On July 1, before 8 a.m., party members at the Kunqu Museum of China sat in a hall wearing party insignia, waiting to listen to the live broadcast of the CCTV celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. As a national second-level museum and a "practice point of civilization in the new era", china Kunqu Museum has actively planned exhibitions in recent years relying on its collection resources, carried out rich social and educational activities to build brand projects, broadened the layout of cultural creativity and deepened cross-border integration, and contributed to the inheritance and promotion of "Jiangnan culture".
July 1 is the birthday of the Party, and on this day, the Kunqu Museum of China "Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Party - Commemorative Exhibition of the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute" also kicked off. This is the largest exhibition of cultural relics and historical materials of the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute so far, revealing the legendary century-old Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute and the "Chuan" generation. Through this exhibition, we want to present the development process of Kunqu opera art from difficult quest to nirvana rebirth, stimulate the audience's patriotic feelings, and ignite their enthusiasm for Jiangnan culture. Guo Lamei, director of the China Kunqu Museum, said.
The road to the transmission of Chinese culture is endless
On the morning of July 1, the door of the China Kunqu Museum in Zhangjia Lane, Gusu District, had just opened, and Mr. guo and his wife from Suqian went straight to the exhibition hall as soon as they entered the door. Mr. guo and his wife came to Suzhou for tourism, as Kunqu opera art lovers, they learned from the official WeChat public account that the "Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Party - Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute Commemorative Exhibition" was launched on the 1st. In the exhibition hall, Mr. Guo sometimes carefully studied the cultural relics and historical materials on display, and sometimes communicated softly with his wife next to him, "We did not know much about the story of the 'Chuanzi Generation' before, this is our first stop after coming to Suzhou, and it feels very valuable to see this exhibition." ”
The exhibition selects 100 pieces of cultural relics and historical materials, and the theme of the exhibition revolves around the three parts of "Transmission", "Transmission of Art" and "Transmission of Xin", which comprehensively presents the contemporary revival of the "Chuan" characters from the former stumbling steps, scattering and drifting to the road of living inheritance of Kunqu Opera. In August 1921, the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute was established in Suzhou, which trained a large number of actors of the "Chuan" generation, preserved the spark of survival for the troubled Kunqu opera art, introduced Kunqu opera into New China, and then cultivated the Jiangsu "Ji" generation, the "Cheng" character generation, the Zhejiang "Shi" character generation, the "Sheng" character generation, and the Shanghai Kunda class, Kun Er class and other new generation actors, only then did the Kunqu opera art be listed by UNESCO as the first batch of world intangible cultural heritage. Guo Lamei introduced that the China Kunqu Museum and relevant units jointly held the "Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Party - Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute Memorial Exhibition", from the 1920s and 1930s Kunqu Opera Institute was founded in the early 1920s and 1930s, the Kunqu Opera Xinlefu and Xianni She periods in the 1930s, the early liberation of "one drama to save a drama species", the seven major courtyards since the reform and opening up to inherit the Kunqu period and other aspects to tell the story of the century-old "Chuanzi Generation", so that the audience can approach them from the perspective of cultural relics and historical materials, and understand the life of Kunqu opera people. I learned about the source and power of Chinese culture.
Yihai's career intertwined with the development process of Kunqu opera
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the once-flourishing Kunqu opera was in the autumn of survival. In August 1921, Zhang Zidong, Pei Jinmei, Xu Jingqing and other Suzhou composer Xianda, together with the Shanghai industrialist Mu Rongchu, opened the "Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute" in the five-acre garden of Peach Blossom Wood in the north of Gusu City, recruiting 50 young students from the poor children of Suzhou, and specially hiring Shen Yuequan, Shen Binquan, You Caiyun, Wu Yisheng, and other famous old artists in the Quanfu class to teach. The originally dying Kun opera was born in this Jedi. In 1924, Wang Mujie of the Shanghai Geng ChunQu Society was invited by Mu Rongchu to give the students stage names. In order to show the emergence of the transmission institute, the stage name is embedded with a "chuan" character, and the last character of the stage name is indicated: "jade" next to the word "small life line"; "grass" word head is Dan line; "gold" next to the word "net, old student and last line; "water" next to the word for vice, ugly line. In May 1924, the "Chuan" character was performed for the first time in Shanghai and won praise. In March 1927, the "Chuan" characters performed in turn at the Suzhou North Bureau Youth Association, the Hangzhou First Stage, the Shanghai Xuyuan Garden, and the Great World, and the acting skills became more and more mature, and the reputation of the "Chuan" characters rose. There are 44 students in the institute who have received the stage name of "Chuan". Since then, the art of Kunqu opera has gradually declined, and the fate of the "chuan" generation has fluctuated with the wind and clouds of the times, and has been gathered and scattered.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mei Lanfang shaved to perform Kun opera, and Zhu Chuanming, Zheng Chuanjian and other "chuan" characters and Yu Zhenfei took the stage to help. "Mei Lanfang's performance is actually to raise funds for the 'transmission' of characters, and in our exhibition, the lyrics of this performance are displayed. Our exhibition presents the artistic career of the 'Chuan' generation, which is actually the development process of Kunqu opera. Pu Heine, deputy director of the China Kunqu Opera Museum, said. In his view, every piece of cultural relics and historical materials in the memorial exhibition of the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute is very precious, and it was carefully selected by the staff from the more than 500 pieces of the museum's collection. The cultural relics and historical materials of the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute and the "Chuan" character generation in the exhibition are relatively complete, and when the exhibition is still in preparation for the exhibition, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe and some people in the industry have said that they will come to see the exhibition at that time.
