"Past Events of Peking Opera" (Volume 1), edited by the Cultural History and Study Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Beijing Publishing House, March 2021 edition.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Teaching Fang Sishi was the only official leading body of Youling
The Yamen of the Qing Dynasty to administer opera were set up on the basis of inheriting the original system of the Ming Dynasty. Its predecessor should be the Ming Dynasty's Jiaofang Division. The Department of Teaching was established in the early Ming Dynasty and is subordinate to the Ministry of Rites. According to the "Ming Shi Zhi Guan Zhi", "The Teaching Fang Si Feng Luan one person is nine pins, one person on the left and right Shao dance, one person on the left and right Si Le, and one person from the nine pin palm music dance, and the music household is filled with music households." It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, the Jiaofang Division was the only official leading body of Youling. At that time, in addition to Beijing, there was also a branch office in Nanjing.
There are few records of the activities of the Teaching Fang Division, but only the book "Banqiao Miscellaneous Records" records the situation of the Nanjing Branch Division, which says: "The Music Household is under the Teaching Fang Division, and the Division has an official to be the master." There are offices, there are public seats, there are servitudes, tortures, signs, and the like, there are crowns and belts, but when you see guests, you don't dare to arch your ears. "After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was established, following the old system of the Ming Dynasty, and there was also a religious division, but there were internal changes. For example, the majority of artists in the Ming Sect are women, with male artists in a secondary position. In the Qing Dynasty, contrary to the usual practice, the old practice of women entering the palace as a undertaker was abolished, and eunuchs replaced them; administrative staff used flag bearers instead. This was the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661). By the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), the Sect Division was completely abolished and merged into the Harmony Office for external court acceptance. However, the management of performance affairs and the implementation of government decrees are not interrupted. It is likely that at this time, a yamen to manage the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple had been set up to take the place of the head of the teaching department. This yamen is located in the Jingzhong Temple at the mouth of Dongzhu City in Beijing.
Stills from the TV series "Raiders of the Yanxi" (2018).
The establishment of the Jingzhong Temple began in the Ming Dynasty. When the construction of the Jingzhong Temple began, another Tianxi Palace was built next to the main hall where Yue Fei was sacrificed, and the holy icon of the ancestor of the Temple of Joy was enshrined. By the end of the Ming Dynasty or the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Liyuan Guild Hall had been established and was also located in this temple. Although its name is Pear Garden Guild, it is actually the Pear Garden Guild, which is a mass organization that seeks the welfare of all the people in the pear garden industry. The leader is elected by the masses and must submit a petition to the langzhong who manages the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple before he can take office. This leader was originally called the head of the meeting, also commonly known as the head of the temple. To further illustrate the above, an exhortation from that year is cited as proof:
According to the jingzhong temple first cheng chun (Cheng Chang Geng) and other courtesies, the temple's first cheng chun is nearly seventy years old, and in the event of a rumored incident, it is difficult to take care of the acceptance, and now chooses Xu Zhongxiang (Xu Xiaoxiang) and Yang Jiuchang (Yang Yue Lou), the third class of Bao Sanqing, and the old Cheng is proficient in practicing, and can be used to assist in the temple head errands and other reasons. In addition to the approval of the Company, the head of the temple, Xu Qi, was informed. Later, when there was a rumor and a temple incident, it was handled in a compromise with Cheng Chun and Liu Baoshan (Liu Chaisan). It should not be regarded as a concrete text, and it will not be convenient. To this end, the people of Beijing Pear Garden and others are all complied with. If there is an illegal matter, that is, only the head of the temple is to ask, it is not to say that it is unpredictable. Be careful, don't disobey. Special instructions.
Guangxu 4 December
From this edict, we can clearly see that the head of the temple is chosen by the security, and the main task is to spread the events and preach the temple. Here's another example:
The yamen that manages the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple is a strict and well-known matter: at the end of the current national service period, Cha Liyuan is acting, polishing Taiping, and should be allowed to sing as usual after the fifth and sixth days of the first month of March in accordance with the rules. It shall prohibit all kinds of obscene words, but shall continue to prohibit them as usual, and shall not be allowed to sing in private classes. If you dare to violate it, you will be punished. To this end, the head of the temple and the people who opened the garden hall should know that it is advisable to obey and not violate it. Special instructions.
After this edict, it does not contain the following month, according to the order of arrangement, it is in the Xianfeng Decade (1860) on May 24, 1860, the chuanjing Zhongmiao Temple meeting and the Sanqing class, the Four Xi class, the Shuangkui class Cheng Chun, Yuan Shuangxi, Zhang Faxiang to the Yuanmingyuan to listen to the transfer of events, it can be proved that this is about the Xianfeng Decade (1860) after May 24. From this edict, it can be known that the Pear Garden Guild in the Jingzhong Temple and the drama classes and drama gardens in the whole city of Beijing are under the unified leadership of the Yamen who manage the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple. Therefore, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to set up an institution after the Sect Division, in order to facilitate the work with the Liyuan Guild, the place of Jingzhong Temple was chosen, and this was the reason.
Here are two more things that illustrate the problem.
