interaction between the actor and the audience, the interaction between the actor himself and the character, and the state of the actor at that time. This is probably the most attractive place in Chinese Peking Opera, and the task of future Peking Opera is to find new forms to reflect the embodiment of Peking Opera.
Zhou Feizhou: This book systematically and transparently introduces some important features of the peking opera performing arts, and is particularly well written. I have always felt that "game" is a very high realm, and we often say "life is like a play". Why do Chinese love to watch drama? What do you experience when you watch the play? Zhi qiang just said "travel in the arts", said poetry teaching tradition, I agree, Peking Opera is a continuation of the ritual tradition. Just now, Teacher Sun Ge said that there are fewer meaningful forms, which is actually what the ancients called "lib and happiness". The Chinese tradition of ritual rule and poetry are excellently reflected in Peking Opera. It can be said that Peking Opera is a strange flower blossomed by Chinese cultural traditions.
Just now you are talking about the art form of Peking Opera, I agree, but I also want to say that the content of Peking Opera is also the most authentic national essence. The Qing dynasty scholar Jiao Xun said in "Huabu Nongtan" that he loved to watch Peking Opera and other flower plays like ordinary people, and did not like to watch Yabu. Because in Peking Opera, the passionate singing is the loyalty and filial piety, and the Yabu sings about the talented and beautiful, which is some secret love drama. The characters portrayed in Peking Opera are all ethical, either ethical heroes or ethical traitors. In the past, ordinary people had no culture, and mainly relied on listening to drums and watching dramas to learn how to behave and do things, so Peking Opera was an ethics textbook. For example, Teacher Guo did not have a high evaluation of the ideological content of "Silang Visiting Mother"; but why does Yang Silang, a character who seems to be neither loyal nor filial, love to watch it so much? What is the educational significance of this play? We may not know it yet. I was deeply impressed by watching "ShiLang Visiting Mother" at Peking University, Shi Yihong's Iron Mirror Princess, and her performance after seeing Shi Lang take the arrow and leave is particularly moving. When Shiro entered the Song camp, everyone kept saying "Shiro is back", "The fourth brother is back", "The fourth uncle is back", and such a recitation makes people transcend the background of the war between the two countries. These are the most precious things of Peking Opera, and the Confucian grandeur runs through all kinds of characters. Our times also need these things the most.
Wang Hui: I would like to share a few points: First, regarding the lyrics and ideological content of Peking Opera, I agree with Teacher Guo's criticism of it. The demand for literature may be a problem in the 20th century, but if we pay attention to the lines of the old play and its literal appearance, we can find the rationality of Guo's criticism. What is even more valuable is that Teacher Guo took this opportunity to propose whether there is still a possibility of re-creation in the future of modern dramas.
The second is the discussion of form and content. Many people have talked about the relationship between Peking Opera and Brecht's dissociative effect, but when I visited Brecht's former home, I found that his bookcase was full of books of "Noh Opera", but there were very few books in Peking Opera. Does the separation effect have anything to do with noh drama? In addition to comparing the relationship between Steiney and Brecht and Peking opera art, can we also refer to other forms of drama? The "kyogen" part of the Japanese noh drama is also a gag, including the main kyogen and the mahad. This distancing is naturally reminiscent of Brecht. We generally say that Brecht advocates separation, and Steiner values experience, but is it a bit simplistic? In fact, there are also such experiences in daily life. Some local funerals, blowing and playing and singing for one night, from Pangu to open the heavens and the earth, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, have been told all the way down, telling this person's birth, and telling the story of his life. If you don't express it in this way, without this program, just crying because your loved one is dead, you can't express this complex and strong emotion. So Mei Lanfang talks about experience for a while, and the difference between the next, maybe he has his own reason. We can't say that Peking Opera is a simple art and lacks experience, in fact, actors can also go in and out of it. We often hear that "the drama is bigger than the sky", people's whole life is in the play, how can there be no experience?
Zhang Zhiqiang's use of the "play in art" tour to explain the "game" is also enlightening. It can be added that what is the art of "traveling in art"? Not only technology, but also "swimming in the six arts": ritual, music, shooting, imperial, book, number, which all require high technology, but these six arts, and the core of etiquette, this is a systematic civilization as a whole. Ren Bantang used to criticize Wang Guowei's "History of Song and Yuan Opera", saying that Zhou had drama, Han had drama, Tang had teasing, and then the Song people had opera. What he means is that Wang Guowei has eliminated half of the tradition of Chinese opera since the beginning of Song and Yuan opera, which is completely influenced by the West, and this criticism may be excessive for Wang Guowei, but it is also reasonable.
The third is the concept of "game". I agree with the use of this concept in the book, but on the other hand I feel unsatisfied. Human civilization is indeed related to games, but the scope of games is very broad. Specific to "drama", Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty said that the etiquette originated from the ceremony, and was close to the tour. He is in favor of banning drama. "You" is "the flow of the flag" in "Explaining Words", and Mr. Liu Shusheng's explanation of "drama" just now is ritualized. It is both a six arts and a game. We used to have a word called "drama", the verb that can be performed is dance, we are acting, it is to perform things that are indoctrinated with etiquette, and sometimes we have to use ironic tricks to tease the indoctrination itself. Therefore, from the ceremony, it has become a drama, and it has become a joke, and the composition of the game is also more and more. The earliest liturgical music is natural, the so-called liturgical nature, the drama and the drama are to re-express life, there are various spacing between nature and man-made, and various programs have been formed. The problem with programming is precisely the part that provides creativity. Peking opera art is also the art of repetition, and the audience does not enter the theater with the attitude of wanting to know the next decomposition, but appreciates the "change and invariance" of its artistic expression in repetition, and the audience's taste is also a subtle difference.
The fourth is the problem of model plays. I agree with Teacher Guo's judgment on the three peaks of the development of Peking Opera. His judgment of the lines and lyrics of "Sha Jia Bang" and "Cuckoo Mountain" and his understanding of the music of "Harbor" left a deep impression on me. Gan Chunsong just said that Yue opera imitates Peking Opera, and the same is true of our Yangzhou Yang opera. Since Peking Opera has gained its dominant position, all local operas have been willing to imitate it, which is the performance of going in the direction of "big drama". In the process of China's new national mobilization in the 20th century, Peking Opera also undertook its task. This book maintains an excellent sense of history and proportion in this regard, leaving us with the possibility of continuing to develop new plays and make innovations.
"Great Games: Where Is Peking Opera Good", by Guo Baochang and Tao Qingmei, Life, Reading, Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore 2021 Edition
Editor-in-Charge: Gong Siliang
Proofreader: Luan Meng