Author: Li Yunlei (Associate Editor of Selected Novels)
Editor's Note:
On May 23, 1942, the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum was successfully concluded, and Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum" (hereinafter referred to as the "Speech") pointed out the direction for revolutionary literary and art workers. Under the guidance of the spirit of the "Speech," revolutionary literary and art workers adhered to the orientation of serving the masses of the people and the workers, peasants, and soldiers, went deep into the rural areas, factories, and troops, carried out large-scale mass literary and artistic activities, and created a large number of outstanding literary and artistic works that the broad masses liked to see, such as Zhao Shuli's novels "The Marriage of Little Two Blacks" and "Li Youcai's Words," Li Ji's long poem "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang," Xinyang opera "Brothers and Sisters Opening Up the Wasteland," "Husband and Wife Literacy," Peking Opera "Forcing Liangshan," and "Three Dozen Zhujiazhuang." In Yan'an and even in the Liberated Areas Literary and Art Garden, a new situation of a hundred flowers competing for beauty has emerged. As Guo Moruo said, "This is a new era, a new world, and a new century." "When the people turn over, it is also the time when literature and art turn over." Among these works, the pioneering work of China's national opera and the large-scale new opera "The White Haired Girl" have become a particularly brilliant pearl bred by the spirit of "Speech". As the result of Lu Yi's collective creation, artists in different artistic fields have worked together to deeply ponder the core propositions of "for the masses" and "how to serve the masses" in literature and art, write a new Chinese story, create a new art style, and achieve the glory and legend of "The White Haired Girl". For more than 70 years, "The White Haired Girl" has been adapted into various art forms such as Peking Opera, ballet, and film, and still has strong vitality and appeal.
The theme of this issue: "The White-Haired Girl"
In April 1945, during the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the opera "The White Haired Girl" premiered in Yan'an. The story of "The White-Haired Girl" is derived from folklore, telling the story of Xi'er, the daughter of the poor sharecropper Yang Bailao, who was occupied by the bully landlord Huang Shiren, Xi'er fled into a deep mountain cave, qingsi turned into white hair, and finally was saved by the Eighth Route Army and the former lover Dachun, reflecting the theme of "the old society turned people into ghosts, and the new society turned ghosts into people". For more than half a century, "The White-Haired Girl" has been active on stage and screen, becoming the collective memory of generations of Chinese.
In 2019, the Shanghai Ballet performed the ballet "White Haired Girl" in Xi'an. Profile picture
Xi'er, played by Mao Huifang. Profile picture
Posters of "White-Haired Girl" literary and artistic works in various art forms. Profile picture
1. From the legend of the "White Haired Fairy" to the birth of the opera "The White-Haired Girl"
In April 1945, in anticipation of the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the opera "The White-Haired Girl" was performed in Yan'an, and the audience included Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Chen Yi and other central leaders. The first performance was unprecedented, because the tickets were tight, and General Chen Geng sat on the windowsill to watch the performance. The show's creative team and cast members received thunderous applause. This year, the opera "White Haired Girl" has gone through a 76-year journey and has become a peak in the history of Chinese national opera.
The opera "White Haired Girl" is derived from the legend of "White Haired Fairy Girl": in 1940, in a mountain village in northern Hebei Province, village cadres and villagers were very superstitious, saying that they had seen "White Haired Fairy Girl" in the temple and asked them to make offerings on the first and fifteenth day of the first month of each month. Therefore, the district cadres took people to the grandmother's temple at night to catch the "ghost", and finally caught this "white-haired fairy girl". After interrogation, it was learned that the "white-haired fairy girl" turned out to be the daughter of a poor family, who was forced to kill her father by the bully landlord in the village in the name of collecting debts, robbed her home, and later the landlord remarried a new person and wanted to plot to kill her. She managed to escape to the mountains, where she lived for many years, and was white from lack of salt. She often went to the grandmother's temple to steal tribute, and was seen by the villagers, known as the "white hair fairy girl". The district cadre told the "white-haired fairy girl" that the world had changed and rescued her from the cave...
