Editor's Note: The author of this article, Zhang Tian, and the opera playwright Mr. Zhang Yonghe commissioned me to publish this article here, so that more people can understand this play. This article was published in Peking Opera of China.
How many Bao Zheng plays are there on the Peking Opera stage? In Tao Junqi's "Preliminary Investigation of Peking Opera Repertoire", there are more than 30 kinds of plays with Bao Gong as the protagonist. The "Peking Opera Repertoire Dictionary" edited by Zeng Bairong has more than 136 stories involving Bao Gong. Like "Fighting the Dragon Robe", "Wu Peng Ji", "Tanuki Cat for Prince", "Qionglin Feast", "Gongmei Case", "Fishing for Golden Turtles", "Judge of Wu", etc., are all classic plays in Bao Gong drama. Among these Bao Gong plays, there are many big plays with the word "铡", but the most common ones are three, namely "The Case of Gong Mei", "Gong Bao Mian" and "Judge Of Gong", of which "Judge Of Gong" is the most legendary and tortuous.
Although the Peking opera "Judge" (also known as "Tan Yin Mountain" and "Putian Le") is still a Qingguan drama that praises Bao Zheng Bao Wenzheng and is not afraid of the powerful, it is different from other Bao Gong plays, because the Bao Gong in this play is not only a high-ranking official in the Yang Dynasty, but also goes down to the Yin Cao Prefecture to try unjust cases, and is a great Qing official in the Yin and Yang realms, which is a bit evil and different.
"Judge" tells that Liu Zifang's daughter Liu Jincia went to the market with her family on the night of the Lantern Festival, but unexpectedly she was separated from her family on the way, and met the butcher Li Bao on the road, Li Bao saw that Miss Liu was beautiful and golden, so she became greedy for money and lustful, and even wanted to commit violence, Miss Liu struggled and was killed by Li Baole under the Magpie Bridge. Yan Chasan, Liu's cousin and Liu's fiancé, happened to pass by and saw Liu's body report to Xiangfu County. Jiang Wanli of Zhixian County, a great mediocre official, concluded that Yan was the murderer based on only a golden noodle of Miss Liu, and sentenced him to death by hanging and executed immediately. Yan's mother saw that her son's body would not fall after his death, so she went to Kaifeng Province to complain about the injustice. After Bao Zheng's detailed trial of the case, he found that there was indeed a grievance, but the so-called "murderer" was dead, and Bao Zheng personally went to Yin Cao to check the book of life and death. Liu Jincian went to the Five Halls of Yan Luo to cry out for his wrongs because of his death, but unfortunately the Five Halls of Yan Luo went to worship the Shangyuan Tianguan and the Bodhisattva of the King of Jizo, and his judge Zhang Hong temporarily took care of life and death. After Zhang Hong heard Liu's complaints about the grievances, he checked her life and death book and learned that it was his nephew Li Bao who killed her. In order to protect Li Bao, Zhang Hong secretly changed the book of life and death, but all this was seen by the ghost who filled the hall with oil, and Zhang Hong threatened the oil ghost not to tell the truth, and asked him to suppress Liu Shi at the Yin Mountain. After Bao Zheng left Yin Cao, he could not find Liu Jinchan's wronged soul, so he suspected that there were ghosts cheating, so he scolded the Five Heavenly Yan Jun, and the two sides quarreled over this and broke up unhappily. In order to find out the truth, Bao Zheng searched for the truth himself, and when he found the Yin Mountain, he happened to encounter the oil flow ghost, and the oil flow ghost told Bao Zheng about Zhang Hong's secret change of life and death, and led Liu Jincia to come to meet him. After the case was revealed, Bao Zhengfu went to the Five Heavens Yan Jun to file a complaint, and because of the testimony of the oil ghost and Liu Jincia, Zhang Hong had to confess. The Five Heavens Yan Jun began to protect his subordinates, and then the oil stream ghost showed the page torn off by the judge Zhang Hong, in the face of the facts, Yan Jun had nothing to say, Fang handed Zhang Hong over to Bao Zheng, and allowed Yan Chashan and Liu Jincia to return to Yang. Bao Zheng returned to Kaifeng Province, and together with Zhang Hong and Li Bao, they beheaded him with a dog-headed copper hammer, and Yan Chasan married Liu Jincia.
