During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, Shen Tiemei, deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Chongqing Sichuan Opera Theater, put forward the "Proposal on the Establishment of the Sichuan Opera Art Promotion Association or the Sichuan Opera Development Foundation", and put forward his own views and opinions on the protection and development of Sichuan opera.
Sichuan opera is a treasure of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, but in recent years it has faced the crisis of decline or even demise. The fate of Sichuan opera is also a microcosm of the fate of most traditional operas in the mainland. Statistics from the Ministry of Culture show that in 1983 there were 373 opera genres, but so far only more than 200 remain. Industry experts estimate that the demise of opera genres will accelerate in the future, and the spread and development of traditional opera is not optimistic. Are these arts going or staying? How is its current value reflected? All of this is worth pondering.
As a traditional drama popular in the southwest region, Sichuan opera has distinct regional characteristics and cultural connotations, and is a valuable wealth of mainland traditional culture, which reflects the thoughts, feelings, ethics and values that have been condensed for thousands of years in a special way.
In recent years, due to the collapse of the team of Sichuan opera practitioners, the number of performances of traditional Sichuan opera has decreased sharply, the number of audiences has dropped sharply, the performance venues have been decreasing, and the living space of Sichuan opera has become increasingly narrow.
The protection and development of Sichuan opera has attracted the attention of the deputies to the National People's Congress in Chongqing. During this year's National People's Congress, Shen Tiemei, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Chongqing Municipal Sichuan Theater, put forward the "Proposal on Establishing a Sichuan Opera Art Promotion Association or a Sichuan Opera Development Foundation." A few days ago, the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress also conducted preliminary research on the feasibility and necessity of the legislation on the protection and inheritance of Sichuan opera.
How does traditional culture "break the circle"?
An ancient building, a Sichuan opera. In the ancient opera building of Yongxi Town, Dazu District, Chongqing, the art of Sichuan opera as an intangible cultural heritage has been integrated with more fresh blood, and a batch of Sichuan opera inheritors have stepped onto the stage. Yongxi Town has successfully held two Sichuan Opera Culture and Art Festivals.
For Sichuan opera, Tan Dongming has special feelings. Tan Dongming was born in Dazu's Sichuan opera family, and was able to sing and dance well from an early age, and was admitted to the Sichuan opera training class with excellent results at the age of 11.
However, the reality is not as smooth as imagined. In the early 1990s, Tan Dongming's Sichuan Opera Troupe was dissolved. After that, she went to the south to work, and in the dead of night, in addition to loneliness, she was more confused about the future.
In 2015, Tan Dongming's fate took a turn for the better, the Dazu District Drama and Music Art Association was established, and "Dazu Sichuan Opera" finally had a home. "The inheritance of Sichuan opera starts from the doll, let them like Sichuan opera and find seedlings from it, so that Sichuan opera has a future." Tan Dongming returned to his hometown, and while collecting apprentices, he pushed Sichuan opera to the campus. Nowadays, Sichuan opera has entered the Rice Grain Primary School in Dazu District, yongxi experimental school, and Chengnan Innovation Primary School.
"As an intangible cultural heritage, Sichuan opera is a living specimen of the rich historical spirit and a living carrier of traditional culture." Tan Dongming told reporters that in order to better promote Sichuan opera, they let Sichuan opera enter people's lives through old tunes and new songs, and better realize the living inheritance.
Sichuan opera was once an indispensable entertainment program for people in the southwest region after tea and dinner, festivals and weddings. For example, the traditional Sichuan opera of Fuling, represented by "Fuzhou Sichuan Opera", has a history of more than 120 years since its rise from Fuling itself. "Fuzhou Sichuan Opera" has become an artistic treasure of the famous Zhenchuandong with its unique stage design and singing action. In its heyday, the FulingChuan Opera Troupe spread throughout eastern Sichuan and surrounding provinces, cities and counties. However, with the development of economy and culture, many entertainment methods that replace traditional drama have appeared in people's lives, which has gradually declined in Sichuan opera, and many unique skills in "Fuzhou Sichuan Opera" have also become "museum art".
