The Kunming lanterns are spread in the suburbs of Kunming, such as Dongzhuang, Dashuying, Xiaoba, Xiaocaiyuan, Dafangcun, Xiaofangcun and Qiaojie, as well as in Guandu District, Xishan District, Chenggong County, Jinning County, Anning County and Yiliang County.
The early performances of the Kunming lanterns, combined with the fire, were active during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, and were organized by the lantern society. Before the performance, a ceremony was held to welcome the god of lanterns, and lantern posters were sent to various places by stewards. The performance team was led by the lamps with the words "Peaceful Lanterns" and the colorful lamps with the words "Good weather, prosperity and peace of the country".
After the mountain horn and martial arts bands, in turn, the lion lamp dragon team, martial arts juggling team, stilts, dry boat, donkey, Yangluo drums, whip, and colorful make-up characters in the play along the way to perform, and to receive the lamp post congratulations to the family. This form of performance is also known as congratulatory lights, due to the sidewalk show, the masses also known as the street lights.
During the Daoguang period in the Qing Dynasty, the Kunming area has been the performance of lanterns. Some of them used to play jujube pole, gold new silk, inverted plate pulp and other small songs to perform "township in-laws", "blind man watching the lantern", "fishing", "Zhu Baichen repudiation of his wife" and other plays. Due to the continuous enrichment of the performance, the performance form has also developed into a choice of square singing to meet the masses.
In the Qing Dynasty, amateur lantern singing organizations such as lantern clubs, lantern classes and lantern huts were established in various parts of the countryside. Some lantern clubs, not only perform during the Spring Festival, but also invited to neighboring villages to perform or teach opera, appeared Li Benzhong, Fan Yongshou, Li Yongnian and other masters of teaching lanterns and Mr. Singing, so that the Kunming lanterns further popularization.
Li Benzhong is a multi-faceted lantern artist, skilled in the production of the raw, dan, jing and chou lines, and proficient in playing, playing and singing. He is a lantern family, had four sons, all taught lantern skills, and each has its own specialty. The eldest son, Ruiqing, worked as a dan actor, the second son, Shuqing, worked as an ugly actor, the third son, Huaiqing, worked as a student, a dan who also played the qin, and the fourth son, a variety of roles. The family often performs on the same stage, and they work well together. Especially in the "township in-laws", father and son cooperation, wonderful fun.
Li Benzhong's heirs are Yang Pailin of Cola Village, Xu Bingyi and Pu Shangyi of Jiangwei Village, Li Rugui of Xinzhu Village, Li Kexing of Songhua Shop, etc., all of whom have passed away successively, but all of whom have their own heirs, who have contributed to the Chenggong lantern business for generations.
Fan Yongshou is a Kunming native, he grew up by the village lantern class, and then into the Mingjiadi lantern class to the old artist Chen Ding to learn the art, work of the student, Dan, to Dan's strengths. Fan Yongshou is gifted with a good voice, sweet tone, clear singing, good at simulating all kinds of women's lives, melting into the lantern performing arts. For example, he played the role of Wu Feixia in "Fishing", Wang Daniang in "Mending Jar", and Hu Duan's wife in "Counseling Gambling", all of which were very popular among the audience because of their realistic portrayal of the different characters and their beautiful figures.
Later on, the Ming family lantern class under the auspices of Chen Ding, Chen Jiaxin, Li Xiangyun, Fan Yongshou, etc., with a full line-up and active performances, attracted provincial and municipal political dignitaries and various celebrities often come to watch, and gave a high evaluation. The famous actors and actresses of the class were often invited to neighboring counties and districts to preach and perform. Fan Yongshou has been invited to Shangzhuang and Gangtou Village in Guandu District. He was also invited to teach and perform in Puji and Shalang in Xishan District.
