Representative work of Peking Opera - "Fishing for Golden Turtles"
Liu Xinyang
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The story of "Fishing for Golden Turtles" was first seen in the "Double Nail Case" adapted by Tang Ying in the "Legend of GuBaitang" in the late Qing Dynasty. The play tells the story of: In the Song Dynasty, there was a widow kang in Mengjin, Henan, who had two sons, the eldest son Zhang Xuan, and the second son Zhang Yi. Zhang Xuan went to Beijing to take the test, and he never returned. Kang relied on his second son, Zhang Yi, to live a hard life fishing in the Mengjin River. One day, Zhang Yi fished for the treasure golden turtle of the Mengjin River, and heard that his brother had won the Jinshi and made the Xiangfu County Order, and these two happy events made the mother and son very happy. However, when Zhang Yi inquired about the neighbors in detail, he learned that after his sister-in-law Wang Shi received a letter from his brother, he left his mother and Zhang Yi and went to Xiangfu County alone. When Kang heard this, he hated Zhang Xuan and Wang Shi and sent Zhang Yi to Xiangfu County with a crutch to find Zhang Xuan and Wang Shi.
"Fishing for Golden Turtles", also known as "Mengjin River" or "Zhang Yi Debao", is a representative play of peking opera Lao Dan. If, from the beginning of Gong Yunfu's 1908 infusion of the two-sided "Zhang Yijinbao" (that is, "Fishing for Golden Turtles") records in The Company, after the perfection of Woyun Jushi and Li Duokui, and then through the continuous practice of Li Jinquan, Wang Yumin, Wang Mengyun, Li Mingyan, Wang Shufang, Zhao Baoxiu, Kang Jing, Zhai Mo and other generations of old Dan masters, then this "Fishing for Golden Turtles" has been sung for more than a hundred years.
It is precisely because of the continuous polishing of several generations of Peking Opera actors that "Fishing for Golden Turtles" has a high degree of artistry. Although the capacity of "Fishing for Golden Turtles" is not large, it can also be said to be a small play, but there are many singing sections, and each section has the characteristics of easy to understand lyrics, beautiful melody and endless aftertaste. For example, in the play, "God opened his three-point eyes" of "Erhuang Slow Plate", "Call Zhang Yi my son to listen to the mother's lesson", "There are a few virtuous filial pieties to listen to the mother to discuss", "these generations of xianxiaozi Hugh to talk about it, and the unfilial son to listen to the child" of the "Erhuangyuan Plate" and "Zhang Yi'er tearfully cried out of the kiln door" [Erhuang Scattered Board] are all classic singing segments that are very familiar to Peking Opera audiences and even ticket friends. If professional actors do not handle the relationship between skills and emotions well, and only by selling their voices with high tone and full strength, they are bound to be unable to move and infect the audience with their singing voices, so it is reasonable that they will not be recognized by the audience.
At the same time, the lyrics of "Fishing for Golden Turtles" also contain many allusions and stories in traditional national virtues, such as "Da Shun Cultivating the Field", "Ding Lan Carved Wood", "Lai Zi Ban Yi", "Mengzong Weeping Bamboo", "Yang Xiang Fighting Tiger" are all allusions from the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties". The use of these allusions has greatly enhanced the literary nature of the script, and at the same time, it has also provided a convenient way for ordinary audiences to further understand and understand the traditional culture of the nation through the mass behavior of watching the play. From this point of view, in the past, some people regarded listening to commentaries and watching plays as "persuasion parties" that entertained and educated people and persuaded people to be good, which was not unreasonable.