Excellent traditional culture, if hidden in life, is an intangible cultural heritage; if it is sung on the stage, it is opera. This is the fundamental reason why intangible cultural heritage and opera have always been highly valued since the new era. There should be an invisible thread of traditional culture on and off the stage, which closely stitches the boundaries between the multicultural cultures in which we live in the international cultural metropolis. The needle that leads this thread is the Shanghai Xiqu Art Center, which has been established for exactly ten years.
Photo: The 10th anniversary of Shanghai Xiqu Art Center
Promote the development of opera
In 2001, Kunqu opera became the first list of intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO;
In 2011, the Shanghai Xiqu Art Center was established, and the major opera troupes in Shanghai also became "transmission centers" - the major drama genres that have been included in the intangible cultural heritage list are also committed to the transmission of their own performance traditions;
In 2021, the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Shanghai Xiqu Art Center. Today, the president of the Xiqu Art Center and the head of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe are both Gu Haohao, who was born in Daomadan.
The establishment of the Xiqu Art Center is the innovation of Shanghai, an international cultural metropolis, in the reform of the cultural system, and the far-sighted and determined to move forward 10 years ago by the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Ten years ago, the development of national opera encountered bottlenecks and difficulties. At the end of 2011, the Shanghai Opera Art Center was established, bringing together six theater troupes: Shanghai Peking Opera House, Shanghai KunQu Troupe, Shanghai Shanghai Opera Art Transmission Institute (Shanghai Shanghai Opera), Shanghai Yue Opera Art Transmission Institute (Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre), Shanghai Huai Opera Art Transmission Institute (Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe), and Shanghai Pingtan Art Transmission Institute (Shanghai Pingtan Troupe).
Photo: Gu Haohao at the center's 2021-2022 performance season press conference Xinmin Evening News reporter Wang Kai photo
After 32 forums and 634 questionnaires of repeated research and meticulous preparation, the Xiqu Center has clearly defined its positioning: "The Xiqu Center is a non-profit xiqu theater group under the leadership of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and a public welfare service institution with the responsibility of protecting, inheriting, innovating and developing traditional opera art and promoting the healthy development of Shanghai opera art. Here, there are two key words to focus on: "non-profit" and "public service". Non-profit, so that the theater group from the unpredictable market, can be more focused on art, learning and other spiritual nourishment; public welfare service, so that the center does not "compete" with the theater group audience, can be more focused on serving the hospital group, serving the people.
Unleash the cluster effect
The first thing after the establishment of the center was to announce: "Do what the hospital group cannot do, and solve the problems that the hospital group cannot solve." "The relative focus is on the creation and maintenance of the ecological environment of opera. Then, the center uses various measures to bridge various gaps. The first is to formulate a development strategy and long-term plan suitable for their artistic laws according to the major theater groups and different drama genres such as Beijing, Kunming, Yue, Shanghai and Huai. Second, support the creation of major themes of the institute, invite outstanding creative talents at home and abroad, and mobilize funds to give the most practical support... In this way, we can use the cluster effect to organize the institutes and groups to continuously launch innovative and eye-catching exhibitions and performances.
In the past ten years, xiqu art center has launched a large number of high-quality masterpieces that conform to the spirit of "creative transformation and innovative development" of literature and art. At every memorable point of the times, such as the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, the comprehensive well-off and other important moments, he has successively created the Peking opera "Changing People", "Red Agent", "Dawn of The Fire", Kun opera "Own Descendants", Yue opera "Mountains and Seas", Shanghai opera "Dunhuang Daughter", "Chen Yi in Shanghai", Huai opera "Pudong People's Home", "Breaking into Shanghai", "Hanmei", and "War without Gun smoke". These works present the highlight moments of red culture, the long history of Jiangnan culture, and the spiritual core of Shanghai culture on the stage.
In the past two years, despite the impact of the epidemic, the Xiqu Center has still gathered artistic strength, creating 4,000 short plays and short videos such as Peking Opera "The Power of the Heart", Kunqu Opera "Ji Shixing", Yue Opera "Starting from Me", Shanghai Opera "Ala Shanghainese", 174 cloud live broadcasts, and won 27.6 million views...
