Chinese opera has been circulating on the stage since its formation, with the changes of the times, from the script to the sound cavity, performance continues to change, Kunqu opera has changed less, the traditional characteristics of opera have been retained more, and the repertoire is extremely rich, so it is called "living fossil".
Kunqu opera can be selected as the "Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind" because it is a classic of China's classical performing arts. However, "success is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He", the glory and defeat of Kunqu opera are related to its characteristics.
The prosperity of Kunqu opera was in line with the life and artistic taste of scholars and doctors at that time. The cultural cultivation of scholars has injected a unique cultural taste into Kunqu Opera, and their leisurely life and pursuit of the ethereal realm have endowed Kunqu Opera with a soothing rhythm and a beautiful artistic character, coupled with the fact that the Scholar-Doctor has a deep feeling of grief and sadness about society for life, making Kunqu always show a sad and lingering emotion in music and singing.
In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the rise of the citizen class, the soothing and melancholy style was obviously incompatible with them, even if the scholars began to be pragmatic, Kunqu opera was not favored by the citizens at the same time, but also lost the position of the scholar class. As a result, Kunqu opera gradually went into decline.
By the time of the founding of New China in 1949, there was no professional Kunqu opera troupe nationwide. In the 1950s, a "Fifteen Consecutive" revived a drama genre, and 6 Kunqu opera troupes were established across the country. Han Shichang, Bai Yunsheng, Gu Chuan, Zhu Chuanming, Zhou Chuanying, Yu Zhenfei, Hou Yongkui and other performing artists of the older generation, as well as a number of outstanding actors such as Li Shujun, Cai Zhengren, Ji Zhenhua, Zhang Jiqing, Hong Xuefei, and Wang Shiyu, who were trained after liberation, sorted out and performed a large number of outstanding plays such as "Peony Pavilion", "Xi Xiang Ji", "Sending Beijing Niang in a Thousand Miles", "Single Knife Society", and "Peach Blossom Fan".
But today, Kunqu's strict stylized performances, slow rhythm of the board cavity, overly elegant lyrics, and outdated storylines have lost their fashionability and most of their entertainment functions, and are far from the aesthetic needs of contemporary people, so it is difficult to win the audience, and the performances are getting less and less, so that it is difficult to find them in the performance market, forming a vicious circle. 10 years ago, there were about 800 people in the country engaged in Kunqu opera work, known as the "Eight Hundred Heroes", and now only 600 people are left. The creation and performance of the six Kunqu opera troupes across the country are generally in trouble, and the training of actors and artistic creations are unable to invest.
Some people argue that Kunqu opera should be preserved as a museum art, not developed, which is opposed by Kunqu practitioners and people of insight, and is also contrary to UNESCO's original intention of selecting the oral and intangible cultural heritage of mankind - to ensure the survival of these outstanding cultures, rather than to curb their future development. However, Kunqu opera does face a dilemma: the loss of talents has left few people who are competent in the creation of Kunqu opera; and to innovate Kunqu opera, it is faced with a dilemma - without making major changes to Kunqu opera, it is impossible to narrow the distance between Kunqu and the times; if a big change is made, Kunqu will lose its characteristics and will not become Kunqu.
Most of the art inscribed in this oral cultural heritage in various countries is in a difficult situation and on the verge of extinction, which shows that the world is facing the problem of how to protect excellent traditional cultures. For Kunqu Opera, to get out of the predicament, it is by no means achieved overnight, in addition to relying on kunqu opera's own artistic strength and the professionalism and enthusiasm of kunqu workers, there must also be corresponding policy guarantees and practical and feasible measures. To this end, in June this year, the Ministry of Culture convened a meeting of the leaders of the national Kunqu Opera troupe and the location of the troupe to discuss the development of Kunqu Opera, and is formulating the "Ten-Year Plan for the Protection and Rescue of Kunqu Opera". Some experts also called for the establishment of a "special fund for the protection and revitalization of China's Kunqu opera art" and increased investment.
Experts believe that the top priority of Kunqu opera at present is to rescue the existing repertoire and literature, first of all, to record and record the repertoire of middle-aged and elderly artists across the country, and to collect and sort out the precious Kunqu literature, performance scripts, music scores and pictures. Kunqu opera performances can be used to make a living from old plays, and the repertoire should be mainly inherited and sorted out, such as the "Peony Pavilion" rehearsed by the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe in the past two years, which has deleted Tang Xianzu's original works into three books, with modern stage treatment, which not only maintains the characteristics of the original work, but also conforms to today's aesthetics, and has received good market results.
The Ministry of Culture plans to establish two Kunqu actor training centers in Beijing and Shanghai in 10 years to provide performing talents for the National Kunqu Opera Troupe. The leaders of the Kunqu Opera Theater hope to gather outstanding teachers from all over the country to hold kunqu opera actors, screenwriters, directors, composers and managers in the China Academy of Performing Arts and other academies.
Kunqu opera cannot become popular today because of its characteristics, nor can it restore its former glory, but as a treasure of Chinese culture and a World Heritage Site, we have the responsibility not to let her fend for herself!