Based on the 34th to 39th edition of the long-running chivalrous and righteous case novel "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses" written by Shi Yukun, a famous scholar of the Qing Dynasty and Xian Dynasty, "Judge Of The Judge" is a series of eight (according to some sources, fourteen books), which was later condensed and adapted to become what we see today. The original version of "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" was Shi Yukun's rap literature "Long Tu Gong Case", which was already popular during the Jiaqing period, and later some people deleted a large number of lyrics and added modifications to the novel, called "Dragon Tu Erlu". In the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), it was modified and polished by Shi Yukun himself, and the final draft was printed and distributed, which was originally called "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", also known as "The Legend of the Heroic Heroes".
This play came out very early, and it already existed in the "Qingsheng Pingban Drama" in the fourth year of Qing Daoguang (1824), which was adapted from the "LongTu Gong Case". However, at that time, the stage of the Great Interior and the folk was still dominated by the two kinds of dramas of Kun Cavity and Yi Cavity, with the development and maturity of the chaotic bombs, as well as the love of the empresses, soon Peking Opera was frequently undertaken in the palace, and it was performed in the anecdotes, especially in the late Qing Dynasty, whether it was folk or in the palace, Peking Opera became one of the most favorite dramas of people. According to the literature, during the years of Qing Tongzhi, Guangxu and Xuantong, "Putianle" was performed for the empress in the palace. Why is this Liantai play named "Putian Le", the author thinks that it may be influenced by another excellent Liantai Ben play, this play is the legendary script "Tianxia Le" with the performance of Zhong Kui's sister as the main content, because there are ghosts in both plays, and the plot has some similarities, so "Putian Le" imitates the name of "Tianxia Le".
The earliest written record of the Liantai ben "Judge" is found in the 12th year of Qing Tongzhi (1873) publication "Kikube Qunying", played by Lu Yufeng (Su Xian), the head of the Chuntai class in the "Four Great Emblem Classes". In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, several major emblem classes competed to attract the audience to arrange new plays, especially Sixi and Chuntai. The dramatist Chen Yanheng wrote in the "Old Drama Series": "Sanqing performed liantai ben "Take Nan County" as a snub for the rehearsal of this play... Chuntai's "Judge" and "Mixed Yuan Box" are all following in their footsteps. "Chen's account may be wrong, and the Sanqing class only rehearsed the Liantai ben play "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" around the third year of Guangxu (1877), and the Chuntai class rehearsed this Liantai ben play "Judge" in the last year of Tongzhi. Drama critic Zhang Xiaolun said in more detail in his "Yanchen Ju Video": "Da Kui Guan (Liu Wanyi) is good at singing Bao Gong opera, and his entire "The Case of Yan Mei" is extremely sensational, and the gardens compete with this play. In a certain year, Da Kui Guan and Xu Baocheng sang this play - The Old Bao of Da Kui Guan, Yan Jun of Bao Cheng, and Xiao Mu's Old Bao, Yan Jun of Da Shuang, also sang in the inner city. "DaKuiguan and Xu Baocheng were both famous Jingjiao during the Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Daoguang years, and Xiao Mu, mu Fengshan, was a disciple of Dakuiguan.
The "Beijing Library Collection of Shengping Department Opera Character Album" contains 23 paintings of the "Putianle" opera characters from the Qing Palace, including detailed illustrations of the costumes and faces of the main characters of the play, and experts speculate that these pictures were created no later than during the Tongzhi period. The freshest thing is that there is no portrait of Bao Zheng in the album. Where did Bao Zheng go? It turns out that the protagonist yin and yang judge in the album is Bao Zheng. In the portrait, the appearance of this yin and yang judge when he went down to Yin Cao was too stunning, whether it was the face, the photo veil worn on his head, the python robe he wore, and the water veil on his head, all of which were half white and half black. Yu Gong's "Juhai Hook Qi" Yun: "In the past, when performing the Bao Zheng of "Exploring the Yin Mountain", he wore a half-black and half-white phase yarn, wore a half-black and half-white embroidered python, and covered it with a half-black and half-white water veil, which is called the two realms. ...... (Mu) Fengshan, (Jin) Xiushan, all as they are. (See Drama Monthly, Vol. III, No. 6)
Famous artists who often played Bao Gong in the palace were Mu Fengshan, Jin Xiushan, Qiu Lirong, Lang Deshan and others. Mu Fengshan, a long-lived, small Mu, was originally a ticket holder who went to the sea, but he was the first person to innovate the Peking Opera flower face industry. He once plucked one of the single performances of the liantai play "Judge Of The Judge", called "Exploring yin mountain", and created a new cavity for Bao Zheng of the play, which was very popular after the performance, setting a precedent for staging a "folding play". In terms of the line cavity, "The nasal tone of the black jing (referring to the character of the black face such as Bao Zheng) singing the cavity, and Xiao Mushi started to do it" (Xu Ke," Qing Barnyard Bills). His singing is just soft, smooth and gentle, a change in the past flower face singing straight to the method, creating many new cavities, strong charm, quite influential, when called "copper hammer frame, all good at".
There is also a Zhengjing actor named Liu Yongchun, who is also good at performing this play in the palace and in the folk. Liu Yongchun was also a disciple of Da Kui Guan, who was "thick in stature and black in face and thick in voice", and his walking style was different from Mu Fengshan's soft and gentle appearance, quite similar to Huang Zhong Da lü's name He Guishan, so he was also rated as "Foot Transmission He Jiu (Guishan) Clothing". Liu Yongchun first changed the half-black and half-white outfit in this play. In 1900, when Liu Yongchun sang in Shanghai for the second time, he became famous with a play "Exploring Yin Mountain" and changed the appearance of Bao Zheng in the past. "But Bao Xiaosu wears a white robe, which is different from the black python in every play, thinking that the difference between yin and yang is now effective for all the people." (Sun Yusheng's "Thirty Years of Lingjie's Master Play", on September 24, 1910, the "Picture Times" published "Liu Yongchun's < Exploring the Yin Mountain >" drama) Bao Zheng wore a white python, and the sable was draped with a soul paw (black water veil), and to this day, all those who staged this play are dressed in this way.
Later, jin xiushan and Qiu Lirong (later renamed Qiu Guixian) were also good at performing this play. Ne Shaoxian, Shu Ziyuan, Liu Shoufeng and others all worked on this play. At the same time, Liu Hongsheng, a performance artist who sings both Lao Sheng and Hua Face, is also famous for singing "Exploring Yin Mountain". Later, Gao Qingkui, a high-ranking old student of Liu Hongsheng, also performed this drama, "as if comparing himself with Liu Hongsheng's later years" ("Ju Chen Ju Video"). Both of them had records that were published in the world, leaving valuable audio materials for future generations. Jin Shaoshan, who rose in the 1930s with the reputation of "Duracell", is his masterpiece with "Exploring Yin Mountain".
Bao Zheng was an official who was honest and honest, upright, fearless of power, and loved the people like a son, and was deeply loved by the people, and the Jingshi (Kaifeng) also circulated the song "The joints are not enough, there is Yan Luo Bao Lao". Because people love and revere Bao Zheng too much, there are even Bao Gong Ancestral Halls or Bao Gong Temples throughout the country, such as the Bao Gong Ancestral Hall built in the Yamen of Shun Tianfu in Beijing. In the hearts of the people, Bao Zheng is synonymous with Qingguan, he enforces the law like a mountain, just and strict, selfless and fearless, full of wisdom, but also has divine power, legend has it that he is a mortal under the stars of Wenqu, so he can break the sun and the yin and night, which can be seen in the yin and yang judge in the "Putianle" repertoire hidden by the Qing Shengping Bureau, that is, Bao Zheng's face. This Bao Gong face is obviously different from the white eyebrows we often see with a towering white eyebrow, a black face with a white crescent, but a half black, half white yin and yang face, and even the eyebrows and crescents are half black and half white. This kind of painting method is precisely to highlight the characteristics of Bao Zheng's ability to judge yin and yang, and it is also in line with the plot of Bao Zheng's need to enter and exit Yin Cao in order to solve the unjust case.