First, in order to correct some people's false rumors that "yamen who manage the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple have invited guests to play in the Guangde Building," the Yamen who manages the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple issued a document, the original text of which is as follows:
On March 14, the fifth year of Guangxu, in order to declare things: it was rumored that on the seventh day of the first month of this month, the division invited guests to play in the Guangde Building, which was very shocking. Our company has never invited guests outside the city to play a play, etc., and there must be people who make up words, but there is no way to investigate for a while, and if they do not declare it, they are afraid that they will confuse people to hear it, which is really not a thing. If there is a person who makes a statement, he will see the company to investigate and handle it, and paste this edict into the backstage of each theater garden so that he can know it. Special Instructions:
Guangde Lou Qinghe Garden Sanqing Garden Qingyuan Tianyuan Zhonghe Garden
Guangxing Garden Desheng Garden Fucheng Garden Guanghe Lou Yuxing Lou Tongyuan Jingzhong Temple
The above documents are referred to as "Bensi" when it comes to the yamen that manage the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple, and it can be seen that it is actually one of the supervisors under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and is the descendant of the Sect Division. Its organizational structure is a member of the Shilang Zhong, and there are more than ten auxiliary personnel such as pen stickers, which is not very large.
As far as the gardens (buildings) listed above are concerned, the Guanghe Building is the earliest, followed by the Yuxing Building and the Tongyuan Garden. Fucheng Garden was also completed relatively early, because in the inscription of the reconstruction of the Xi Temple in the seventh year of Daoguang (1827), Fucheng Garden was already listed. Fucheng Garden is a newly established theater garden in the early years of Jiaqing in the late Qianlong dynasty. It should be true that Fucheng Garden was bribed as an official camp by Yamen, who managed the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple (this incident occurred in the last year of Xianfeng), but it cannot be said that it was bribed by the Shengping Bureau, because the duties of the Shengping Bureau were only to act and not to bear other responsibilities such as the purchase of the opera garden.
Second, according to the management charter of the Pear Garden Association, the head of the meeting should take into account the overall situation, and if there is a public or not, if the head of the association violates the ban, it must also be given appropriate punishment. At that time, the Beijing master was popular in the church, and the income of the drama class performance hall meeting was many times better than the income from the performance in the theater garden, and generally could get tens or hundreds of silver rewards. Most of the performances are based on a drama class, and some famous artists are invited to join, so the artists like to participate in the performances of the hall plays.
In the sixth year of Tongzhi (Ding Di) (1867), such an incident occurred, and the ugly Liu Chaisan (who was then the head of the meeting) was privately held on March 17 and 18, and the North of the East Entrance Road of the HuanghuaMen In the Anmen Gate and the House of internal affairs Tang Lang Ma Zixiu (Ming Songlin) were held for two days. According to the rules of the pear garden line, March 18 of each year is the day of the pear garden to worship the gods, and on this day, the performance activities must be stopped, and those who violate it will be investigated. On March 18, Liu Chaisan's private meeting was discovered by the temple leaders Zhang Zijiu, Wang Lanfeng, Cheng Changgeng, Xu Xiaoxiang, and others, and that liu Chaisan was to be expelled from the pear garden and the name of the Baosheng Hall should be cancelled. Later, Liu's apprentices Zhang Fuguan (Zhang Cailin, Father of Bao Kun) and Wang Shunfu (Mei Lanfang's father-in-law) asked Ma Zi to repair the head of the temple, and so on, he was punished with three silver and five hundred taels, and rebuilt the two flagpoles of the Jingzhong Temple on Dashi Street, taking this as a warning.
This incident shows that the Pear Garden Guild is serious and fair, and even if the first person in the association makes a mistake, it must be handled impartially and not favoritism.
Sheng Ping, a huge acting agency in the inner court of the Qing Palace
The above describes the system of managing the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple, and then introduces the Shengping Bureau, a huge acting institution in the Qing Palace's inner court.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Jiaofang Division was originally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, but in the Qing Dynasty, it was basically under the leadership of the minister in charge of the Internal Affairs Office, which was equivalent to a division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (in the quotation above, many places called themselves "Bensi", as evidenced). Later, it was changed to manage the affairs of jingzhong temple. It is extremely closely related to the ShengPing Department, one is the administrative leadership department, the other is the performance unit, and the two are inseparable. The best illustration of its relationship is a document of May 24 of the Xianfeng Decade (1860), which states:
Tang Jiao Tang Lang Zhongzhi: Chuan Sheng Ping Department Di Da, Chuan Jing Zhong Temple Hui, and the Sanqing Class, The Sixi Class, and the ShuangKui Class Cheng Chun, Yuan Shuangxi, zhang Faxiang, make sure to arrive at the garden on the twenty-fifth day of this month, and there are urgent dispatches in each hall, so don't be late. This intersection.