Later, Fan Yongshou and Li Xiangyun were invited by Yunnan Provincial Lantern Troupe, and they dictated and sang eight traditional Kunming Lantern plays, such as "Fish Fighting", "Jujube Fighting", "Red Lady Pushing the Cart", "Cargo Man Selling Threads", etc., and 28 traditional tunes, such as "Jujube Fighting", etc., respectively, which were proofread and notated by Yin Zhao, Yang Fang, etc., and were selected in the "Compendium of Yunnan Traditional Lantern Plays" (the first collection) and the "Yunnan Lantern Music" (the Kunming portion). He has contributed to the development of the Kunming lanterns. He made a great contribution to the development and spread of Kunming lanterns.
Li Yongnian loved lantern art when he was a child, and the artists saw that he was smart and clever, and they all liked to teach him. 13 years old, he played the role of the shepherdess in the lantern drama "Little Sheep", and won the praise of the audience for his singing and realism, and has often performed with the lantern troupe ever since. He has always been modest and studious, in the study of the Dan character figure and singing at the same time, but also study Huqin, Yueqin and other musical instruments, year-round.
Li Yongnian likes to get to the bottom of things when he seeks advice from old artists. He was also inspired by the singing styles of the Mei and Cheng schools of Peking Opera, and sculpted the lanterns in terms of the urgency, lightness, weight, spitting, and flavor of the singing, which made a significant contribution to the development of the lanterns.
Li Yongnian's performance was true and natural. At the beginning of the war, he participated in the Peasants' Salvation Lantern Troupe and won praise for his role as Little Cuihua in Zhang Xiaoyi's Army. His singing voice was so high and clear that he could carry his voice for miles in the rural grass-roots stage performance. He sang the bitter Taoist sentiment euphemistically and implicitly, with true feelings, moving people with emotions. Because of his excellent singing, the audience called him "Mr. Daoxiang".
These outstanding artists have made great contributions to the development of Kunming lantern theater.
In 1912, Fork Street Dongyue Temple composed of a lantern class, in the Jinbi amusement park that Kunhua Hospital amphitheater performances. 1924, the Kunming Mingjia Di Lantern class, was invited to Wuhuashan for the inauguration of the Governor of Yunnan Tang Jiyao performances, the Kunming lantern into the provincial capital of the beginning of the performance. But later, because of the war Lantern class was forced to disband, Lantern performances again to restore the state of complete amateur, Lantern artists still return to the rural areas or teahouse seasonal performances or singing.
After 1945, a large number of accomplished and influential lantern artists in Kunming formed various forms of professional and semi-professional lantern groups, and entered some of the small theaters in Kunming and other cities for year-round business performances. In addition to the traditional lantern plays, a large number of Dian Opera plays and even Peking Opera plays were transplanted, such as "The Story of Liu Yin", "Qin Xianglian", "Li Sanniang", "The Eight Immortals", "Four Down to Henan", "The Pearl Pagoda" and other major plays, and "The Three Maidens Teach Their Sons", "The Rise and Release of Su San", and "Broken Bridges Meeting" and other plays.
After 1946, the lantern artists in Kunming city had been in Qingyun, Huafeng, Kunming, Taihuachun, Jusheng, Taihe and other colorful teahouse, had a business performance. In order to maintain business, increase the repertoire, transplanted some of the opera singing and Dian Opera repertoire, such as "four Henan", "White Fan", "Python", "Sophora", "Golden Bell", "Qin Xianglian", etc., and absorbed the Dian Opera artists to participate in the performance of the singing of Dian Opera into the voice of the voice of the Dian Opera, known as the "lamp folder play".
The performances of the Lantern Opera contributed to the dramatization of the lantern's performance, voice, costume and accompaniment.
In 1949, Qingyun Street established the province's first Qingyun Theater specializing in lanterns, and some professional lantern classes sang lanterns in the theater. These classes gathered and dispersed from time to time, led by a few artists to organize, without a special name of the class.
Sung in the theater for a longer period of time, the Panlong District Lantern activities have a greater impact on the Xiong Jiechen organization of the lantern class. They transplanted many repertoires from Dian Opera, such as "Four to Henan" and "The Civet Cat for the Prince". Then, Changchun Road East built a singing lantern tea room, with Ma Yunshun organized lantern class sang in the tea room, the Panlong District lantern activities also have a certain influence.
