I heard the elders say that there is a Jingzhong Temple in Beijing, which is a blessed place for the ancient capital opera culture. During the Daoguang years, Peking Opera had begun to take shape in Beijing. After several generations of emperors' strong support and rewards, Peking Opera gradually developed from the court to the people. Jingzhong Temple has played an important role in the management of the theater world.
In 1879 (the fifth year of Guangxu), there were more than 10 major opera gardens and dozens of opera classes in Beijing. The Qing government's management of the affairs of the People was called the Shengping Bureau, and the institution under the Beijing Division was the "Jingzhong Temple". Jingzhong Temple is in charge of the various drama classes and drama gardens of the Beijing Division. The Beijing Opera Artists' Association (Liyuan Guild), a fellow organization of Opera Artists, is also located at Jingzhong Temple.
Jingzhong Temple is located in qianmenzhu city mouth south, Dashi West Exit, Jingzhong Temple Street No. 54, built in The Ming, is a private construction of opera artists. The temple is 19 feet long from east to west, 9 feet 5 feet wide from north to south, 8 inches 5 feet inches wide from north to south in the east, and there are 32 hall rooms, including 6 temples. In the temple, there is the Temple of winged stars and kings, that is, the Xi Shrine, which enshrines tablets such as the god of joy, Tang Ming Huang and the twelve-tone god, and the walls are painted with twelve-tone gods and 7 opera murals. There are 36 attached houses in jingzhong temple, including 18 buildings for the office of the general office of the theater industry, and the rest of the group rooms are oil painting lines and boots and shoes. In addition, there is a pear garden theater building in the north courtyard.
The theater industry will always integrate sacrifice and office in the Jingzhong Temple, and the head of the temple is fully responsible. The head of the temple, through the Liyuan Gongtui, is highly respected, skilled, and enthusiastic about public welfare, and is generally selected in the life line. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years, Cheng Changgeng, Liu Chaisan, Xu Xiaoxiang, Yang Yuelou, Wang Jiuling, Yu Jusheng, Tan Xinpei, and Tian Jiyun all served as temple heads. The head of the temple is also the "head of the house" appointed by Tang Langzhong (who is in charge of drama matters inside and outside the palace) of the Qing Dynasty. The first person is generally four people, who take turns to serve the year.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the Jingzhong Temple was responsible for undertaking the singing errands in the palace. Because the emperor and Cixi were so intoxicated with Beijing opera that they often sent famous people into the palace to sing, as long as the "above" wanted to listen to the plays of the outside drama class, they would be notified to the head of the temple by the Shengping Bureau, and the people who were named and performed must be issued a certificate by the Jingzhong Temple, report to the Shengping Bureau with a certificate, wait for the summons, and perform on time. In 1860 (the tenth year of Xianfeng), in order to celebrate the Wanshou Festival, 43 artists of the Beijing Opera Class went inside to undertake errands, and the Beijing Opera began to be summoned by the whole class to perform in the palace.
For a long time, Jingzhong Temple has handled guarantees for various drama classes. Anyone who sets up a drama class in Beijing, or changes the drama class, must report to the Jingzhong Temple Drama Circle Association. At that time, the establishment of the drama class had detailed regulations, and they were all reasonable. For example, if a Peking opera person wants to set up a class, the person in charge must list the list of all the cast members of the class and what plays can be performed, and formally write a submission. The meaning of the submission is only to say that everything should be handled according to the rules and regulations, and not in violation of the official words such as the charter. The person in charge of the drama class reported the list, the list of plays and the submission to the head of the temple. After seeing it, the head of the temple thought it was good, and recorded the list of cast members and the list of plays, and then added a bond and submitted it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the class could be established after approval. After the establishment of the drama class, everything must be handled in accordance with the old rules and regulations of the Theater Association. The statute is detailed but unwritten. Most of the theater industry knows that there is this charter but no one has ever seen it, because no one has ever written it. It sounds a little strange to people now, but the older generation said that this was not new at that time, and it was still the case for many social groups until the founding of New China. For example, all industrial and commercial banks in Beiping have guilds, and some small guilds do not have a charter written on paper, but each line has its rules, and everyone in the industry knows it. Each guild holds an annual meeting every year, and it is always customary to sing a day of drama to honor the ancestors. Before the start of the play, the industry conference was held, and the chairman took the stage and asked everyone: "Have our members come together?" The members in the audience replied, "Here we go." The president said, "Anyone who breaks the rules is a bastard." Then he said, "Start the play." The president's meeting speech was on this, and there was only one way to punish the foul, and one scolding was enough, and no one dared to break the rules again. It can be seen that the industry self-discipline at that time was relatively strict.