Different versions of the story of the "White Haired Fairy Girl" circulated in the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, and Lin Man (Li Mantian), a reporter and writer of the Jin-Cha-Ji Daily, wrote the story "White Haired Fairy Girl" and sent it to Zhou Yang, dean of the Lu Xun Art Institute in Yan'an. In May 1944, the Northwest Field Service Regiment returned to Yan'an and also brought this story to Yan'an, which attracted the attention of Yan'an's literary and artistic circles. Zhou Yang proposed to adapt the story of the white-haired girl into a new type of opera as a tribute to the Seven Congresses of the Communist Party of China. The script was originally written by Shao Zinan, who was created according to the Qin script, and Zhou Yang was not very satisfied, feeling that he had "not stepped out of the old drama". Later, the script was written by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi, which was the version staged in April 1945.
A few small episodes in the performance process cannot be left unnoticed: when Huang Shiren committed violence against Xi'er in the White Tiger Hall, several female comrades behind the chief's seat lost their voices and cried; when the curtain sang "The old society forced people into ghosts, and the new society turned ghosts into people", the applause lasted for a long time. Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and other central leaders in the audience were also deeply moved, and Mao Zedong's eyes flashed with tears when Hee Er sang "Under the Sun to Make a Grievance." Early the next morning, the General Office of the Central Committee conveyed to the crew three opinions of the central leading comrades: First, the theme is good, it is a good play, and it is very timely. Second, it is artistically successful, the plot is realistic, and the music has a national style. Third, Huang Shiren's crime was extremely heinous and should be shot. The creative group absorbed the opinions from the Party Central Committee and a large number of suggestions from the masses, and made several revisions to the script before forming the current version.
In the 1970s, a large number of "cultural and creative products" related to "The White-Haired Girl" were sought after by the people, among which in addition to villain books, comic strips, pictorials, etc., table lamp bases, teapots, and playing cards were also very popular. The picture shows the base of the "white haired woman" table lamp. Profile picture
2. The good story of Lu Yi's collective creation and the exploration of new art forms
The success of the opera "White Haired Girl" is partly due to the legendary story of "White Haired Fairy Girl", but more importantly, it depends on the creative team composed of the literary and artistic elites of Lu Yi at that time, who are quite young and have vivid creativity. They will derive the story of the "white-haired fairy" from life, artistically conceive, refine and sublimate, giving this story a new theme and a new art form, making it glow with completely different vitality. In He Jingzhi's "The Creation and Performance of the White-Haired Girl", we can see that there have been different opinions on how to adapt the story of "White-haired Fairy Girl", one opinion is that it is a meaningless "god monster" story, and the other opinion is that it can be written as a theme to "break superstition". However, "after carefully studying this story, we do not treat it as a meaningless 'mythical' story, and at the same time do not only treat it as a theme of 'breaking superstition', but grasp its more positive meaning - showing the contrast between two different societies, showing the people's turnaround." This is the refinement of the new theme of "the old society turns people into ghosts, and the new society turns ghosts into people", making it from a specific event in real life to a typical story that can reflect the changing nature of the times, a new Chinese story.
Some researchers have said that "The White-Haired Girl" "sang a new China", which is not only manifested in the fact that "The White-Haired Girl" shows people a new political culture and the nature of the New Chinese regime in being the masters of the poor; it is also manifested in the huge social mobilization ability and influence of "The White-Haired Girl", and many fighters are shouting "avenge for Xi'er" and "avenging Yang Bailao" and rushing to the battlefield of the Liberation War.
A small story can also be quoted, it is said that the angry warrior almost shot at Chen Qiang, who played Huang Shiren, after which the head of the unit stipulated that to watch "The White-Haired Girl", the bullet must be withdrawn. "The White-Haired Girl" not only has artistic influence, it also directly touches the deepest emotional structure of the poor Chinese, allowing them to awaken from the trauma of thousands of years of spiritual slavery, thus bursting out of great spiritual power. It can be said that works like "The White-Haired Girl", which directly transform the influence of art into spiritual strength and even combat effectiveness, are also extremely rare in the history of world literature and art.