After the founding of New China, the government scattered Kunming lantern artists organized, in 1950, the establishment of the Kunming lantern workers association. 1951 early, on the basis of the association, the formal establishment of the collective ownership of the nature of the folk professional troupe of the Kunming People's Lantern Troupe. Lantern Troupe's address is located in the Temple of Literature. After the establishment of the troupe recruited the first batch of young women trainees, the end of the lantern has been a man playing women's history.
With the participation of new literati, a number of traditional lantern songs, dances and operas such as Ten Big Sisters, Dacha Mountain, and Three Visits to Kisses were organized and adapted. At that time, "Three Visits to Kisses" was staged in the First Theater of the Temple of Literature for more than eighty consecutive full houses, making it a sensation for a while.
July 1958, Kunming City, the first state-run lantern professional performing groups Kunming lantern troupe was established. Over the years, due to the government's attention, the art of lanterns in Kunming has developed steadily, becoming a popular art form for the urban and rural masses. Many popular performers appeared, and the lanterns sung by Yuan Liu'an and Wang Yuxia became the reserved programs often broadcast by the radio, and were recorded into cassettes for wide distribution. Yuan Liuan's singing was also made into a cassette tape by China's Academy of Opera and Music, which was compiled into "Selected Chinese Artists' Singing".
At the same time, the lanterns in the Maidu area of Yunnan also matured, and in the 1950s, the Maidu mountain song, "The River Runs Through the Water," which was widely circulated throughout the country and known as the Serenade of the Orient, made Maidu famous all over the world.
Among the various branches of Yunnan lanterns formed by geographical division, the Maidu lanterns occupy an important position. Influenced by Bai and Yi music and Han Chinese mountain songs, the Maidu lanterns have many unique tunes from the folklore, such as "Ten Big Sisters", which is a folk song from the mountainous region of Maidu.
Like lanterns in other places, the square lantern show is the traditional form of performance of the Maidu lanterns in the township annual festival. It is usually performed on the streets of the square, and is divided into two categories: small songs and big songs.
Small singing, also known as the small field, is a variety of lanterns singing and dancing and minor singing collectively, the performance time is shorter, singing without a complete storyline and characters, often interspersed with singing programs in the gap in the performance. The tunes used in small singing are called ditties, which are abundant in number and often sung by Ten Big Sisters, Embroidered Fragrance Sacks, Double Flower Picking, Tea Picking, and New Year's Worship. The minor tunes are also the basis of the major singing tunes.
Da singing is divided into two types: flower drums and folding. The storyline of flower drums is simple and is mainly performed with the singing and dancing of the characters, and there are more than ten programs such as "Fengyang Flower Drums" and "Flower Drums at the City Gate".
Folding has a more complete storyline and characters, but the song and dance components are very strong, the performance time is generally much longer than the small singing and flower drums. The characters are generally two to three people, the subject matter is very close to real life, costumes, props, make-up are very simple, rich in life.
Early Maidu lanterns stayed in the form of folk fire activities for a long time, and in the 1950s they were gradually put on the stage and developed into a more mature art.
Since 1956, Maidu County lantern troupe was established, created and performed a number of plays with a certain level of art. Such as reflecting the Yi national hero Li Wen's historical drama "Yi and Han love", small and medium-sized modern lantern drama "Rainbow", "man", as well as transplanted plays "Li Shuangshuang", "Xu Jiujing promotion story" and so on. It has greatly promoted the development of the art of Maidu lanterns.
There is a saying circulating in Maidu: "Ten Maidu people, nine will sing lanterns." Although the lanterns have gone on stage, but the roots of Maidu lanterns are still y rooted in the folk. Lantern singing activities almost all over the urban and rural areas of the Maidu, which is concentrated in the population of the dam area, the southwest of the Mizhi and the southern mountainous areas of the cattle street as the main popular area.
In the case of Mizhi Township, which is about 20 kilometers south of the county seat, the 15th day of the first month of every year is the traditional Mizhi Lantern Festival. At that time, Mizhi is filled with thousands of people, with 4,000 to 5,000 performers and more than 40 dragons. The spectacle of the Mizhi Lantern Festival centrally reflects the entertainment and mass nature of the Maidu lanterns.