May 24
This document has only the day of the month and no dynasty year number. According to the archives of the Shengping Bureau, In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Emperor Wenzong served his long life, and in early June, he sent Three Qing, Sixi, and Shuang Kui into the palace to sing. It can be proved that this document was transmitted by the Internal Affairs Hall to Cheng Chun, Yuan Shuangxi, and Zhang Faxiang on May 24, 1860, in the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), to Cheng Chun, Yuan Shuangxi, and Zhang Faxiang to listen to the above instructions, and the content of the edict was to pass the third class to the palace to sing. In this way, it can be seen that although the Shengping Bureau is a singing unit, it sometimes temporarily manages the administrative affairs of the Jingzhong temple, and the two institutions have a clear division of labor and complement each other to deal with some specific affairs.
The following is a brief introduction to the Sheng Ping Bureau from three aspects.
(1) The ShengPing Bureau was established from the restructuring of Nanfu, which requires first accounting for Nanfu
The establishment of Nanfu began in the fifth year of Qianlong (1740). Prior to this, the Qing Court had a eunuch who had undertaken to act. In the fifth year of Qianlong's reign, for the second year's Empress Dowager Maytien, the number of eunuchs was increased, preparations were made in Nanfu, and the name Nanfu was fixed. In the sixteenth year of Qianlong (1751), he also ordered Suzhou artists to enter the palace as errand boys, named as foreign schools, and lived in Jingshan. The eunuch practitioner was named Neixue.
During the Qianlong period, the number of internal and external students was more than a thousand, and they all sang Kunlu; the errands they undertook could be divided into four items: First, for the 99th Celebration, it refers to acting to celebrate birthdays. The palace regarded this as a major event, extravagant and wasteful, and extremely extravagant. Second, it is used for various festive events. Third, for the monthly order, take the story of each month and play it. Fourth, for the synodic undertaking, that is, to do a general performance on the first and fifteenth day of the first year. The first three are mostly small plays, and in the Shuowang Undertaking, they are mostly self-written large plays, the most famous of which are "Shengping Bao Raft" (all "Journey to the West"), "DingZhi Chunqiu" ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), "Zhongyi Xuantu" (all "Water Margin"), "Persuasion of Jinke" (Acting Mu Lian to Save his mother), "Zhao Dynasty Zhenshao" (acting as Yang Family General), "Zhengxi Alien Biography" (Xue Dingshan's Conquest of the West) and so on. The content is mostly based on various historical novels and interpretations, with a total of 20 or 30 kinds (the detailed catalogue is included in the book "Qing Shengping Zhiluo").
In addition, Nanfu also has a money and grain office, which manages the affairs of the backstage; there is an archive room, which is dedicated to all the archives; there is a neutral music, which specializes in the ceremonial music of the inner court; and there is a juban school, which is a band specializing in the juban drum. In the seventh year of Daoguang (1827), the adaptation was tightened, all foreign studies were abolished, and Suzhou artists were called to return to their original homes. He then incorporated juban studies into The Nakawa Lok and changed the name of Yinan Province to Shengping Bureau. Thereafter, until the third year of Xuanun (1911), it began with the death of the Qing Dynasty, with a total history of 162 years.
(2) The ShengPing Bureau once selected outside entertainers to enter the palace as errand boys
In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), for the performance of Wanshou in June, forty-three artists from the outside drama class were selected to undertake the work inside; in the eleventh year (1861), twenty more artists were selected. It was not until the second year of Tongzhi (1863) that they were dismissed together. Nine years later, Tan Xinpei and many other people were successively selected to act in the house, called Teaching. It was not until the Xuan reunification years that they were scattered together.
(3) The role played by the Nanfu and Shengping Bureaus in the development of Peking Opera
After the nanfu dispersed, some artists stayed in Beijing to teach opera for a living, passing on their art to their descendants; they also brought out many scripts from the palace and circulated them in the society, most of which are preserved to this day. On the other hand, the Nanfu and Shengping Bureaus have widely collected the essence of folk art, selected artists who have been selected in the palace, and after a long period of singing practice in the palace, sorted out some old scripts from the folk, changed the sentences that did not make sense smooth and bright, and became more rigorous in art. The above two points can be shown that the Nanfu and Shengping Bureaus have played a very important role in the development of Peking Opera.
In those years, when the Qing court selected artists from various opera classes to go to the inner court on duty, the matter of handling the formalities naturally belonged to the Yamen who managed the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple, but the examination of the artistic level of the actors was presided over by the chief of the Shengping Bureau. Therefore, a box on the upper floor of the old-style theater garden near the next door is generally afraid to sell seats, and this box is specially waiting for the head of the Shengping Bureau to watch the play. Once they have selected an actor, they will be handled by the Yamen who manages the affairs of the Jingzhong Temple. The above rules began roughly in the xianfeng decade (1860) and the eleventh year (1861); later, until the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), when the teaching was selected, the old rules were still followed. This can also further explain the interrelationship between the ShengPing Bureau and the Jingzhong Temple Affairs Yamen.
This article is selected from the article "The Relationship between the Yamen and the Liyuan Guild, the Opera Class, and the Opera Garden in the Qing Dynasty" in "The Past of Peking Opera" (Volume I), and the subtitle is added by the editor, not the original text. It has been authorized by the publishing house to publish.
Author 丨 Wang Zhizhang
Excerpt 丨An also
Edited by 丨 青青子
Introduction Proofreading 丨 Liu Jun