Tangshan Imprint 丨How did the name "Tang Opera" come from? 99% of Tangshan people don't know

Stills of the Tang opera "Human Shadow", source: China Jilin Network

Tang opera

Speaking of Tangshan drama, many people's first reaction is to comment on the drama, in fact, as a tang opera in Tangshan, the Tang opera was once very popular, do you know how the name "Tang opera" came from?

In the 1950s, the central government proposed that each province should have its own local drama. In view of the rich tunes of Tangshan shadow puppet singing, distinctive characteristics, complete plate style, complete industry, and wide popularity among the masses, the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Culture submitted the "Plan on Establishing a Shadow Tune Troupe" to the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal People's Committee on August 31, 1958, clearly proposing to "inherit the tradition of shadow puppet art and opera art, creatively use shadow puppet singing, and combine opera art and forms of expression to cultivate emerging dramas in Tangshan area." In 1959, the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal People's Committee agreed that the students of the shadow puppet class of the Municipal Opera School would try to rehearse the "Peeping Family Letters" and "Family Portrait" in "Wufenghui" with two folds. After the "100-day experiment", on March 7, 1960, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal People's Committee affirmed the shadow puppet performance and named it "Tangshan Opera".

On June 25, 1960, the first youth actor report performance conference in Hebei Province opened in the provincial capital, and the Tangshan opera "The Tale of the Goldfish" attracted special attention. The 8th issue of "Drama Front" published "The Birth of "Tangshan Opera"", praising "Tangshan Opera is a plant with relatively mature growth, lush foliage and unique flavor" and "received unanimous attention and affirmation from the delegates attending the meeting", because this is the first performance of Tangshan Opera through provincial affirmation and formal meeting with the audience, so it is set as the birth day of this emerging drama.

After the provincial performance, how to make this emerging drama that was born in the socialist new China grow as soon as possible has become the center of discussion in Tangshan's cultural circles. After careful study and sorting out the opinions of many parties, the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Culture decided to set up a "Tangshan Opera Crash Course", which successively transferred famous shadow puppets and contemporary masters who participated in the recording of records in the 1930s, famous actors and new music workers of the Tangshan Peking Opera Troupe, and also equipped with full-time screenwriters to take the road of studying, rehearsing plays and performing while performing. In 1961, three folding plays were first selected to carry out exploration experiments in different styles, and it was determined that "Broken Bridge", which was mainly based on Qingyi Xiaosheng, would seriously inherit from the aspects of script, singing voice, music, performance, etc., boldly innovate, and explore new styles of new dramas; "Jingde Weeping Horse", which is mainly based on jingxing, adopts the method of shadow puppet singing and Peking Opera performance; "Xiang Luopa", which is mainly based on Hua Dan, tries to maintain the characteristics of shadow puppetry from many aspects.

In June of the same year, after watching the rehearsal performances of the Jidong District Party Committee during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Yunchang, Li Chuli, Yan Dakai, and Zhang Da, the topic of discussion focused on the name of the drama genre, and Comrade Zhang Da said: "The name of Tangshan opera is too stingy, and it is planned to be renamed Tang opera according to the unified title of each drama. This sentence aroused the resonance of everyone, and Li Yunchang said with great interest: "This 'Tang' word has a big meaning, both tangshan and Chinese, and foreign countries do not call the place where overseas Chinese live in 'Chinatown'!" The name "Tang Opera" was thus established. In December, when Tangshan People's Radio broadcast "Broken Bridge", the word "Tang Opera" was officially met with the audience through the media.

In the autumn of 1962, according to the instructions of the central government, the "Tang Opera Class" was assigned to the Tang Opera Department of the Hebei Provincial Drama School, and the school site was still located in Tangshan. The first modern play of Tang opera, "Red Cloud Cliff", was premiered at the People's Grand Theater in the Spring Festival of 1964, and Zhou Yang, deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department, came to Tang to inspect, personally watched the theater, and went on stage to talk cordially with the cast and crew for 24 minutes. After returning to Beijing, he mentioned to the China Opera House: "I watched the "Red Cloud Cliff" performed by the Tangshan Opera School in Tangshan, and some places are better than yours, and you should send someone to see it." ”

According to the notice of the Editorial Committee of Hebei Province, on February 12, 1966, the first batch of Tang opera graduates and some teachers formed the "Tangshan Experimental Tang Opera Troupe". The first task of the establishment of the troupe was to go to the northeast Jinzhou, Shenyang, Siping, Changchun tour "Red Cloud Cliff", where to go red, the grand situation is unprecedented, known as "precocious baby". After returning to The Tang Dynasty from the northeast, the Tang Opera Troupe went to Tianjin to participate in the Hebei Provincial Small and Medium-sized Opera Show, and "Blood and Tears of Artists" was called "a living teaching material for remembering bitterness and sweetness" by Tianjin textile workers, which was very popular.

After returning to the Tang Dynasty from Tianjin, the "Cultural Revolution" had begun, "Red Cloud Cliff" and "Artists' Blood and Tears" were criticized as "big poisonous weeds", and the troupe was criticized as "the royal tool of the anti-party clique in Jidong" because of the word "Tang opera", the drama genre was cut down, and the troupe was dissolved. Tang opera was not revived until 1970 at the strong request of the masses, and in order to draw a clear line with the "black line of literature and art", "Tang opera" was renamed "shadow drama".

In 1972, the film and tone drama "Ode to Longjiang" was a hit in the transplant model drama performance of Hebei Province. In the Spring Festival of 1975, "Flying Swallows in the Wind" attracted special attention from the conference and the audience during the North China Literary and Art Performance, and was evaluated by the conference as "a play full of enthusiasm to praise the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and welcomed by the masses." On March 1, the Film Tune Troupe was invited to perform at the Tianjin China Grand Theatre. From January 11 to 14, 1975, Beijing Television (the predecessor of CCTV) recorded a new revision of "Flying Swallows in the Wind" for the delegates to the Fourth National People's Congress. During this period, well-known newspapers such as People's Daily, People's Liberation Army Daily, Guangming Daily, Workers Daily, Beijing Daily, and China Youth Daily all enthusiastically commented on them under the title of "film and tone drama", and the influence was beyond imagination.

The February 1980 issue of Cihai (Art Fascicle) published the genre as a "shadow drama". On December 6, 1978, the "Tangshan Experimental Tang Opera Troupe" was restored. In 1979, the 30th anniversary of the National Day, "Red Cloud Cliff" participated in the gift performance, and the Central People's Radio recorded excerpts on the spot and broadcast them under the name of "Tang Opera".

From the "shadow tone" in 1958 - the "Tangshan opera" in 1960 - the "Tang opera" in 1962 - the "shadow tone drama" in 1970 - the "Tang opera" in 1978, the course of these 20 years, only the name has changed 5 times, and there is a story behind each change, which shows how tortuous the growth of Tang opera, an emerging drama genre.

(Source: Tangshan Labor Daily)