In terms of art form, the opera "The White-Haired Girl" is also a new attempt. "New Opera" is different from Western opera and Chinese folk opera, which is a new creation created by Lu Yi's creative team on the basis of opera, and also a new exploration of the integration of opera nationalization and opera modernization. To express the new world, new characters, new ideas, the original old bottle is no longer suitable for new wine, which is why the Qin script of "The White-Haired Girl" is not adopted. Wang Kun, the actor of Xi'er, once recalled, "Comrade Zhou Yang said: 'Because we are about to win, a new situation is coming, we must have a new atmosphere and a new taste. Qin Cavity is an ancient traditional drama, of course, it is an excellent traditional culture in our country, but it cannot express the new spiritual outlook of our military and people at present. ’”
But it is not easy to create a new form, Zhang Geng pointed out in "On the Creation of the Opera of the White-Haired Girl", "In the initial discussion, we decided on such a way: to create an opera. But before us, there are two kinds of operas, one is an old Chinese drama, and the other is a Western OPERA. Which one to use, it has to be decided immediately. We feel that first of all, the broad masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers can understand and like it; a completely foreign faction cannot do it, even if there is too much foreignism, it cannot be said, and it cannot express the life of the Chinese peasants. What about old Chinese dramas? Of course, it is Chinese, but it is old, the stories and life here are the new life of the peasants in the Liberated Areas, and the set of old plays cannot be expressed in any way, and it is precisely in accordance with the instructions of Comrade Mao Zedong's "speech at the forum of literature and art" that we should create and improve them by proceeding from life and folk literature, absorbing the old on the one hand and the Western on the other, and we will start on the basis of a little experience in engaging in 'opera' in the past. However, a big opera is not as easy to deal with as a small song, and as you do it, the problems arise one by one... I can only slowly accumulate a lot of experience from the middle of actually doing..."
Creating a new art form is a difficult process of exploration, it is in the creation process of "White Haired Girl", we see artists from different art departments working together, for a new ideal and new art, bursting out amazing artistic talent, this is the first time in Chinese history "write the masses, write for the masses, write to the masses to see", they grow together with the new historical subjects, full of confidence in history and creation, and it is these that have achieved the glory and legend of "White Haired Girl".
In January 1945, when he wrote "The White-Haired Girl", He Jingzhi had just turned 20 years old. In the difficult environment of the War of Resistance Against Japan, He Jingzhi traveled from Zaozhuang in Shandong Province to Yan'an via Zitong, Sichuan, in 1940, when he was still a young poet. If He Jingzhi changed "The White-Haired Girl" and gave this folk tale a new art form, then we can say that "The White-Haired Girl" also changed He Jingzhi, allowing him to gain a new sense of history and subjectivity.
Zhou Yang and Zhang Geng formed and led the entire creative team, director Wang Bin, composer Marco, Zhang Lu, Qu Wei, He Jingzhi and another author Ding Yi, as well as Xi'er's main actor Wang Kun and others, all contributed to the opera "White Haired Girl". Wang Kun talked about Zhang Lu's process of discovering her like a scout in his recollection: "At that time, the voice was uncomfortable if she didn't sing often. Therefore, I also sang when I walked, I sang when I ate and ate, I sang when I planted tomatoes later, and I sang when I repaired the airport... One day, I felt like someone had been following me for days. Later, I learned that that person was Zhang Lu, the composer of "White Haired Girl". ”
After Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" in 1942, "for the masses" and "how to serve the masses" in literature and art became the core propositions of the literary and art circles, and this creative collective, from leaders to specific creators, recognized and believed in this artistic ideal and regarded it as the artistic pursuit of creating "The White-Haired Girl". In the specific creation, the creative collective has its own division of labor, giving full play to each person's strengths. According to some data, under the leadership of Zhang Geng, the crew adopted the method of "assembly line operation", that is, after He Jingzhi wrote a piece, the composer composed the music, which was reviewed by Zhang Geng and Wang Bin, and the wax paper was engraved and printed by Ding Yi, and then rehearsed by the director and actors, and after the completion of each scene, the total rehearsal was completed, and Lu Yi teachers and students, cadres and the masses, and fellow villagers were invited to watch and comment, and revise while writing and rehearsing. It is indeed a unique new way of collective creation.
When the movie "White Haired Girl" was released in 1950, it caused a sensation throughout the country and is still regarded as a classic. Just two years later, a Japanese couple was so moved by the sight that they decided to creatively give the "white-haired girl" a new art form, ballet. The couple were Masao Shimizu, founder of Matsuyama Ballet, and his wife, Shuko Matsuyama. In March 1958, the Japanese Matsuyama Ballet was invited by Premier Zhou to perform the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" in China. The picture shows Premier Zhou and the three white-haired female actors Wang Kun, Matsuyama Shuzi and Tian Hua in opera, dance drama and movie (from left to right). Profile picture
In 1950, the opera "The White-Haired Girl" was adapted into a movie, and Chen Qiang continued to play Huang Shiren. Profile picture
3. Yan'an is full of tunes of "North Wind Blowing" and "Tie Red Head Rope"
The national opera "White Haired Girl" is a new art form for the audience, and the composer adopts the tune of folk music such as "Little Cabbage" and Hebei Zizi, and innovates them, so many singing sections in "White Haired Girl" are popular.
