Gao Wenxiu (born around 1255-1275, died around 1295-1315), a native of Dongping, was a famous opera writer in the early Yuan Dynasty.
Although Gao Wenxiu only lived for about forty years, there are thirty-two kinds of miscellaneous dramas he has composed, second only to Guan Hanqing in number, and his creative style is natural and natural, very similar to Guan Hanqing, then known as "Little Hanqing", which is the opera writer who wrote the most Water Margin opera in the Yuan Dynasty.
When Gao Wenxiu was a teenager studying in Dongping Province, he first appeared as a miscellaneous drama. Like other miscellaneous dramatists, although he was literate, he was not allowed to go to The Branch, and often went in and out of the Goulan Tile House, the Song Pavilion Qin Lou, where he absorbed the nutrition of folk art.
The script written by Gao Wenxiu, unfortunately, most of it has been lost. Today only five remain. Judging from the existing aliases, the themes of the scripts he wrote are very wide, including the love drama "Jing Zhaoyin Zhang Chang Thrush", the mythical drama "Sizhou Dasheng Precipitation Field", and the historical drama "Baocheng GongJing to Shichihui".
More written is the black whirlwind play, there are eight kinds: a "black whirlwind poetry wine Li Spring Garden"; "Black Whirlwind Haunts the Peony Garden"; Three "Black Whirlwind Dressing Liu Juhe"; four "Black Whirlwind Cockfighting Society"; "Black Whirlwind Poor Wind Moon"; Black Whirlwind Joe's Teaching; "Black Whirlwind Double Dedication"; Eight "Black Whirlwind Borrows Corpses to Return Souls". Now only the Black Whirlwind Double Dedication (don't be included in "Double Dedication") is left.
Gao Wenxiu's "Double Dedication" and Kang Jinzhi's "Li Kui Negative Jing" can be called the double bi of the "black whirlwind miscellaneous drama" of the Yuan Dynasty, which is compact and beautiful in terms of white and white, and is praised by connoisseurs.
From the portrayal of the black whirlwind Li Kui, "Double Dedication" has other characteristics than "Li Kui Negative Jing". In the play, Li Kui is no longer a straight, simple, and rough fierce man, but a resourceful, coarse and fine hero.
The story is written that Song Jiang's friend Sun Kongmu wanted to take his stepmother Guo Nian'er to the Tai'an Shenzhou Temple to burn incense and make a wish, fearing that it would not be safe along the way, he specially went to Liangshan to ask Song Gongming to send someone to protect him. Li Kui took the initiative to assume heavy responsibilities, and took his own head as a guarantee, and made a military order on the spot. Who knew that Guo Nian'er had already hooked up with Bai Yannei and became an adulterer, and the two were bound to escape on the way to Tai'an.
Sun Kongmu sued the Tai'an Prefecture, but was questioned by Bai Ya for colluding with the government to commit a capital crime. In this case, Li Kui acted cautiously and carefully. He disguised himself as a banker to visit the prison, and used a trick to manipulate the prison and rescue Sun Kongmu. He also disguised himself as a liquor delivery servant to infiltrate the rear court, and returned to the mountain to repay the merits after hand-bladed adulterers and adulteresses.
Regarding his pretense and trickery, there are very moving descriptions in the script. As a means of pretending to be stupid, he deliberately described the prison as the "home" of the prison three times, so that the prisoner thought he was a "stupid disciple child".
In order to make the prisoner eat his Menghan medicinal rice, he said to himself: "A jar of lamb soaked rice, my brother will not eat my own food." It made the jailer hungry and trapped him.
Gao Wenxiu's miscellaneous dramas have also been handed down as "Good Wine Zhao Yuan Meets the Emperor", "Liu Xuande Goes alone to XiangyangHui", "Su Jia Dafu Slander Fan Sui", and "Baocheng Gong Trail to ShichiHui". "Good Wine Zhao Yuan Meets the Emperor" writes that Zhao Yuan caused trouble because of wine, was blessed by wine, avenged by wine, and finally resigned because of wine.
"Good wine Zhao Yuan" is a character image full of funny meaning, and "Meet the Emperor" is a light comedy with a lot of "wine fun".
"Shichihui" is a famous historical drama in the Yuan Miscellaneous Drama, and the four-fold play depicts the glorious image of Lin Xiangru, an outstanding politician of the Warring States era, through the depiction of the three events of the return of Bi to Zhao, the visit of Shichi to the meeting and the lianpo negative Jing.
Gao Wenxiu absorbed the contents of the "History" and created something. He added the content of Lin Xiangru's concern for the people's lives and focused on describing it, which made the image of Lin Xiangru more ideologically brilliant.
In addition, "Zhou Yu Gurudwara Lu Su" has the first folded song text, and the scattered song has a set of "Xi Hua Spring Rises Early". At that time, his plays were performed continuously in major theaters, reaching the point of being full.
Gao Wenxiu's Yuan miscellaneous dramas had a great influence at that time, and Zhong Sicheng of the Yuan Dynasty said in his "Book of Recording Ghosts": "Except for Han Qing, the former sages will be refuted." In the "Collected Essays on Wu Mei's Opera," it is said: "Dongping Gaoshi, who pursued Han Qing vigorously, devoted his life to sculpting and painting Liangshan." These evaluations, Gao Wenxiu is well-deserved.
(The author of this article: Chen Guoliang, senior teacher of Chinese at Dongping Senior High School in Shandong Province, teaching expert in Tai'an City; in November 2009, he was awarded the title of Advanced Individual of Tai'an New Moral Education Experiment; in December 2010, he was hired as the first batch of part-time researchers in education and scientific research in Tai'an City; in April 2012, he was awarded the title of "Excellent Reading Figure" of the first primary and secondary schools in Tai'an City; in October 2015, he was named the first batch of academic leaders of teaching and scientific research in Tai'an City; and in April 2019, he was elected as the vice chairman of Dongping County Writers Association In December 2020, he joined the Tai'an Writers Association and was the editor-in-chief of the school magazine "Fluorescent Window". ）