A few days ago, when the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress carried out a preliminary investigation on the legislation on the protection and inheritance of Sichuan opera, the relevant person in charge of the Standing Committee of the Fuling District People's Congress said that in recent years, the situation of "Fuzhou Sichuan Opera" has improved to a certain extent after rescue protection, but in the context of the reform of the national troupe system and the changes in the cultural atmosphere of Sichuan opera, "Fuzhou Sichuan Opera" has still not shaken off the fate of declining, such as: some historical items, materials, and repertoire of Sichuan opera have been lost or are on the verge of disappearing; there is a lack of systematic and complete protection and inheritance planning and policies; key theme plays, The launch of high-quality plays is weak.
Stills of the Sichuan opera "Sister Jiang". (Infographic)
Shen Tiemei is a leading figure in the Sichuan opera industry, and at the age of 23, she first won the "Plum Blossom Award", the highest award in Chinese opera performing arts, and now it is "Mei Kai Three Degrees". She has been committed to promoting the development of Sichuan opera for many years, and she deeply feels that the situation is grim - "imminent." "Shen Tiemei uses such words to describe the situation of Sichuan opera protection." The difficulties faced by the development of Sichuan opera are also the difficulties faced by various types of Chinese drama, so the protection of Sichuan opera has important reference significance for the inheritance and protection of other traditional cultures. Shen Tiemei said.
When the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress carried out the preliminary investigation of the legislation on the protection and inheritance of Sichuan opera, many Sichuan opera practitioners proposed that the protection of Sichuan opera should first solve the survival problem of grass-roots theater groups from the policy and input levels, and solve the site problem of professional theater groups and amateur theater groups by building intangible cultural heritage protection center theaters to ensure sustainable development. The relevant person in charge of the Yongchuan District Government said that Yongchuan, as one of the few districts in Chongqing that retains the Sichuan Opera Troupe, has increased its investment in the development of Sichuan Opera industry year by year, but the development of Sichuan Opera is a pure public welfare undertaking, and there is no other capital injection except financial funds, and the repertoire arrangement, stage repair, equipment purchase, talent training, etc. all need to invest a lot of money, and only relying on district-level finance cannot meet the needs of Sichuan opera protection, inheritance and development.
How to solve the problem of talent generation?
When it comes to the inheritance and protection of Sichuan opera, everyone invariably talks about a problem that is the generation of talents.
In Shen Tiemei's view, talent is an unavoidable problem in the process of the protection and development of Sichuan opera, and the talents here include performance talents, musical talents, and script creation talents.
Zhang Houdao, secretary of the party committee and vice president of Chongqing Chuan Theatre, said that the training cycle of Sichuan opera talents is long, the professionalism is strong, and there are unique evaluation standards and training methods. Taking the Chongqing Municipal Chuan Theater as an example, Sichuan opera actors have problems such as uneven trades, age faults, and weak reserve strength. "For more than 20 years, Chongqing has only recruited a group of Sichuan opera students." Zhang Houdao sighed.
The research group of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress found that taking the Dazu District Drama and Music Artists Association as an example, there are 97 members, of which only 10% are under 40 years old, 30% are 40-60 years old, and 60% are over 60 years old. In Hechuan District, Sichuan opera artistic talents are mainly concentrated in over 50 years old, and there are very few Sichuan opera talents between 30 and 50 years old.
"The actors are incomplete, the quality of blowing and playing is not high, and the head clothing and equipment are insufficient." The relevant personnel of the Hechuan District Drama Artists Association said that the sluggish Sichuan opera market and the dim prospects for the Sichuan opera career are the main reasons for the lack of reserve talents in Sichuan opera.
Some Sichuan opera practitioners suggested to the research group that it is necessary to establish and improve the training, reserve, and incentive mechanism for Sichuan opera talents, establish a project library of Sichuan opera works and a regular census and rescue mechanism; encourage and support colleges and universities and secondary vocational education schools to open Sichuan opera art courses; actively cooperate with local academies and groups to open targeted training channels, send more outstanding seedlings to local theater groups, and continuously expand the contingent of Sichuan opera talents.
At the just-concluded Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress, Shen Tiemei also suggested that the Sichuan Opera Art Promotion Association or the Sichuan Opera Development Foundation be established to provide a platform for the cultivation of Sichuan opera talents; formulate and improve relevant talent training plans, hold important competitions, support old artists to play a role in passing on and helping, and cultivate new literary and artistic talents.