In 2015, the Shanghai Xiqu Arts Center hosted the "Xiqu Breathe" Shanghai Small Theater Xiqu Festival for the first time, which is a nationally created small theater opera festival, which also allows xiqu to enter the "black box" - in the small theater focusing on exploration, experimentation and innovation, it shows the various possibilities of xiqu to adapt to contemporary development. At the same time, it also allows more young actors to express artistic views and interpret innovative forms as soon as possible. This opera experimental field has also become the intersection and big world on the road of young actors in the country. Four years later, the Small Theater Xiqu Festival has been upgraded to China (Shanghai) Small Theater Opera Exhibition, and has received a total of 60 drama genres and 327 declared plays from all over the country, showing the ability and strength of the "Big Source" and the influence and appeal of the "Big Dock".
Inherit the Culture of Shanghai School
The establishment of the Xiqu Art Center is an innovative measure for Shanghai, an international cultural metropolis, to lead the way in the inheritance of Shanghai culture. Haipai Peking Opera is an important part of Haipai culture, and the word "Haipai" is precisely derived from opera. Zhou Xinfang, the first director of the Shanghai Peking Opera House, is the person who raised the banner of Haipai Peking Opera and Qipai Art, and has made outstanding contributions to the creation of new historical dramas and modern dramas. This year is also the 100th anniversary of the Kunqu opera generation. The kunqu opera masters of all ages who are active on the stage today have fully inherited the mantle and essence of Yu Zhenfei's old troupe leader and the old artists of the chuanzi generation. The Chuanzi generations are the first batch of students of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute. Cultural interaction in the Yangtze River Delta has a long history.
The same is true of the growth of the Shanghai Yue Theatre. With Yuan Xuefen as the first director, Shanghai Yue Theatre, united the "Ten Sisters of Yue Opera", most of which are from Shengzhou, Zhejiang, and won attention in the big world and various theaters in the early years, so Yue opera "originated in Shengzhou and originated in Shanghai". It is also the environment of Shanghai's multicultural coexistence, forming artistic competition and prosperity, and gradually forming an eclectic and inclusive pattern... Each genre, genre and even various forms of music art, from their respective fields or water towns, are sailed by a boat. Therefore, Shanghai, a port city, is still a vigorous and prosperous "drama dock" to this day.
Opera, as an art of almost the same age as European opera, also made Tang Weng's works stand shoulder to shoulder with Shakespeare on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu - Tang Weng's "Four Dreams of Linchuan" performed completely on the stage for the first time, and went abroad to tour more than 80 times in the world. In 2018, Shangkun went to Austria and Russia with "Four Dreams of Linchuan", and was invited to the stage by the Berlin Arts Festival in Germany, with an attendance rate of more than 90%, and the European audience accounted for 95%. European media such as the Weekly Mirror carried out large-scale reports on the theme of "Tribute to Traditional Chinese Culture".
The shooting of 3D opera films has also attracted the world's attention to the Chinese stage. The 3D Kun opera film "Jingyang Zhong" and the Yue opera "Xi Xiang Ji" have won awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Technological innovation, grafting the stage, so that more people feel the aesthetic height of China's excellent traditional culture.
Sailing to sea is the millennium normal of Shanghai, a port city; the blessing of science and technology is also the highlight of Shanghai's strength as a science and technology innovation center; encouraging young people is the source of power for Shanghai, a vibrant city. The average age of the members of the Shanghai Xiqu Art Center is 37 years old, and they vigorously practice the purpose of the founding, "protecting in inheritance, developing in innovation, and making plays and benefits in the process of meeting the cultural needs of the people and serving the public".
Facing the future of diversified development, in the international cultural metropolis, the Xiqu Center is confidently moving towards the beginning of the second decade - 2022. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhu Guang)
Ten years, strength in numbers
55 national non-hereditary inheritors
35 people have won the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award and the Chinese Quyi Peony Award 39 times
40 people have won the individual individual award of the Wenhua Award of the Ministry of Culture 43 times
More than 10 original plays have won national awards such as the Five Ones Project Award of the Central Propaganda Department, the Wenhua Award, the Top Ten Fine Repertoire of the National Stage Art Quality Project, the Grand Prize of the China Arts Festival, the Chinese Drama Award, the Outstanding Reserved Repertoire Award of the Ministry of Culture (Tourism), and the Award of the Chinese Opera Society