Wushan: Passing on history in the flow of light and shadow

【2021 Dancing together in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Exploring the Millennium Context】

In the gentle morning light, in the microwave ripples of the river, the Wushan Museum stands next to the river, quietly watching the distant peaks. Wushan has a long history and culture, and during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was Wu County of the Chu State, and the Qin and Han Dynasties were changed to counties. For more than 2,300 years, Daxi culture, goddess culture, witch culture, etc. have blended here and converged into the sparkling Wushan culture.

Wushan Three Gorges shadow puppet play

"Hongoku went out of the court, and the mountain shook. Open roads in every mountain and bridge in water. Meet the dragon to move the horns, meet the tiger to pluck the hair. A loud and pleasant singing sounded on the fifth floor of the Wushan Museum, and on a white curtain, the light and shadow of a small person jumped and danced like a flame. He Shihong, the head of the Tongxing class, flew with his sleeves in his hands, holding two small sticks in his hands, and manipulated the shadow people to make various postures and perform a variety of human forms. The shadow people on the curtain are flexible, and they dance with the lyrics, telling the story of "Yang Jiajun" to the audience.

Wushan Three Gorges Shadow Play, a traditional local drama, has a history of thousands of years and is the intangible cultural heritage of Wushan. The performers on stage are usually three, and the maximum number of performers can be five. It is divided into tongzi, that is, the drummer, who manages the door; the lower hand, the priest who plays the gong, cymbal, and the sticker; the blocker, the shadow puppet; the literary field, the pull erhu, the flute blowing, and so on.

Different from other shadow puppet plays, He Shihong integrates the Wushan dialect into the lyrics, with a unique singing voice and a more melodious and melodious voice. In addition to the Wushan dialect, the Three Gorges Shadow Puppet Theatre also integrates the local folk customs, culture and art of Wushan into the repertoire, so that the audience can feel the multiple historical and cultural charms in the interlacing of light and shadow.

"I'm thirty-eight years old, and it's been more than twenty years since I started studying shadow puppetry." He Shihong just finished a performance, wiped his sweat and said with a smile, "Learning shadow puppetry is a very complicated process, and performers not only need to learn to manipulate shadow puppetry, but also learn how to sing." Performers need to study for at least half a year to take the stage. Very few people come to learn now. "Three Gorges shadow puppetry is a kind of traditional folk drama that is sung, and its inheritance is based on oral transmission by the elders, which is extremely unfavorable to the collection and collation of materials. The older generation of artists have passed away or are in old age, and the younger generation is unwilling to learn to sing again, especially the impact of modern film and television art, which has made the performance market and audiences dwindling, and the Three Gorges shadow puppet is on the verge of being lost.

"But the state is supporting us, and we now have more opportunities to perform on stage." He Shihong will now lead the entire Tongxing class to perform in the countryside, and has performed on stage for 60 performances this year. Since the issuance of the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in August this year, the phenomenon of three gorges shadow puppetry on the verge of being lost has been greatly improved, and more performers like He Shihong have the opportunity to bring the historical world of shadow puppetry to more people.

In addition to the rescue of the Three Gorges shadow puppets, last month, a batch of gilded bronzes collected by the Wushan Museum was also "rescued" and re-emitted with a new luster. "At present, the Wushan Museum has collected 1,086 sets of gilded bronze ware." Zhang Hui, deputy director of the Wushan Museum, introduced, "Among them, the 'Persimmon-shaped Gilded Bronze Plaque Ornament of the Queen Mother of the Four Spirits of the Eastern Han Dynasty' was designated by the Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics as one of the top ten town halls in Wushan. ”

"In the four years after engaging in the shadow puppet industry, due to family conditions, I went out to work for half a year, and after looking back at the history and culture left by my ancestors, I always felt that it could not be lost, and I wanted to carry forward the Chinese history and culture, and since then I have excavated the Three Gorges shadow puppetry." He Shihong added, "As the inheritor of the Three Gorges Shadow Puppet, I will definitely use my life's work to pass it on forever and carry it forward." ”

(Guangming Daily all-media reporter Li Hong, Zhu Yanyan also contributed to this article)