Author: Shi Rui | Laoting County Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau #Tangshan Toutiao #
Laoting County, the hometown of Li Dazhao, the main founder of the Communist Party of China. Leting shadow puppetry, originating from Laoting County, the national intangible cultural heritage, is one of the most influential dramas in Chinese shadow puppetry, Chinese opera theorist Mr. Zhou Yibai commented in the "History of Chinese Drama": "Because of the relationship between familiar population, it has almost become a synonym for general shadow puppetry. Comrade Guo Moruo once praised: "Dazhao's hometown is music pavilion, with beautiful singing voice and rich words." ”
The history of Laoting shadow puppetry is long, the mass base is deep, and the film volume stories of traditional shadow puppetry are mainly based on historical interpretations and folklore, etc., with positive content, persuasion and etiquette, and play a role in entertaining the masses and educating the people.
"Red shadow puppetry" is the inheritance and development of traditional shadow puppetry in a specific historical period, publicizing the deeds of heroes and showing the spirit of the times, which is of great significance for carrying forward the national spirit, strengthening patriotism, socialist education, and promoting the development of cultural undertakings.
The pioneering work of the "red shadow puppet" is the "An Zhonggen Thorn Itten Bowen" written by the revolutionary pioneer Li Dazhao. In 1919, when he was the director of the library at Peking University, Li Dazhao returned to his hometown of Daheituo Village in Laoting County, Hebei Province, and in order to arouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the people in his hometown, based on the story of the Korean patriot Ahn Jung-geun who killed Ito Hirobumi, the Japanese commander in Korea, he wrote the film and drama "Ahn Jung-geun Hirobumi". Sun Zhaoxiang, who was in charge of the film class at Cuiyin Hall at that time, presided over the "An Zhonggen Thorn Itō Hirobumi" on the film window, which caused a great sensation after the performance. This Le Ting shadow puppet play not only gave the local people a vivid patriotic education, but also set a precedent for the development of the red theme of shadow puppet play.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, le ting shadow puppets became a sharp weapon for propagating the masses and attacking the enemy. It has successively established new types of film and opera groups such as the "New Great Wall Film Society", "Anti-Japanese Film Society" and "Mass Film Society" to participate in anti-Japanese activities in the form of shadow puppet art. He created plays with anti-Japanese stories such as "Tian Yu Joins the Army", "Killing the Enemy with One Heart", "National Harm and Family Feud", "Spring and Autumn Mirror", and "Pan Jiayu". While performing, the comrades of the film club directly fought with the enemy and were active on both sides of the Luan River, becoming a literary and artistic force for propagating the anti-Japanese resistance at that time.
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, in order to celebrate the victory of the War of Resistance, Zhang Chunling of Dongshi Village in Laoting County contacted the old artist Yang Yinting and others to set up an amateur film club and toured the villages. The shows performed include the new screenplay "Shoot Gong Translation" and so on, which is a sensation. In February 1946, the Tingliuhe District Committee of the Communist Party of China named this amateur group the Tingliuhe District Shadow Puppet Society, in conjunction with the work of the party center, touring inside and outside the district, performing plays such as "Landlord Snake Heart", "Little Erhei Marriage" and some traditional folding plays, and the shadow puppet club became the literary and artistic light cavalry of the propaganda masses.
In the autumn of 1946, the Communist Party of China's Laoting County Committee decided to resume the shadow puppet business, and instructed the famous artist Qi Huai to form a shadow puppet club (the predecessor of the Laoting County Shadow Puppet Troupe) to perform the new plays "Stubborn Turning Back" and "Fighting Strongholds". After the liberation of Laoting County in 1948, the film society mainly staged the newly compiled historical drama "Li Zicheng Uprising", the modern drama "Supporting the Army and Superior Subordinates", "Wang Baoshan Joined the Army", "Persuading Husbands to Return to the Team", "Carrying a Stretcher", "Four Sisters Returning to the Team", etc., and also transplanted "White-Haired Girl". In 1949, the county party committee approved the paid performance, and since then the film club has turned into a professional nature. In 1955, the Laoting County Shadow Puppet Troupe was formally established, and with the strong support of the county party committee and the government, the equipment was updated and the team was expanded, and the modern plays rehearsed included "Red Yun Gang", "Cuckoo Mountain", "Red Girl Scout Army", "Island Female Militia", "Water Town Guerrilla", "Ice Sea Battle Song" and so on.
Inherit the red gene and undertake the historical mission. At the important historical moment of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Laoting County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism devoted itself to creating and creating "Red Shadow Shadows" such as "For Tomorrow", "Red Sister-in-law", "Liu Hulan", and "Shadow Tune Sounding Praise for the Party". Among them, "For Tomorrow" praises Li Dazhao's firm belief and noble character of "bravely forging ahead", "severed head and bleeding from it", and "exhausting the essence to achieve success". Hometown shadow puppets reproduce the cordial image of revolutionary pioneers, and hometown sounds and nostalgia interpret the glorious life of the great man who went out of his hometown". The hundred-year journey, a hundred years of glory, to comfort the martyrs, the great cause he pioneered and the ideological legacy he left behind will never be indelible, and the revolutionary seeds he sowed have taken root, blossomed and borne fruit on the land of China. Today's Leting is beautiful and rich, the life of the people in the hometown is happy and beautiful, the shadow puppet play in the hometown uses red resources to tell the red story, and the red education allows the red gene to be passed on from generation to generation. The Leting shadow puppet play "For Tomorrow" presents a tribute to the people of Dazhao's hometown in the centenary of the founding of the party, and it will surely become a chapter in the history of the development of "red shadow puppetry".
(Laoting County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, Shi Rui, July 3, 2021)