The north wind blows, the snow drifts,
The year of snowflakes is coming.
Dad went out to hide for seven days,
Thirty nights have not returned.
The eldest sister-in-law gave the jade zi noodles,
I waited for my dad to come home for the New Year.
This "North Wind Blowing" is a famous singing section in "The White Haired Girl", concise and vivid, in just six lyrics, both the lyrics of the scene and the narrative explanation, the situation is unified, the opening brings people into the scene of the wind and snow, and also shows Xi'er's happy and uneasy mood. The ancient city of Yan'an is full of tunes of "north wind blowing" and "tying red head rope". It is said that when Mao Zedong was playing with his daughter Li Ne in the cave, he sang in a thick Hunan accent: "People's girls have flowers to wear, your father and I can't buy them with less money, pull on a two-foot red head rope, and tie it up for me!" When walking, Mao Zedong often whistled the tune of "North Wind Blowing" while walking.
In "The White-Haired Girl", whether it is character shaping, scene depiction, or lyric creation, or the design of dramatic conflicts, we can see He Jingzhi's outstanding talent as a poet and dramatist. Some researchers have explained the artistic characteristics of "White Haired Girl" with the excellent use of white imagery: "If the opera "White Haired Girl" is compared to a huge painting, He Jingzhi, who loves to write 'snow', when making this painting, can be described as painstaking and lonely in the use of white - from the soft white snowflakes that fall on the Chinese New Year's Eve night, to Yang Bailao struggling in the white snowfield; from Xi'er Phi Ma Dai Xiaoxiao, who fell on Yang Bailao's corpse, a plain white body, to Xi'er, who experienced the suffering of inhuman environment, a long white hair, And the white lightning that explodes in the sky when Xi'er shouts out for revenge—the playwright takes the function of white to the extreme. One article described the scene in which Zhang Lu composed the music for The North Wind Blows: "Zhang Lu fell into contemplation on this crumbling table. He followed the train of thought he had just come. He remembered Zhang Geng's repeated emphasis: 'North Wind Blowing' must make the audience like it as soon as they hear it, and they are willing to pay attention to the fate of the characters. According to the description of the script, Xi'er appeared as a seventeen-year-old peasant girl, who had lost her mother since childhood, and was dependent on her father for her life, much like the 'little cabbage' in Hebei folk songs! Thinking of this, his heart fluttered, and he remembered that He Jingzhi had reminded everyone that Xi'er's singing section could use the folk song 'Little Cabbage' as the keynote. Following this line of thought, after repeated self-denial, he finally felt the feeling of urgency and joy in Xi'er's waiting for her father to come home, and a string of notes rushed out of his hand like a mountain spring, and in less than three minutes, he wrote the whole 'North Wind Blowing'. ”
"The White-Haired Girl" music score. Profile picture
4. Each version of "The White-Haired Girl" carries the profound meaning of the times
In the ups and downs of more than 70 years, each version of "White Haired Girl" carries the profound meaning of the times. The opera "The White-Haired Girl" premiered in Yan'an, and since then it has been performed more than 30 times, and the venue is full. Ding Ling once described the scene of watching the play: "Every performance is full of empty alleys in the village, helping the old and the young... Some were in tears, some were whimpering, and a cloud of anger was pressed against their chests. "Then from Yan'an to Zhangjiakou, Harbin, Beijing, and finally all of China." At the premiere, Xi'er was played by Wang Kun. Guo Lanying first played Xi'er in 1947, and her voice was recognized as extremely penetrating.
"The White-Haired Girl" is the pioneering work of China's national opera and a landmark classic work in the history of Chinese opera. For more than 70 years, "The White-Haired Girl" has been adapted into various art forms such as Peking Opera, ballet, and film, and has been performed all over the motherland and at home and abroad, and still has strong vitality and appeal. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Northeast Film Studio produced a black-and-white feature film of the same name in 1950, directed by Shui Hua and Wang Bin, written by Yang Runsheng, and starring Tian Hua, Li Million, Chen Qiang, zhang Shouwei and so on.
