Liu Shu and students of the Chuanbei Lantern Drama Class of Nanchong Vocational and Technical College. Courtesy of respondents
Chuanbei Lantern Opera is an ancient song and dance drama popular in the northeast of Sichuan Province, which grows in the folk and reflects the human life concept and aesthetic taste of the people at the bottom. Because of its witty humor and grounding, the lantern drama in northern Sichuan is loved by the people of the mountains and villages, and is known as the "peasant drama" and "joy god".
The long-established chuanbei shadow puppet is favored by the people of the mountain countryside because of its vivid shape, exquisite carving, delicate performance and funny plot. The shadow carving process is very delicate, through the selection of high-grade cowhide, through the "scraping, grinding, painting, engraving, coloring, dropping" and other more than 30 processes, hand-carved more than a thousand knives.
These intangible cultural heritage skills rooted in the folk have not disappeared in the torrent of modern society, but have been rejuvenated with new vitality.
In Nanchong Vocational and Technical College, a partner of China Youth Daily's "Warm One Square", there is a group of young people who have spent several years of their youth in the practice room and stage in order to inherit these intangible cultural heritage arts.
Liu Shu, deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of Nanchong Vocational and Technical College, was interviewed by a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network and introduced that in order to cultivate a group of non-genetic talents, the college began to prepare for the establishment of the College of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance in 2018. Nanchong City currently has 5 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list, of which the Chuanbei Lantern Opera, the Chuanbei Puppet, the Chuanbei Shadow Puppet, and the Chuanbei Paper-cutting are known as the "Four Golden Flowers" in the north of Sichuan.
Liu Shu introduced that in order to solve the problem of modern inheritance of national intangible cultural heritage and innovate the path of non-genetic inheritance, "the college, the intangible cultural heritage group and the municipal government jointly set up a non-genetic major, and has now opened a specialty of northern Sichuan lantern opera and puppet performance production in northern Sichuan."
At the beginning of 2019, the Northern Sichuan Lantern Drama "Jumping Pedal" appeared in the "2019 Lantern Opera Gala" of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, and most of the actors participating in the performance were students of the "non-genetic learning class".
The establishment of the "non-genetic learning class" has injected fresh blood into the traditional performing arts full of regional characteristics.
He Yuanyuan is a student of the "Non-genetic Learning Class" of the Nanchong City Chuan Opera Troupe of Nanchong Vocational and Technical College, playing the role of Fan Yuxiang in the newly compiled historical Chuanbei Lantern Drama "Zhang Fei Anecdote". This year, He Yuanyuan is about to graduate from the "non-genetic learning class".
"Chuanbei Lantern Opera is a noble art, and it is a great honor for me to perform Sichuan Opera and Chuanbei Lantern Opera, which has risen from like to love." He Yuanyuan said.
He Yuanyuan introduced that the northern Sichuan lantern drama is mostly farce and comedy, especially the shape of the clown, which has typical decorative, danceable and stylistic characteristics. "Traditional lantern plays are mostly performed at night, and the audience holds lanterns and torches to watch the scene, so that the theater converges into a sea of lights. The dragon lanterns and lion lanterns that appear in the play are not only props, but also exquisite folk crafts, and are also characters in the play. ”
He Yuanyuan said that the audience watching the lantern play performance is called "watching the lamp", and the actor's lamp play is called "playing the lamp". "The lights on and off the stage are shining, the actors and audiences are blending seamlessly, and the crowd is jubilant and spectacular."
In the northern Sichuan lantern play, "jumping" is a key element of performance, and there is a saying in the folk that "no jump can not become a lamp". He Yuanyuan said that "dancing" is to require singing and dancing, and to have rich stage expression, such as stomping "zigzag", wearing "snake molting", walking "three wearing flowers" and "turning, twisting, weaving, swinging, pulling", etc., so that the whole performance is always in rhythm.
In order to complete the highly dancing northern Sichuan lantern opera performance, the students of Nanchong Vocational and Technical College will carry out a lot of training every day.
According to a student, from Monday to Friday, they will take professional classes and cultural classes, conduct regular basic skills training every morning, take drama classes in the afternoon, and review the professional content learned in the evening - these years are basically spent in the practice room. The student said, "Although it is hard, it is worth it, because now traditional culture is more and more supported, understood and loved by the masses." ”
Liu Shu said that now the college has set up two national intangible cultural heritage majors, Namely, The Northern Sichuan Lantern Opera, the Puppet Show and the Production of Sichuan North University, and the number of students applying for the examination is relatively large.
Intangible cultural heritage professional courses adopt the teaching mode of "multiple teachers in a lifetime, one case in a lifetime, and students mutually assisting each other and learning from each other", hierarchical classification, mutual learning, mutual supervision, and common progress. At the same time, the college has constructed a course of ideological and political education of "learning intangible cultural heritage courses and inheriting and promoting national culture", so that the cultivation of knowledge ability and the guidance of cultural connotation are synchronized.
Intangible cultural heritage-related majors not only have teachers in the directions of art, design, music and dance, but also attract many teachers who study traditional folk culture. "In addition, the non-genetic inheritors of the professional academy group and the intangible cultural heritage actors above the second level have also formed a professional teaching team to teach non-genetic professionals." Liu Shu said.
In addition to professional study, a small intangible cultural heritage museum built in 2020 is also an important place to help students feel the charm of traditional culture. Liu Shu told reporters that here "mainly introduces the national intangible cultural heritage projects of Nanchong City, and now there are classic exhibits of chuanbei shadow puppets, chuanbei puppets, chuanbei paper-cutting, Nanchong bamboo weaving and other projects, which are usually free for teachers and students of the whole college for everyone to visit and study." ”
Those who graduate from the intangible cultural heritage major will continue to walk along this road to a wider distance - they pass the test of the professional academy and become professional performers of the professional academy after graduation.
Liu Shu especially mentioned that the 4 students of the 2018 class of advertising art design learned the carving and production skills and performances of the shadow puppets in northern Sichuan by participating in the national college students' art exhibition, and at the same time designed many literary and creative works with shadow puppet elements. After graduating this year, their career path is to enter the Chuanbei Shadow Puppet Museum, mainly engaged in shadow puppet carving, performance, and the development of new shadow puppet plays and shadow puppet derivative products.
"Many students feel that this is what they want to devote their lives to." Liu Shu sighed.
Liu Shu believes that the "Warm Square" of China Youth Daily provides an excellent display platform for the excellent culture and traditional skills of the motherland, and provides an opportunity for the majority of young students to learn and understand various outstanding national culture and traditional skills.
"As a part of higher vocational education, we hope to showcase more of Sichuan's excellent traditional culture and skills on this platform." Liu Shu expects that Nanchong Vocational and Technical College can work with China Youth Daily to comprehensively display the achievements of non-genetic inheritance and innovation of the college, attract more young people to approach the intangible cultural heritage and embrace excellent traditional culture.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Shen Jiequn Source: China Youth Daily
Source: China Youth Daily