【Red Culture Picks Up Interests】
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in the face of a complex international environment, my country's foreign cultural exchanges were carried out in close coordination with diplomatic work.
Among the visiting literary and artistic teams, opera actors occupy a considerable proportion.
The famous playwright Ma Shaobo has led troupes and organized Peking Opera actors to visit abroad many times.
Ma Lao recalled that many people thought that Peking Opera was not suitable for performances abroad because of language barriers. Premier Zhou Enlai said that the appreciation level of foreign audiences and experts should not be underestimated.
From July 1951 to August 1952, the Chinese Youth Cultural and Art Troupe participated in the 3rd World Youth and Students Peace and Friendship Festival (referred to as the World Youth Festival) in Berlin, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Germany. Tour, 437 shows in 152 cities.
There are 222 members of the art troupe, and a 7-member Peking Opera troupe performed plays such as "Sanchakou", "Dragon Palace", "Hujiazhuang", "Wusong Fighting the Tiger" and "Yandang Mountain".
At the World Youth Festival, China won four first prizes.
"Sanchakou" performed by Zhang Yunxi and Zhang Chunhua, and "Dragon Palace" performed by Zhang Yunxi and Xie Ruiqing won two first prizes in the dance category.
During the World Youth Festival and the tour that followed, the Peking Opera program was generally warmly welcomed.
To thank the audience for their enthusiasm, the actors often had to perform two extra parts.
When it was performed in Hungary, "Wusong Fighting a Tiger" had nine scenes.
Austria's "People's Music" said "Sanchakou" a play "contains humor, is more than Chaplin".
Audiences in many countries believe that "Sanchakou" is an example of Chinese classical art. It uses humorous mood, "superhuman" dance, and unique rhythm to show that the Chinese people have always been a brave and highly intelligent nation.
This is the first time that a new Chinese opera actor has made an international appearance. Since then, the proportion of opera actors in the visiting comprehensive art groups has continued to increase.
In 1955, the Chinese Yue Opera Troupe performed in the Democratic Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Classical Song and Dance Troupe visited the five Nordic countries.
In 1956, Mei Lanfang led a Chinese Peking Opera delegation to Japan, Zhou Xinfang led the Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre to the Soviet Union, and the Tianjin Pingju Troupe went to North Korea to perform.
In 1959, the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theatre performed in North Korea, the Chinese Yue Opera Troupe performed in Vietnam, and the China Sichuan Opera Troupe toured Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Democratic Republic of Germany and Bulgaria.
During this period, the repertoire performed abroad added literary opera to the original Gongxi opera, martial arts opera and monkey opera, and then added the full-length opera.
In the 1950s, the largest multilateral cultural exchange event in the world was the World Youth Day.
The actors took advantage of the comprehensive characteristics of opera performances to participate in the competition, such as "Tiger Hunting" and "Pick up Jade Bracelets" with pantomime, "Sanchakou", "Double Shooting Wild Goose", "Water Man Jinshan" and "Autumn River" with folk dances. , "Havoc in Heaven" and "Yandang Mountain" participated in the competition in the form of group dance, Peking opera cappella singing and other flexible forms.
During this period, in the five World Youth Festival competitions they participated in, opera actors won a total of 17 first prizes, and the number of awards far exceeded other artistic categories.
In 1955, when the Chinese Art Troupe participated in the 2nd Paris International Theatre Festival, Zhang Chunhua recalled the first performance: "The performance that left the deepest impression on me in my life was the performance in France, which made me truly understand what is a literary warrior, a literary and an artistic one. Soldier. Because we heard that someone was going to cause trouble, we put "Sanchakou" in the first program of the opening, and we had to get applause within four minutes. Comrade Zhang Yunxi and I decided to compress some program actions and put them together. The wonderful fighting scene was mentioned in the front and attracted the audience. The performance started. When Liu Lihua and Ren Tanghui went up and down, one after the other, one left and one right, back and forth, the audience first covered their mouths and laughed, Immediately, applause broke out. With the applause, I quickly said: 'Fight! Fight!' It means to start fighting quickly, and take advantage of the situation to 'bake up' the atmosphere. So Zhang Yunxi came over and we started fighting. After some intense When Zhang Yunxi held my hand, the audience on three floors 'exploded the hall'. They applauded and stomped their feet, shouting loudly. The two translators shouted on and off the field: 'The audience asks you to play again. Once again! Do it again!' We exchanged a quick exchange, and proceeded according to the rules. After the performance, thunderous applause continued to sound, how dare anyone come out to make trouble in such a scene!"