The "Ancestor of a Hundred Plays" Nirvana was reborn and bloomed
In November 1949, 13 "chuan" characters performed Kunqu opera in Shanghai, which lasted for 30 days and aroused social concern. In April 1956, the "Fifteen Guan" adapted by the Guofeng Opera Troupe in Hangzhou was performed in Jinjing, and the "Chuan" brothers Zhou Chuanying, Wang Chuansong, Bao Chuanduo and Zhou Chuanzheng performed wonderfully. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other state leaders watched and gave instructions one after another. The People's Daily published an editorial praised as "a play that saved a genre." In October 1956, the Jiangsu Sukun Opera Troupe was born in Suzhou. Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hunan, Hebei, Yongjia, Xuanping, Wuyi and other places have successively established Kun opera troupes, which has entered a new stage in the cause of Kunqu opera. The Southern and Northern Qu Society also surged up, and they were also instructed by the "Chuan" generation.
Ms. Zhao from Zhangjiagang is a Chinese teacher, after watching the exhibition in its entirety, she said emotionally that the first half of the life of the "Chuan" generation is a process of suffering, and the second half of her life is under the care and support of the party and the state, the "Chuan" character artists have cultivated the successors of kunqu opera art generation after generation, and their growth process and artistic experience are an extremely valuable cultural heritage. Ms. Zhao specifically mentioned the approval given by the Ministry of Culture to the Propaganda Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Department of Culture in 1986. The original of that year is now displayed in this exhibition, entitled "Reply on comrade Zhou Chuanying's treatment and establishment of an art inheritance group". Zhou Chuanying, a member of the "Chuan" generation, fell ill, and Zhejiang Kunqu Opera reported the relevant treatment to the Steering Committee for the Revitalization of Kunqu Opera, and proposed to organize an artistic inheritance group under the condition of ensuring treatment in order to rescue and inherit the Kunqu opera xiaosheng business. The Steering Committee for the Revitalization of Kunqu Opera submitted the report to the Ministry of Culture, and this approval was given. "The Ministry of Culture came to care about the body of kunqu opera masters and the inheritance of kunqu opera's small life industry, and as a visitor to the exhibition, I felt that I had found the code for the rebirth of Kunqu opera nirvana." Ms. Zhao said.
In 1986, Zhou Chuanying was appointed deputy director of the Steering Committee for the Revitalization of Kunqu Opera of the Ministry of Culture, and the "Chuan" generation with an average age of 77 years old once again made important contributions, a large number of precious kunqu traditional repertoire was inherited, and many kunqu opera descendants were nourished and grown. The "Chuan" generation has completed the historical mission of "inheritance" with a lifetime of painstaking efforts, and contributed its own strength to the inheritance and development of Kunqu opera. With the passage of time, Kunqu opera has been selected as the intangible cultural heritage of mankind for 20 years, and generations of Kunqu opera people have taken over the baton of inheritance, shouzheng innovation, and masterpieces have been produced, and finally let the "ancestor of a hundred plays" bloom and float around the world.
It is reported that the "Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Party - Commemorative Exhibition of kunqu opera transmission institute" specially invited Han Guanghao, a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Writers Association and a kunqu art researcher, as a curator, and the exhibition will continue until December 26 this year. (Su Bao Rong Media reporter Mei Lei/Wen Ni Lixiang/Photo)