In 1951, the movie "White Haired Girl" was simultaneously released in 155 cinemas in 25 cities across the country, and the audience reached more than 478,000 people in one day, setting a record for the highest sales rate of Chinese and foreign films at that time. Tian Hua said in the reminiscence article: "The film crew of "White Haired Girl" is very strong, whether it is the main creative staff or the cast. Director Wang Bin is an expert, familiar with the film business, understands montage, is in charge of sub-shots and final editing; simultaneous recording, three synchronization, is definitely his strength... Co-director Shui Hua, although it is the first time to shoot a film, in Yan'an Luyi is an acting class teacher, the division of labor is the executive director. He rehearsed the plays very carefully, and was good at inspiring and inducing and handling the performances of the actors, which made me learn many valuable things. The two directors have their own strengths, which can be described as a combination of pearls and complement each other. In 1951, "The White-Haired Girl" participated in the Sixth International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic and won a special honorary award. In 1955, the Japanese Matsuyama Ballet first launched a ballet version of "White Haired Girl", with Shuko Matsuyama playing "White Haired Girl" created by Kieko Matsuyama and Masao Shimizu as the author, which won the praise of the Japanese. Masao Shimizu recalled: "It was very cold that day, but the audience was crowded, and there was no replacement seat. Shuko Matsuyama recalled: "When the curtain came down, the applause from the audience lasted for a long time. I saw that the audience in the front row was in tears, some even cried loudly, and the actors on the stage could not suppress their feelings, and they all ended with tears. "The White-Haired Girl is also being disseminated in other art forms. In 1958, Ma Shaobo and Fan Junhong adapted it into the Peking Opera "The White-Haired Girl", which was performed by the Peking Opera House of China. There are many kinds of comic strips "White Haired Girl", among which Hua Sanchuan's color comic strip "White Haired Girl" has the greatest influence, and in 1965, he won the first prize of the Second National Comic Strip Award for Painting.
In 1964, the Shanghai Dance School rehearsed the Chinese version of the ballet "White Haired Girl", which was performed at the 6th "Shanghai Spring" Music Festival in 1965, and the performance was a sensation, which was well received by Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi and others, and then performed for state guests and envoys from Myanmar and Congo. In Beijing on May Day in 1966, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and other party and state leaders accompanied Albanian and other state guests to watch. On the evening of April 24, 1967, Chairman Mao Zedong watched the performance of the ballet "White Haired Girl" for the first time and praised: "'White Haired Girl' is good. The ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was included in eight model plays, with repeated revisions and rehearsals. It was filmed as a stage art film in 1971 and repeatedly screened nationwide the following year. In 1975, the entire ballet "White Haired Girl" crew was ordered to be transferred to Beijing to make major revisions to "White Haired Girl", which was not successful and was not publicly performed. It was not until the smashing of the "Gang of Four" in 1976 that the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" returned to its original appearance.
Since the new era, "The White-Haired Girl" has been repeated many times. In 1983, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth, the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was performed again. In 1985, the opera "The White-Haired Girl" was rehearsed. In 2005, in order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the birth of the ballet "White Haired Girl", Shanghai Ballet held a tour of "White Haired Girl" Hometown Tour - From Yan'an to Shanghai". In 2011, in order to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the opera "White Haired Girl" was rehearsed again. 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the premiere of the opera "The White-Haired Girl", and the new version of the opera "The White-Haired Girl" is performed again. The new version of "White Haired Girl" adheres to the principle of "keeping right and innovating", and emphasizes the return to the opera art itself, highlighting musicality, singing and melody. In several scenes, such as "Uncle Zhao Talks About the Red Army" and "Mu Renzhi Robs Xi'er", the previous dialogue and lines were changed to singing sections, which enhanced the appeal of the opera; "Xi'er and Dachun met in a cave" revived the duo of the two, and the voice was full of emotion and tears, vividly showing the profound theme of "the old society forced people into ghosts, and the new society turned ghosts into people." In the final chorus of "The Sun Is Out" in the passionate singing, the audience's emotions reached a climax, and applause and applause rose and fell.
From 1945 to today, "The White-Haired Girl" still exudes a timeless artistic charm. When looking back at the peak of Chinese national opera, we should also learn from it and strive to create a new "peak" of literature and art in our time.
Guangming Daily ( 2021-05-28 14 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily