【Xin'an Night Sky】No. 99 | Hu Jing: Eye drama, singing for you

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Eye-to-eye drama, singing for you

Hu Jing

Bizarre Faces

As I flipped through the old photo albums, strange faces suddenly appeared in front of me, and the memory was suddenly pulled back to the summer of the sixth grade.

At that time, as young pioneers, a group of friends and I had the honor of being selected to represent the school in the Young Pioneers' competition, and the content was to promote the culture of our hometown. I grew up in a small county town like "Qimen", and it was only then that I learned that there was an opera that originated in our county----- mulled opera. The teacher took us to learn the history of mulian drama, and learned to draw faces and recognize faces together. Immediately after, I met a grandfather named "Wang Qiulai". Young and ignorant, I now understand that the seemingly ordinary and generous grandfather of that year is actually the inheritor of the drama. When rehearsing, he came alone from the countryside at the age of 80 and accompanied us in rehearsals over and over again, drinking alcohol, running, and spitting fire again and again. This run is called "running rampant", which is exactly the "race to meet the gods" written by Mr. Lu Xun in the "Five Rampant Meetings".

Run for dreams

On the day of the competition, he wore a yellow scarf, a fiery red robe, a blue ribbon around his neck, and a fork in his hand. The most eye-catching thing is the face he painted for himself, the fiery red cheeks, the forehead is white knife handle shape, the black and thick eyebrows go straight to the temple, and the mouth is also wrapped in white flowers, living off a "five rampant" look. With a sharp call and the sound of gongs and drums, I saw that the "five rampant" appeared. He was holding an iron fork in his hand, spewing fire from his mouth, running wildly around the field, and what was amazing was that behind him was a group of "little five rampant" running with him, they were energetic and rhythmically waving the iron fork forward, they were my partners. Maybe it was the addition of new life, the whole audience boiled over, I picked up the microphone and proudly introduced the opera that belonged to my hometown for the audience...

Today, many years later, when I once again followed the footsteps of time through this precious memory, I realized a different meaning, and I was deeply moved by the spirit of a hometown opera culture.

Burn the soul

The spirit of mulian opera is a sincere love that is not bound by age. Gide said, "I am willing to burn my soul for all that is good." At the moment when the drama was about to be forgotten, Wang Qiulai's grandfather appeared. He learned to act with his father since he was a child, and once he learned it, he became obsessed. Regardless of his age, he ignored the advice of others and pulled up his friends to reopen the drama team. If there are not enough actors, they will play a few roles by one; if there is no stage, they will build themselves; if the props are missing, they will tie their own bull's heads, draw horse faces, paste lanterns... In order to expand the drama team, they lined up six plays in half a year, running around, running for love, Wang Qiulai was happy. When he came to our school and excitedly introduced their drama team to a group of children who did not understand drama, I saw that his eyes were shining, like the sea in the moonlight, with ripples. Although I did not understand it at the time, the light that was full of vitality and transparent as if it had just come into this world still flowed in front of my eyes many years later.

Spiritual inheritance

The spirit of mulian opera is a spirit of inheritance. When I consulted the information, I learned that Mulian Opera is one of the oldest dramas in China, and is known as the "opera ancestor" of Chinese opera. In the past, whether it was a disaster year, a plague, or a greeting to the gods, a race, or a funeral for a wealthy family, it was generally necessary to invite people to perform a series of dramas. At that time, the mulled drama could pray for disaster relief, peace, and longevity. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Mulian opera "only passed on inside and not outside, only passed on to men and not women", so fewer and fewer people knew about Mulian opera, and even many native children did not understand it. Fortunately, this rule was quickly abolished, so there was a small version of the costume, and only then did Grandpa Wang Qiulai teach us some opera skins. As the sun sets, some of us hold gongs, some of us beat drums, some of us sing and dance blindly with grandpa... Through the leaves of the sycamore trees in autumn, the stars are draped over our shoulders, swinging out a circle of light, telling the charm of the drama.

Cultural confidence

To this day, we have all grown up and become the youth of the motherland. We may still not know enough about Mu Lian Opera, let alone sing Mu Lian Opera, but I believe that none of our children will forget Mu Lian Opera; I firmly believe that we will love Mu Lian Opera deeply. Isn't that a legacy? Inheritance can be to learn this skill, or to promote this skill to more people. As a member of my hometown, I have the responsibility to work hard to carry forward the culture of my hometown; as a member of the motherland, I have the obligation to fight for the protection of the national intangible cultural heritage.

At the end of the show, we held up the big characters written by the brush together, and said in unison----- eyes are connected, and we sing for you." I hope that this voice can spread farther, because I am willing to always sing for the sake of mulian opera, singing the affection for the opera of my hometown, and singing the confidence in the culture of the motherland.

(This article won the first prize in the 22nd World Chinese Students Essay Competition in the China Division)

Author Profile

Hu Jing is a student in the second (3rd) class of Qimen No. 1 Middle School.

Photo courtesy of: Ye Yongfeng, Wonderful Pit

Huangshan Daily

Cultural and creative design | Divine Beast Studio

Planning | Hu Qingsi

Production | Xu Yueyue