Not long ago, "Entering Beijing", which was invested and filmed by Yangzhou Radio and Television General Station, won the Best Editing Award of the 32nd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards, and the film told the story of the "Chuntai Class" provided by Yangzhou salt merchants during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty who went to Beijing to wish the Qianlong Emperor a happy birthday, which was very exciting. There are 30% or 40% of the scenes in the film related to Yangzhou, of which Su Sing Street, located in the depths of the ancient city, can well reflect the long history of Yangzhou opera culture.
Su Sing Street, connected to Dingjiawan in the east and Dujiang Road in the west, is an east-west old street with a width of about 3 meters and a length of more than 200 meters. The moving name "Su Sing" originated in the Kangqian period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Kunqu opera, which had a soft singing voice and elegant lyrics, was the main official opera. Cao Zaihua, a member of the Jiangsu Writers Association, told the "News Girl" reporter that the economy of Yangzhou was very developed at that time, and many salt merchants were particularly fond of Kunqu opera and were willing to spend a lot of money to invest. Because of its proximity to the salt merchants' settlement, this originally inconspicuous street gradually prospered, attracting many Kunqu artists in Suzhou, so su singing street got its name, and Yangzhou became the second hometown of Kunqu.
Li Dou, a native of Yangzhou in the Qing Dynasty, wrote in the "Yangzhou Painting Record": "The old LangTang of Su Sing Street in the city, and the Liyuan General Bureau also. Each class enters the city, before the old lang hall to pray, called the listing. "The so-called Liyuan General Bureau is equivalent to the current Xiqu Association, when there were only two cities in the country with the Liyuan General Bureau, one in Suzhou and the other in Yangzhou's Su Sing Street. Before Huiban entered Beijing, it was here that they met and then set off, which shows the prosperity of Yangzhou opera art at that time. Time has quietly passed, and today's Su Sing Street has no architectural remains related to opera, but walking on the old street, you can see many characteristic wall paintings: the traditional Peking Opera play "Pick a Scooter", the Chinese style of opera faces... Full of artistic and cultural atmosphere.
Under the warm winter sun, walking and stopping on Su Sing Street, you can also find many surprises. No. 26 Su Sing Street is a humble watch shop, and the owner, Lu Chao, is a watch collector who has a special fondness for the expression of Yangzhou's old brand, Qionghua card players. Qionghua Watch Factory was established in the 1950s and 1960s, and officially bid farewell to the historical stage in the early 21st century. Lü Chao has collected more than 30 kinds of Qionghua watches, and the craftsmanship and appearance are very good. Lu Chao introduced that in 1980, the watch of the Qionghua brand could be sold for 45 yuan a piece, and his salary at that time was only 32 yuan 5 a month, so at that time, a Qionghua watch could be regarded as a luxury.
Now that the living conditions are better, buying a watch is not a rare thing, but the ticking sound made by these old watches makes people feel as if they have returned to that precious old time. In the western section of Su Sing Street, the Yangzhou bath built in 1928 also carries the memories of generations of Yangzhou people. Nearby residents said that yangzhou bathrooms are busy all year round, the elderly especially like to come here, everyone talks, will meet, is very enjoyable. Moreover, many Yangzhou people in other places have to come to yangzhou bathroom after they return, which can be said to be a kind of nostalgia for their hometown and a kind of memory.
In addition to Su Sing Street, the collection of huaduhui "Wucheng Ji" City Memory Museum can also tell us a clear context of the development of Yangzhou opera. In the memory museum, the reporter saw a lot of related collections about Yangzhou opera art, two of which were ancient books of the Qing Dynasty, which recorded some of the opera lyrics popular in Yangzhou at that time. Chen Jian, the owner of "Wucheng Chronicle", introduced that the content of these two ancient books is to warn the people of the world that all evils should not be done and that all good should be practiced, which is relatively straightforward; the other is a singing lyric that summarizes the songs and ballads of that time, mainly to play an entertainment role.
Since the 55th year of the Qianlong Dynasty, the four major emblem classes have successively entered Beijing, and they have cooperated with Han tune artists from Hubei, and at the same time accepted some repertoire, tunes and performance methods of Kunqu opera and Qin cavity, and absorbed some local folk tunes, and finally formed Peking Opera through continuous exchange and integration. Peking opera is widely spread throughout the country, with a wide influence, known as "national opera", and was selected as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. Chen Jian introduced that Master Mei Lanfang, the head of the "Four Famous Dans", is a person from the Yangtai area, and he is the first artist to bring chinese opera abroad. The dignified and elegant appearance, delicate and gentle singing voice, and Mei Lanfang's innovative Peking Opera Meipai art are not only the peak of Chinese Peking Opera and the entire Chinese opera art, but also ranked as one of the three major performance systems in the world, which is admired by the world. In Chen Jian's collection, there is a "Drama Newspaper" published in 1946, which is a masthead personally inscribed by Master Mei Lanfang, and the content in it is also more detailed, including an introduction to opera and a brief introduction to famous artists. Among Chen Jian's other collections, there are more than a hundred opera manuscripts, which span a large time span and are quite rich in content. Like the manuscripts of the Republic of China period, they reflect the daily creations of folk artists at that time, and the colloquialism is relatively heavy.
For more than 20 years, Chen Jian's collection has become more and more numerous, and he has become more and more passionate about yangzhou's local culture. Chen Jian introduced that Yangzhou brought about the prosperity of opera because of the rise of salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty; later, during the Republic of China period, Yangzhou inherited and spread a rich opera culture; and then after the founding of New China, it glowed with new life, and in the soil of socialism, it opened up brilliant flowers, so that everyone could feel the charm of opera art. Therefore, he has also been obsessed with changing and is keen to collect opera materials.
There are memories on Su Sing Street, and there are also memories in Chen Jian's urban memory museum, when memories and memories meet and merge, they bring us more shock and emotion in the depths of our hearts. There are many stories in Yangzhou's alleys, Yangzhou's culture is inexhaustible, as a descendant, we must inherit and guard these precious memories.
Source | Yangzhou Radio and Television "Yangfan" mobile phone channel
Edit | Wang Chuiqin, Luo Lihua