Jingzhong Temple not only undertakes the daily affairs management of the theater industry, but also is a place where Liyuan Hang speaks publicly, similar to the Dharma Hall. Disputes have arisen between the drama gardens, between the drama teams, between the drama classes and the theater gardens, between the drama classes and the various corners, between the corners, and so on, and such non-civil criminal proceedings are related to the disputes within the theater circles, which are all judged and handled by the drama circles. All orders of the government and the various governments, or the transmission of matters in the theater world, must be handled by the General Assembly of the Theater Industry. Ordinary small disputes are resolved in the home of the head of the temple on duty, and when a major incident is encountered that the head of the temple cannot handle it, the other three temple heads are notified to convene each class of "Yan Gongren" to open a hall to judge, called "Speaking Temple". If there is a more serious accident, it is necessary to ask the Shengping Bureau Tokō naka to deal with it, called "Kneeling Hall Langzhong".
The Pear Garden stage built in the North Courtyard is very neat, with a square stage and four large pillars in front and behind. On the pillar of the front desk hangs a woodcut link. Between the two pillars at the back is a plank wall, with two doors dug up at both ends. The small pillar of the low railing in front of the stage is carved with a lotus head, which is beautiful. Usually, the celebrities often come here to meet and activities, they either meet to study the affairs of the theater world, or read, sing, do, play, and compete in art. The most lively is the "walking theatre" that is held here every year. Performing drama is a variety of industries in Beijing, such as grain lines, medicine stores, and silk satin lines, and small ones such as garment lines, carpenter lines, and shaved heads. The play probably starts at the Lantern Festival and ends on the 28th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar. The nature of the play is nothing more than a busy year for the laborers, in the name of the annual meeting of the industry, everyone gathers some parts and entertains for a day. Most of the plays do not have lights, always opening the gong at ten o'clock in the morning and stopping at five o'clock in the afternoon. The only exception is the medicine shop, which is the largest, with two scenes day and night.
In 1912, at the initiative of Tian Jiyun and Yu Yuqin, who had progressive ideas, the General Association of the Theater Circle was reorganized into the Zhengle Education Association, which was responsible for handling the living welfare of opera artists and mediating contradictions and entanglements between artists. The chairman of the board of directors elected the famous Peking Opera artist Tan Xinpei as a public, all the theater personnel are members, and all the famous horns have the title of position. This institution actually has the nature of a pear garden guild, and it constantly maintains proper contact with the outside world. Zhengle Yuhua Association holds a general meeting of all members once a year. In 1913, the anniversary meeting of the zhengle yuhua association was held in the Jingzhong Temple. At this meeting, in addition to passing on the general matters of the theater industry, Mr. Qi Rushan, who had returned from studying in France, specially invited Mr. Qi Rushan to introduce the costumes, stage backgrounds, lighting, makeup techniques, etc. of Western opera, which opened the eyes of some actors who were more conservative in their thinking, and those who pretended to be new were particularly in favor. After the establishment of the Zhengle Yuhua Association, it was inevitably affected by the temporary chaos of the society, simplifying the procedures for applying for the opening of the group class in the theater industry, and there was no hard and fast rule on the time limit for the group performance. Some people want to organize a class, but they are not sure about the future of business, so they can first apply for a temporary class to try it, and if the business is not good, they can close early. In addition, there is a kind of speculative class society, inviting several unknown actors to perform a few times during the New Year's Festival to make a living, and the festival is automatically dissolved as soon as it passes. For temporary organizations like these, it was impossible for the head of the Jingzhong Temple to be examined and approved before the ×.
In 1928, Peking Opera actors Hao Shouchen, Hou Xirui, Ye Chunshan, etc. initiated the establishment of the "Beijing Pear Garden Public Welfare Association" to provide relief to those in difficulty in their peers, and established a relief fund through charity performances. During this period, a number of literati and actors established various academic societies to discuss, communicate, and teach the arts. In 1931, Mei Lanfang and Yu Shuyan invited Qi Rushan, Qing Yiju, Zhang Boju, Fu Xihua and others to form the "National Opera Society". The "National Opera Society" paid attention to the collection and accumulation of opera historical materials, and once preserved the artistic materials such as the list of early opera classes and the list of plays flowing from the Palace between the Jingzhong Temple and the Shengping Bureau, as well as some musical instrument collections. These very rare historical materials of opera are of great benefit to future generations in studying Peking Opera and music. The "National Drama Society" also edited and published the "Drama Series". After the "Lugou Bridge Incident" in 1937, the "National Opera Society" was stopped because Mei Lanfang went south. Later, the theater industry established the Liyuan Office, which was still located in jingzhong temple, which was abolished in 1949.
After liberation, the people's government set up a special department in charge of the opera industry, and the art of opera achieved new development. Therefore, the activities of the theater industry in the Jingzhong Temple naturally disappeared.
With the comprehensive construction of Beijing, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Beijing Municipal Government demolished the Jingzhong Temple and built the North China Optical Instrument Factory on the site of the original temple. In the past, the Xishen Temple, where artists from the theater industry often gathered, was built as Jingzhong temple primary school. In 1965, Jingzhong temple street was changed to Jingzhong street, and the school was renamed Jingzhong street primary school. Today, the Jingzhong Temple, whether as a temple or as a theater management agency, has long disappeared, but the historical information carried by the Jingzhong Street signage is long and long.