In the early days of the founding of New China, most Western countries did not establish diplomatic relations with China.
In 1952, Zhou Enlai said at a meeting of diplomatic envoys abroad: "Diplomacy is carried out in the form of state-to-state relations, but the goal is to influence and win over the people." "The relationship between the two countries cannot rely solely on occupation. It should be done by diplomats, and more should be done directly by the people of the two countries.”
In 1956, at the invitation of Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, a Chinese Peking Opera delegation headed by the Chinese People’s Cultural Association for Foreign Countries, headed by Mei Lanfang, went to Japan, opening a new chapter in the non-governmental exchanges between China and Japan.
Mei Lanfang, Jiang Miaoxiang, Li Shaochun and others performed 25 plays including "Drunken Concubine", "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Legend of the White Snake".
The delegation performed 32 performances in Tokyo, Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, Nagoya and other places, with an audience of more than 70,000 people. The last two performances were charity performances for the relief of orphans in the Japanese war and the victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. There were more than 10,000 spectators, including more than 2,000 standing tickets.
In addition, it was telecasted four times in Tokyo and Osaka.
Before leaving, Premier Zhou met with the cast and crew. He talked about the historical exchanges between the two countries, the political significance of long-term friendship, the policy and tasks of the trip, specific activities, etc., and even the appearance, etiquette, discipline, safety, and maintaining contact with the country. etc. are all entrusted in detail.
He said excitedly: "The Japanese people curse war and hope for peace. You will be welcomed here. Your performance will be a success!"
Kotani, a Japanese novelist, went to the theater with the mentality of picking faults.
After reading it, he wrote an article in the newspaper the next day and said: "It's so beautiful, so complete, so interesting! Without reading the description or the preliminaries, you can understand it at a glance. In the past, other people cried when they saw the tragedy, but I Watching a tragedy always makes me laugh, but after watching a Peking Opera performance and seeing the most beautiful things in the world, I was moved to tears!" An old fisherman at Mensi Station said with tears in his eyes, "The birds of our two countries, We have long been free to fly around; we should not lose to birds, we should come and go freely!" Watanabe City, a young audience, said in a letter to Li Shaochun: "Art has created a huge psychological gap between the two nations are bound together.”
In 1958, the Chinese Opera Song and Dance Troupe participated in the 3rd Paris International Theatre Festival.
Eight tickets were sold out within days.
The first performance was held at the famous Sara Bernal Theatre in Paris. The brightly lit theatre was filled with celebrities from all walks of life, including French political, literary and artistic circles, as well as diplomatic envoys from many countries in France.
Many women wear cheongsams on purpose.
Before the performance, the audience stood up and played the national anthems of China and France.
Every performance of the ensemble in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nice has won warm applause and cheers.
Audiences in Paris called "good" in Chinese words they learned from nowhere.
After the performance, the audience crowded to the backstage to congratulate the success, and asked for autographs.
Drama critics use words such as "perfect," "magical," "magnificent," "wonderful," and "brilliant" to express admiration.
Every time they go to a city, the song and dance troupe is warmly received by the local government.
When the actors walked on the road, they often encountered some French people with sincere smiles to say hello.
Mrs. De Marda, vice-president of the France-China Friendship Association, said: "Our work to promote friendship between the French and Chinese people is less and less difficult because more and more people support us."
In the 1950s, the vast number of opera art workers in New China lived up to the heavy trust, and with the pride and sense of responsibility of the masters, the distinctive opera art was sent to many countries and regions in the world, showing a good spirit and superb performance. Skills have created momentum and influence in the world, and made great contributions to opening up a new situation for the new China's diplomacy.
(Author: Zhou Lijuan, professor of China Academy of Opera)
Guangming Daily