Although the story of "Judges" is somewhat absurd, the people still love to watch it, because in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the corruption of officials became more and more prevalent, and officials protected each other, so that those who were wronged and wronged had nowhere to complain, and everyone hoped that the real "officials and masters" could also be like Lord Bao, with strict law enforcement and clean administration. The Qing Dynasty thinker Gu Yanwu said in his "Rizhilu": "The country is in chaos and there is no government, the small people have feelings but cannot be claimed, and there are grievances that cannot be ignored, so they have to be ashamed of God, and the matter of the curse is over." ...... Therefore the handle of reward and punishment is moved in the desert." Therefore, people can only hope that in the play, through the real performances of the actors, they will temporarily find fairness and tranquility in the fictional spiritual world.
In 1950, the "Judge of The Judge", which showed good and evil, was banned by the Ministry of Culture for promoting feudal superstitions. Until about 1957, the Artistic Undertakings Administration of the Ministry of Culture held a national repertoire conference for the second time, in order to implement the policy of "a hundred flowers blooming, a hundred schools of thought contending" and expanding the scope of opera performances, this play had a deified superstitious shell, but in fact it was to praise the spirit of the clean officials who forgot life and death and did not enforce the law, ridiculed the corrupt bureaucratic system, and even banned the excellent repertoire of the Yin Cao Prefecture that was disrespectful.
Qiu Shengrong", "Exploring the Yin Mountain"
Qiu Shengrong, the son of Qiu Guixian and the founder of the famous Qiu Sect, first performed the entire "Judge of The Judge". At that time, the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe also lined up the strongest lineup, three famous flower-faced artists appeared together, Qiu Shengrong as Bao Zheng, Zhou Hetong as Yan Jun, Zhang Hongxiang as Zhang Hong, in addition, the famous Dan Li Yufang and the famous old Man Ma Changli played Liu Jincia and The Fainting Official Jiang Wanli respectively.
The play continued until before the Cultural Revolution, when it was not released from the ban and returned to the stage until the 1980s. This good play, which has been waiting for Peking Opera lovers for a long time, has been warmly welcomed as soon as it is re-performed, especially the folding play "Exploring Yin Mountain", which has now become a classic play in Peking Opera.
In the 1980s, when the "Judge" was revived, the heavy responsibility fell on the shoulders of Fang Rongxiang, the best protégé of Qiu Shengrong. Although Fang Rongxiang's voice was not as generous and resounding as his teacher, it was quite qiu yun and timeless and delicate. At the same time, he is very dedicated and hardworking, good at studying, singing, and performing well, so he sings the "Judge" that was able to survive in jedi. Unfortunately, Fang Rongxiang also died of illness due to overwork.
Meng Guangyi
Fortunately, Fang Rongxiang's disciple Meng Guanglu then picked up the task of resuming this excellent drama with equal emphasis on singing and doing. Meng Guanglu had a good voice like a bronze bell, and he sang without hesitation, and the audience especially appreciated this Qiu men re-transmission disciple. At the same time, Meng Guanglu's brothers Deng Muwei and Kang Wansheng were all famous people with quite clever skills in singing, reading, and doing, and they also had a special love for this "Judge". In particular, the fold of "Exploring Yin Mountain", when singing Bao Zheng's large core singing section: "Fu Da Song Jinhuayi Red Heart and Liver", from the [Erhuang Guide Plate] to pick up [Huilong], turn [original board] and then turn [loose board], the three people's row of movements and movements are each displayed, each has its own strengths, high pitched, loud, rich, and energetic, interpreting this good drama into one of the audience's favorite flower face plays!