Tea-picking opera is a type of Han opera popular in Jiangnan and some Lingnan provinces. It was mostly produced from the mid-Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. There are many types and distinctive characteristics in each region. On May 20, 2006, the tea-picking opera was approved by the State Council and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
Inheritance significance
If there were no tea-picking and other tea-related labor, there would be no tea-picking songs and dances; if there were no tea-picking songs and tea-picking dances, there would be no tea-picking songs and dances. There will be a tea-picking opera that is widely popular in many provinces and regions in southern my country. Therefore, tea-picking opera is not only related to tea, but also a splendid culture derived from tea culture in the field of opera or absorbed by opera culture.
The formation of tea-picking opera is not only different from tea-picking songs and tea-picking dances, but is also very similar to the style of lantern opera and flower-drum opera, and has an interactive relationship with them. Huadeng opera is the collective name for the types of lantern operas popular in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other provinces and regions; Yunnan lantern opera has the most types. Its production time is slightly later than that of Tea Picking Opera and Flower Drum Opera, and most of them were formed in the late Qing Dynasty. Flower Drum Opera is the most popular type of opera in Hubei and Hunan provinces, and its formation time is roughly the same as Tea Picking Opera. These two operas also originated from folk songs and folk dances. Because tea-picking opera, lantern opera, and flower-drum opera have relatively close origins, formation and development time, styles, etc., there is naturally a cross-relationship between the three that absorb and nourish each other.
The influence of tea on opera not only directly produced the tea-picking opera, but more importantly, it can be said to have an influence on all operas. Playwrights, actors, and audiences all like to drink tea. ; It is tea culture that permeates every aspect of people's lives, and even drama cannot be separated from tea for a moment. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, there was an artistic school in my country's script creation called the "Yu Ming Tang School" (also known as the Linchuan School). It was named after the great playwright Tang Xianzu was fond of tea and named his residence in Linchuan "Yu Ming Tang". caused. Tang Xianzu's plays focused on expressing the emotions of characters and paying attention to rhetoric. After the publication of his "Four Dreams in Yumingtang", it had an immeasurable influence on the drama creation at that time and in later generations. At this point, the role played by Tang Xianzu, the tea messenger, in the history of Chinese drama should not be limited to the name of the genre.
Another example is that in the past, not only playing and singing, cross talk, drumming, storytelling and other folk arts were mostly performed in teahouses, but also theaters for various drama performances also sold tea or were originally in teahouses. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all commercial theater performance venues were generally called "tea gardens" or "tea houses." Because of this, the income of opera actors from their performances was previously paid by teahouses. In other words, the income of early theaters or theaters was mainly from selling tea; they only collected tea money and did not sell theater tickets. The performance was to entertain and attract tea customers. For example, the most famous "Chajia Tea House" and "Guanghe Tea House" in Beijing at the end of the last century, as well as the "Dangui Tea Garden" and "Tianxian Tea Garden" in Shanghai, are all performance venues. This type of tea garden or tea house is usually built in the middle of a wall. The flat ground in front of the stage is called a "pool". It is surrounded on three sides by corridors as auditoriums. Tea tables and tea chairs are set up for the audience to drink tea and watch. play. Professional theater only appeared around the Revolution of 1911. At that time, it was specifically called the "new style of drama" or "theater garden" or "theater hall". The words "garden" and "guan" come from tea gardens and teahouses. So , someone also said vividly: "Opera is an art that is watered with tea juice in our country. "In addition, since the production, trade and consumption of tea have become an important aspect of social production, social culture and social life, naturally, it is impossible not to be absorbed and reflected by drama. Therefore, many famous dramas, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, Famous dramas not only have tea ceremony content and scenes, but some even use tea ceremony as the background and theme of the whole play. For example, the opening line of the traditional Chinese play "The Story of the West Garden" includes "Buy Lanling fine wine and cook it." "Yangxian New Tea" leads the audience into a specific local custom.