Stills from the Sichuan opera "Jinzi". (Infographic)
Shen Tiemei believes that Sichuan opera is not "an intangible cultural heritage locked in a box", but should be oriented to the public and the market. In other words, opera people are like patent inventors, and our creations need to be transformed into landing, need to become products, become commodities, and transform into works of art that the masses like to hear. The Sichuan Opera Art Promotion Association or the Sichuan Opera Development Fund can assume the role of leveraging social resources and form an atmosphere in which the whole society pays attention to the inheritance and development of Sichuan opera, rather than relying solely on financial funds to maintain it. ”
Promote the modernization and development of Sichuan opera
Affected by the rapid economic development and the impact of foreign culture, the living space of Sichuan opera and other local operas has been seriously squeezed, facing problems such as sharp decline in audiences, shrinking markets, and difficulties in inheritance and development, especially the loss of front-line positions (the abolition of district and county Sichuan opera troupes), and the loss of the soil for Sichuan opera to sprout and grow.
"At present, many audiences only come to see the show by sending tickets, and few people take the initiative to buy tickets to watch the show." Yuan Guohu, vice chairman of the Chongqing Qu Artists Association, said that to promote the prosperity and development of Sichuan opera art, the most fundamental thing is to create artistic masterpieces that keep pace with the times and are worthy of the times and the people. Without fine products, young audiences cannot be attracted into the theater, and traditional opera loses its vitality.
"Increasing youth engagement is essential to passing on and promoting traditional culture." Shen Tiemei and her peers are also making some attempts, she said that under the premise of not harming the spirit of fine traditions, some adjustments are made to the repertoire, strengthen the rhythm, story, and better adapt to the tastes of young audiences. She also said that the new ways of dissemination also provide them with some new ideas. After the epidemic, more and more opera actors have begun to embark on the short video platform, and traditional opera is being recognized by the public in a new way. "This is a welcome change."
The little fluorescence of traditional opera on the new platform has given people hope. Many practitioners have proposed that we must not only solve the problem of protection and inheritance, but also promote the modern expression and modernization of Sichuan opera.
"Sichuan opera cannot be limited to traditional techniques such as changing faces, spitting fire, and hiding knives, but should have forms that can better express its broad and profound connotations." Shen Tiemei believes that at present, most of the theoretical research on Sichuan opera art still focuses on the inheritance and continuation of traditional skills, which cannot fully promote the transformation and innovation of traditional arts, nor can it effectively guide the modern practice of Sichuan opera.
Practitioners of the Chongqing District and County Drama Artists Association share the same view as Shen Tiemei, the market adaptability of Sichuan opera is not strong, the creation and performance market are disconnected, coupled with the outdated equipment, which seriously affects the development of Sichuan opera, and it is urgent to update the traditional Sichuan opera repertoire and performance forms.
In the survey, all districts and counties suggested that in terms of protecting and inheriting, special funds for the development of Sichuan opera at the municipal level should be set up, Sichuan opera performances should be included in the public cultural service catalog, and in the form of government procurement services, Sichuan opera should be vigorously carried out in the form of government procurement services, and the number of mobile performances should be increased; governments at all levels should set up special purchase plans to purchase Sichuan opera popularization training courses from academies and social art training institutions every year to promote the inheritance and popularization of Sichuan opera.
In terms of modernization practice and revitalization and utilization, explore the implementation of industrial integration, realize the seamless docking of Sichuan opera industry and cultural tourism and other industries, conserve consumer groups, promote inheritance and dissemination, and promote the industrialization of Sichuan opera art; encourage enterprises and social forces to invest funds, widely participate in Sichuan opera protection, claim new incubation projects of Sichuan opera, try and explore the development and performance management mechanism of multiple subjects that bind the interests of inheritors, increase the market circulation vitality of Sichuan opera repertoire, and make full use of digital normal protection to achieve the revitalization and reproduction of Sichuan opera. Build an intangible online platform for city-county linkage, develop immersive experience products, and realize the digital sharing of Sichuan opera; from the perspective of the academy itself, it is also necessary to continuously reform and innovate, actively adapt to the changes brought about by the current fast-paced life, take the initiative to graft the market, move closer to young people, move closer to new communication methods, and strive to improve the influence and attractiveness of Sichuan opera.
Source: Chongqing People's Congress Citizen Guide Rong Media
Reporter: Chen Min
Editor-in-charge: Chang Chang
Editor: Zhang Shuangshan
Review: Luo Wei