Ugly to Yinlai, dragon leaping tiger leap, tiger tiger mighty, like tiger wings... The tiger is the king of the beasts, fierce and vigorous, and the majesty of a king. In the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, the "tiger" symbolizes bravery and fortitude, indicating bravery in the face of difficulties and upright life. Therefore, in the long river of Chinese history, "tiger culture" has always run through all aspects of people's social life, and there are countless literary and artistic works related to tigers, which is the inheritance of the tiger spirit.
Chu opera
General Tiger
The creation of the large-scale modern Chu opera "Tiger General" began in 1982, the first draft was "Xu Haidong Expedition", later revised to "General's Tears", zheng Weihan was invited as the director, and it was set on the stage. It was premiered in September 1989 at the First Arts Festival in Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, and in October, when it participated in the province's newly created repertoire exhibition, it was unanimously affirmed by the leaders of the provincial party committee and experts in the theater industry, and proposed amendments. After that, the Chu Opera Troupe of Guangshui City, Hubei Province, set up a creative collective with Yu Xiaoyu as the special director, Chen Fengsan as the lighting designer, Song Xiting as the script writer, Rao Pingxiang and Li Shiye as the composer, Chen Jiansheng as the deputy director, Shi Honggen as the stage costume designer, and Zhang Taiping, Zhang Hong, and Zhou Qinqin as the main actors, and created again, and finally finalized "Tiger General".
The performance unit of "Tiger General" is the Chu Opera Troupe of Guangshui City, and the drama uses flashbacks and interludes to show the plot of Xu Haidong leading the Red 25th Army in the long march, the plot of great wisdom and courage, fighting against the enemy, and the touching scenes of his comradeship and comradely love.
In mid-June 1990, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of General Xu Haidong, the crew of "General Tiger" entered Beijing to perform, and performed for the first time for experts in the capital's literary and art circles at the Beijing People's Theater. On June 19 of that year, the Chinese Drama Association held an expert symposium, and more than 30 experts attended and gave high praise to "Tiger General".
In May 1991, "Tiger General" participated in the national modern opera observation performance held in Yangzhou, and won 7 awards: Excellent Repertoire Award, Excellent Screenwriter Award, Excellent Director Award, Excellent Performance Award, Excellent Music Instrumentation Award, Excellent Costume Design Award, and Excellent Young Actor Award. In June of the same year, "General Tiger" entered Beijing for the second time to present a performance for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PARTY, which was once again a complete success and was received by Li Xiannian, then chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. On September 26th, at the first National Wenhua Awards ceremony held by the Ministry of Culture, the "Tiger General" crew of Guangshui Chu Opera Troupe won four awards: Wenhua New Repertoire Award, Wenhua Drama Composition Award, Wenhua Director Award and Wenhua Performance Award. The Guangshui Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government presented a plaque to the Guangshui Chu Opera Troupe: "Yang Hu will be mighty, and Changguangshui will be ambitious."
January 29, 2022 China Culture Daily
The 3rd edition publishes a special issue in the Year of the Tiger
Tiger Drama | Chu Opera "Tiger General"
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue