I. The survival difficulties faced by opera genres and troupes
The Institute of Opera of the Chinese Academy of Arts undertook the national key scientific research project "Survey on the Status of National Opera Genres and Troupes" in the discipline of art from 2002 to 2004, and we have gone to Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Fujian, Anhui, Henan, Qinghai, Guizhou, and part of the province of Shanxi to carry out field surveys, and to the A dozen provinces and cities of the opera troupes, research units issued more than 100 questionnaires, learned that since the new period, the local opera troupes have the following problems that need to be solved:
1, the state-run troupes burdened with the survival of the difficult
State-run opera troupes are mostly in the 1950s to 1960s under the planned economic system established. For decades, they have been serving as propaganda tools for the Party and the government and as non-profit institutions, with most of their staff's salaries and benefits funded by government coffers. After the reform and opening up, in order to meet the needs of the market economy, the state introduced the policy of differential funding for cultural and artistic performing groups. Taking Minnan as an example, the government gives state-run troupes 80% of the salary for Liyuan Opera, Puppet Show, Song and Dance Troupe, and 60% for Gaojia Opera and Putuxian Opera, and since 1998, the financial allocation has been mainly used for the salaries and medical fees of retired staff and the social insurance of the working staff. The salaries of the active staff are only 20 to 40 percent, and the rest is paid by the income from performances. Take Xianyou County Carp Voice Theater Troupe as an example: one year's salary and various expenses need to spend 1.4 million yuan. The financial allocation of 600,000 yuan, performance income of 300,000 yuan, a shortfall of 500,000 yuan. Such a straitened economic situation makes it difficult for the troupe to rely on its own strength to improve its artistic production and the living conditions of its performers, and to concentrate on the production of artistic excellence. At present, the average salary of the state-run opera troupes in southern Fujian is about 700 yuan, which is far lower than the average salary in the area. As a result, most actors are forced by life to engage in a second career as a way to make ends meet. Recently, the original Putian County Putian opera one and two troupes also fell into a greater predicament, due to historical and practical reasons, a regiment of the regiment was returned to the Christian use, two troupes of the regiment was dismantled due to the expansion of the road, the two troupes office without a place, no housing for the actors, rehearsals without a place, but also coincided with the administrative area of Putian City after the redistribution of the original Putian County to Li Cheng District, the troupe's attribution is undecided! The troupe's affiliation was not finalized for a while, which made the cast and crew even more restless. The second troupe can barely maintain the performance; a team has basically collapsed, a considerable part of the artistic backbone of the livelihood had to go to the folk theater to perform in professional troupes. Due to financial difficulties, the troupe, in addition to the performers, has been unable to afford the salaries of writers, directors, choreographers, music designers and other creative artists. Zheng Wenjin, the playwright of the Putian County Putian Opera Troupe, is a very accomplished old playwright. The troupe could not afford to rehearse the new plays he created, and he became the troupe's "burden" and did not receive a salary for three years, and then, under the care of the Putian Municipal Bureau of Culture, he was transferred to the Municipal Art Research Institute to engage in Puxian Opera research, and only then solved the problem of salary. The troupe's music design Chen Chengen, has not received wages for five years, by private troupes rehearsal compositions for a living, life is not guaranteed. Zhang Fangsong, the former director of Nan'an County Gaojia Opera Troupe, is a very accomplished screenwriter and management talent, his creation of the "Soul of the Han Dynasty" has won the Wenhua Prize, the Five One Project Award, and the troupe was awarded the Ministry of Culture as a national advanced performing arts organization. Unexpectedly, the troupe was contracted by an individual, and he became unemployed and laid off, and has not received a salary for 3 years. Shanxi Linyi Meidu Theater Troupe is a theater troupe famous for its modern plays, because it is collectively owned. Because of its collective ownership, the troupe relies on income from performances for all of its expenses, and is unable to stage new plays, the troupe's first-class scriptwriter has not received a salary for several years. Shanxi Jincheng Xiangyuan Yangge Theater Troupe is a theater troupe established under the leadership of the Party during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. It was also collectively owned and could not be paid. The troupe has three musicians who joined the work in 1946 and could not receive their pensions for three years. They sold vegetables at the farmers' market to make a living, and only after reflecting to the province and the city did they receive a pension of 500 yuan a month. Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi is a large province of opera, the masses love to watch the opera, opera more, but the economy is less developed, the local financial allocations to the troupe is very small, such as Shanxi Xinzhou city-level troupes only 20%, county-level troupes are almost no money, the troupe relies on the performance of income to maintain. Well-run troupes can barely maintain the basic life of the actors, poorly run troupes have been disbanded. County troupes have more than fifty percent of the troupes have been disbanded, can be maintained to the present, but also difficult. Such as Shanxi Linxian Jin Opera Troupe in Jinxi is a better condition of the troupe, has its own theater and actor dormitory. In recent years, due to the downturn in the performance market, the county's financial inability to invest, the troupe sold the theater and real estate to purchase the necessary performance equipment, barely maintaining the performance.
2, the loss of talent, fault phenomenon is serious
Because of the economic situation of the troupe's financial constraints, the basic salary of the staff can not be guaranteed, perennial performances in the countryside living conditions are very difficult, making it difficult for many performers to settle down in their careers, some of them to go abroad to do the work of the laborers, and some of them to go to sea in business or change their line of work to do other work, resulting in a serious loss of talent. Even the most outstanding Dan actor of Puxian Opera, the seventeenth Plum Blossom Award winner, the former head of the Li Sheng Troupe in Xianyou County, Fujian Province, Wang Shaoyuan resigned from the post of the head of the troupe to be transferred away from the work of the troupe. She talked about her reasons for leaving the troupe sadly said: "to be a performing artist is my childhood ideals, and then I hold the love of Putu Xian Opera to the art school to learn the play, after graduation in the teachers under the cultivation of the first Putu Xian Opera I won the national theater 'plum blossom award' of actors. In the past few years when I was the head of the troupe, for the construction of the troupe, I worked day and night, tirelessly, racking my brains, but still could not bring the troupe out of the dilemma. In the past, our leaders and teachers taught us that actors are the engineers of the human soul, and that it is enviable to be an actor, especially a famous actor. But now we are just like the actors in the old society, performing on the grass stage all year round for survival, unable to rehearse new plays and show our artistic talents. Now I am getting older and older, my health is getting worse and worse, I can't adapt to the long years of performing in the countryside, and the rest of my life is not guaranteed, so I have to leave the troupe and find another way to make a living." Liu Jinmiao, deputy director of the Shangdang Clapper Troupe in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, shared the same sentiment, saying, "The troupe's life is very difficult now. In order to increase the income from performances to catch the mouth of the stage, from a mouth to catch another mouth at 10 o'clock at night also have to perform, sometimes a day can not care about eating a meal, but also can not earn a basic salary. I appealed to my superiors to pay attention to artistic talents and care for their lives. There were more than 40 people who graduated from the troupe with me, but because the troupe's life is too hard, there are only four of us left now: Wu Guohua, Zhang Baoping, and Li Xiuyun. I'm delaying to have no livelihood security after retirement."
Putian City Art School is an important position for training the reserve force of Putian opera, and once trained a number of actors and players for the opera. In the past, enrollment was in the thousands each year. In order to send their children to the art school to learn opera, parents tried every means to find connections and go through the back door. Art school students, often one in a hundred. But at present, due to the state-run theater to "wean" the rumors of the impact and the implementation of the art school of more than 4,000 yuan per student per year tuition fees, a serious impact on the school's student population. Learning theater has always been a more bitter industry, one is to learn a long time, students learn from dolls, no five or six years, it is difficult to become a talent; two is hard, up early and late, summer practice three volts, winter practice a few nine; three is no personal freedom, often beaten and scolded. In the past to learn the theater is mostly the sons and daughters of poor families, one does not have to pay tuition, tube food, tube wear, tube housing, out of the section after a skill, means of making a living. After the liberation, the social status of actors improved, but by the influence of traditional concepts, most of those who study opera are still the children of peasant families with financial difficulties. Art school after the implementation of high tuition system, the children of farmers can not afford the high tuition, to enroll in the opera greatly reduced. This year's enrollment, three days only a dozen enrolled. Xiamen City Art School, Anxi County Art School are facing the same problem. Art school to train the troupe does not need the talent, coupled with the old artists have passed away, some retired, has resulted in a crisis of the talent gap, seriously affecting the inheritance and development of the art of opera in southern Fujian. The same problem also plagued the opera education in Shanxi, Jincheng City Art School has been a few years in a row can not recruit students specializing in opera. We went to research, it is enrollment time, three days only a few enrollment, into a class, can not open the class, had to let the students turn to other professions. The author in April 2004 in Changzhou to participate in the annual meeting of modern theater, listening to comrades in Shanghai, Shanghai Opera School is also three consecutive years to recruit students. Last year, we were in Taiyuan research, coinciding with the Shanxi Provincial Theater School enrollment. Shanxi Theatre Institute's deputy director Yan Yuting is the study of performance, he was invited to participate in the theater school enrollment review, I asked him how the quality of this year's students, he said that none of the students to participate in the review is a good actor material. Theater actor is a special profession, not only the body and voice should be good, but also have artistic understanding. If the students we recruit, do not have such conditions, how can we produce good actors? The slump in opera education is the deepest outbreak of the opera crisis, which will have far-reaching and serious adverse consequences for our national folk opera.
3, the heritage of the opera is in danger of being lost
China's opera culture is deep and rich in heritage. in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the traditional repertoire of more than 15,600 kinds of plays and more than 100 kinds of songs unearthed in Fujian province alone, among which more than 5,000 kinds of scripts of the Putu Xian Opera were found. Only a few of these repertoires and songs have been organized, compiled and printed, and some of them have been collected in troupes, while a considerable part of them have been stored in the boxes of old artists and moth-eaten, or have been stored in the heads of old artists or have been dispersed in the society. However, due to the lack of funds, it is impossible to collect, acquire and properly protect them. Some of the old artists mastered the traditional repertoire and performance skills have not been able to rehearsal and inheritance, at any time due to the death of the old artists and the risk of loss.
There are also a number of theater types that have died out or are on the verge of extinction. Such as the opera province of Shanxi, compiled in 1983, "Chinese Opera Journal" when the survey statistics, there are 49 types of opera, 20 years after the Chinese Academy of Arts Research Institute of Opera and Shanxi Theatre Research Institute of the joint investigation group after the survey statistics, currently surviving in the opera stage only 28 types of theater, 21 have been extinct. Among the 21 extinct styles, there are many styles with a long history and cultural value, such as the Sai Opera formed in the Song and Jin Dynasties and circulated in Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, the Team Opera formed in the Song Dynasty and circulated in the Shangdang area of Shanxi, and the Gongs and Drums Miscellaneous Opera circulated in the southern part of Jin, and the Luo Opera and the Rolling Opera formed at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and popularized in Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, etc. The Han Opera, the second largest opera in Shaanxi, has become the most popular opera in China. Shaanxi's second most popular opera, the Hanyu Erxun, is not only an ancient opera with a long history and rich heritage, but also had an important influence on the formation of Beijing Opera; in the 1960s, there were still more than 20 professional troupes of the Hanyu Erxun. In the Cultural Revolution, the Hanzhong Er簧repertoire suffered a setback, but by 1982 there were still six professional troupes. After the reform and opening up, the Han tune two reeds fell into a more serious crisis. Due to the sharp decline in audience and economic difficulties, the troupe has been disbanded. 2002 April when we went to Ankang interview, only one Ankang Han Opera Troupe left. And it is the only one of these troupes that is still on the verge of disbanding. Another example is Ta Cheng Opera, which is a very artistic genre in Minnan Opera and is currently in a very difficult situation. There is not only no professional troupe, but also a folk professional troupe that can inherit the traditional art of Ta Cheng Opera - Quanzhou Ta Cheng Drama Troupe, also due to the audience is small, has been losing money for several years, on the verge of disintegration. Similarly, there is also the Hanzhong region of the Han tune arenggong theater.
4, too many folk professional troupes and the randomness of the performance of the state-run theater troupes of the performance market has caused a huge impact on the protection and inheritance of traditional arts caused harm
Fujian, Henan, Shanxi rural opera performance market is more active, is the folk professional opera troupes more provinces. For example, there are 168 folk professional troupes in Quanzhou City and 99 folk professional troupes in Putian County, which perform more than 80,000 shows every year. These folk professional troupes play an important role in meeting the needs of the people's cultural life. For the better folk professional troupes, such as Henan "Little Queen" Yu Opera Troupe, Henan Linying Nanjie Village Troupe, Henan Kaifeng Beebao Yu Opera Troupe, etc., we should summarize and promote their experience based on the countryside, serving the peasants. However, the problems in the development of professional folk troupes should not be ignored. Due to most of the folk professional troupes from most of the artists have not received formal art education, lack of writers, directors, music design, choreography and other creative talents, performance is more rough, lack of norms. Such as the emperor appeared, no eunuch; marshal appeared, no army; Miss appeared, no maid. Some private troupes even to achieve some kind of theater effect, very arbitrarily to the Beijing Opera, Huangmei Opera and popular song and dance things into the Putian Opera and other ancient plays, resulting in the destruction of traditional art. Some private troupes, in order to obtain a business license, to seize the performance market, under the banner of this type of opera, singing other types of opera, and even pretend to be other troupes. For example, in addition to Wu Tianyi as the head of the Quanzhou play city drama troupe insisted on playing the city drama, several other play city drama folk professional troupes are playing the Gaojia opera. As a result of management disorder, some folk professional troupes rely on their own staff, small investment, low-cost advantage, low theater prices, and professional troupes to compete for the performance market; there are also high-paying bait to "poach", the professional troupes of the art of backbone pull away; there are also some people, drilling the loopholes in our management, the use of social evil forces! There are also those who exploit the loopholes in our management and make use of the evil forces in society to be "theater tigers". Through bribery and other illegal means, they will be set at a high price to the mouth of the stage, and then transferred to the troupe at a low price, from which profiteering, control of the performance market, the professional theater and folk professional troupes exploited. Putian has a "theater tiger", three years earned a few million, bought housing and store houses. Due to the fact that there is no way to comply with the law, the cultural management department is unable to carry out an effective crackdown on this kind of "theater tiger". Brokers control the opera performance market by bribing grassroots cadres has become a common phenomenon. Wei Guanglin, head of the Arts Section of the Culture Bureau of Jinshan City, Shanxi Province, said at the symposium: "For the sake of high kickbacks, brokers have introduced poor-quality foreign troupes and local troupes to compete with them, which has resulted in the local troupes experiencing difficulties in their operations and lower prices for their performances. Now the well-run troupes can only make ends meet and cannot talk about development. It is necessary to crack down on unscrupulous opera brokers and straighten out the opera performance market."
5, opera creation and performance market is seriously disconnected, award-winning plays are not popularized
After the 1980s, in order to promote and flourish the motherland's opera creation, the Chinese Opera Association set up the "plum blossom award", the Ministry of Culture set up the "Wenhua award", the Central Propaganda Department set up the "Wenhua award", and the Central Propaganda Department set up the "Wenhua award". The Ministry of Culture set up the "Wenhua Award", the Central Propaganda Department set up the "Five One Project Award", the provinces also have the corresponding awards, these awards really promote the creation of theater, resulting in many outstanding situation. Some of the award-winning plays, both by the experts, and by the audience's favorite, a long time to perform, such as Meidu "late rose", Yu opera "guillotine under the red plum", etc., but there are a lot of plays called good but not good. In recent years, Fujian opera has won awards from the Ministry of Culture's "Wenhua Prize", the Central Propaganda Department's "Five One Project Award", the China Drama Association's "Cao Yu Drama Prize", as well as national awards such as the China Arts Festival and the China Drama Festival. In the performance of a series of awards, such as Putu Xian opera "Tears of Xinting", "Autumn Wind", "Scholar and Beggar", "Duck Ugly Biography", Liyuan Opera "Festival Woman", Gaojia Opera "Fengguan Dream", "Jade Pearl String", Gezai Opera "Goddess of the White Egret", and so on, these plays in Beijing and other places to perform, by the theater industry experts highly evaluated for the Fujian theater to win the reputation. However, none of these award-winning plays, in which hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars have been invested, have been popularized in the current performance market. After our investigation, there are three reasons: First, the township theater audience's limited knowledge of history and culture, like to see their familiar stories, characters, such as "Eastern Zhou Dynasty", "Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin", "West Margin", "West Margin", "West Margin", "West Margin". "Secondly, township performances are often combined with folklore, such as New Year's festivals, birthdays for Bodhisattvas, birthday celebrations for the elderly, etc. Audiences like to watch light-hearted comedies and do not like to watch tragedies; they like to watch storytelling, and they like to watch comedy. The audience likes to see light-hearted comedies, not tragedies; they love to see storytelling, lively scenes, not complete storylines, philosophical plays. These award-winning plays are mostly tragedies, which are characterized by philosophical thinking. Third, now the award-winning plays often with gorgeous sets and big song and dance scenes to attract the audience, while the township stage stage equipment is simple, it is impossible to stage these plays.
Chairman Mao Zedong criticized the bad tendency of literature and art to be detached from the masses as early as during the Yan'an period, and the problem has reappeared in the new historical conditions. In some places, high investment, big production has a tendency to become more and more intense. Minnan opera has not yet formed such a trend, but should be vigilant. The content is detached from the real life, the form is detached from the majority of the masses of aesthetic consciousness and the artistic law of opera, which is an important reason for the decline of Yuan miscellaneous operas and kunqu, and is also an important source of the crisis of some of the current types of opera and drama.
6, theater, rehearsal space and other facilities are dilapidated, the troupe's poor living environment
Shanxi Ankang region's economic base is poor, Ankang City, only a theater built in the 1950s, due to the lack of maintenance funds, has been unable to use for many years. And southern Fujian is China's more economically developed areas, but except in Xiamen, Quanzhou, there are a few comprehensive cultural and artistic performance venues, the county and townships, rural areas have no decent theater. Investigation team in Fujian Quanzhou streets, suburbs, Jinjiang rural areas, Putian City suburbs; Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Anhui and other places in the townships to see the show, there are a small number of fixed amphitheaters are also the 1970s before the construction of the old and narrow; most of them are temporarily set up the theater, very simple, can only be staged in the traditional drama, small plays, can not be staged in the new large-scale repertoire. In addition to the problem of content, the simplicity of the stage is also one of the major reasons why it is difficult to stage new repertoire in the townships. In addition to Quanzhou Gaojia Theater Troupe, Quanzhou Puppet Theater Troupe, Anxi Gaojia Theater Troupe and a few other troupes have a better rehearsal space, most troupes do not have a rehearsal space, or built before the 1970s, is now dilapidated, leaking rehearsal space, rarely have their own theater. Xiamen City, Jinlian ascending Gaojia Drama Troupe, Jinjiang City, Gaojia Opera Troupe, although located in the busy downtown area, but the rehearsal space is like a simple shed. They do not have their own theater, performances in the city to rent a field, the field rent is expensive, it does not pay to lose, so they have to withdraw from the city performance market, year-round performances in the townships. Xianyou County Carp Sound Theater Troupe in Wang Shao Yuan as director, many appeals to run, to fight for some funds, built a theater. However, due to the lack of funds, the theater only built a shell, no money to decorate the interior, purchase stage equipment, can not be put into use.
Second, the reasons for the crisis of the survival of opera
The reasons for the crisis of the survival of opera are multifaceted, summarized in three aspects:
The first is the external reasons, that is, the reasons of the society and the times. The way of life and cultural entertainment of our people have undergone great changes. The opera, which was formed in the agrarian era and has been the main form of culture and entertainment for the urban and rural masses in China for thousands of years, has been greatly challenged by foreign cultures and modern media, and an unprecedented crisis has appeared. This crisis is reflected in the fact that from the city to the countryside, the audience is getting smaller and smaller, and the performance market is getting smaller and smaller. before the 1980s, it would not be too difficult for outsiders to go to Beijing to watch Peking Opera, Xi'an to watch Qin Opera, or Chengdu to watch Sichuan Opera. Nowadays, it is not easy to go to Xi'an to watch Qin opera, Beijing to watch Peking opera, or Chengdu to watch Sichuan opera on a normal day. more than 95% of young people under the age of 20 have never been to an opera theater. In Ankang, Shaanxi Province, there is a Han-key Erhuang theater, but when we visited the area, most of the primary and secondary school students did not know that there was such a theater in the area. The audience for opera is not only very small in the cities, but has also declined dramatically in the countryside. We went to Fujian, Henan and Shanxi to investigate the situation of rural opera performances in the rural performance theater, also rarely see the past crowded audience theater surface, in the theater to watch the play most of the old people and pre-school children, very few young people and middle-aged audience. According to the general rule, young people are the most lively, so the rural youth opera audience to go there? When we were investigating in Minnan, Fujian, we interviewed a peasant family. In the compound of a three-story building, there were only two old men and two old women. The son had taken his daughter-in-law and grandson to Beijing to work, and he only came back to live for a few days during the Spring Festival every year. The rural areas along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are small and crowded, and there are many young adults working abroad. This situation has developed to some remote villages in the Mainland. For example, when we went to Liping, Guizhou to collect information on Dong opera during the Spring Festival this year, according to local cadres, it is now very difficult to carry out amateur Dong opera in the countryside, the reason being that the young people who love to perform in the opera all go to Guangzhou and Shenzhen to work, and they only come back to live for a few days during the Spring Festival, so they have no time for rehearsing their programs. This may be an important reason for the decrease of rural youth opera audience. A large number of rural surplus labor flow to the city, especially young adults to the city to make a living, reflecting the reform and opening up in the 1980s, our people's mode of production and way of life from the city to the rural areas of the profound changes in the mode of production and way of life driven by the people's entertainment and changes in aesthetic interests, which is a huge drop in the audience of the opera of the fundamental reasons.
The second reason is inherent in the opera. Both the form and the content of the opera formed in the agrarian era lagged behind the changes of the times. The old traditional repertoire can not attract modern audiences, especially the young audience thinking and feeling **** Ming, the original means of expression of opera can not keep up with the development of the times, artistic skills can not meet the need to reflect modern life. The traditional repertoire of opera, from the Xia and Shang Dynasty before the Three Emperors and Five Emperors opened up the world to the modern history of China's revolution, all of which are displayed, many of the major drama species have "Tang three thousand, Song eight hundred, the performance of the Three Kingdoms play," said. Included in the Dictionary of Peking Opera repertoire alone are more than 5,000 types, and more than 3,000 types are included in the Dictionary of Chinese Opera repertoire, and a province of Fujian collected more than 15,600 types of traditional repertoire at the beginning of the 1960s. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the actors of a large theater group were able to perform at least one hundred plays or more, and great artists such as Tan Xinpei, an actor of Beijing Opera, and Guo Baochen, an actor of Clapper Opera, were able to perform more than three hundred plays. They not only inherited the essence of the traditional repertoire of the line of this opera, and constantly have new plays; not only a rich repertoire of performances, in a theater for several months without repeating the repertoire, and the skills of a comprehensive, "Wenwu Kun chaotic not block. However, nowadays, due to various constraints of the opera actors, let's not say that they can perform a hundred plays, and they can perform twenty or thirty plays which are already very good. Processing and finishing the traditional repertoire, rehearsal of new plays to win awards for the purpose of not from the audience, these years, frequent transfer, repertoire, many award-winning plays, but can become a repertoire of preservation, on stage for a long time, very few. So "the old play, the old play, the old play", the decline in the quality of performance, the audience has been sharply reduced, and become a general phenomenon of various troupes, various types of theater and can not go out of the loop.
To keep the art of opera flourishing and rejuvenated, one is the renewal of artistic means, and the other is the close connection between the ideological content of the plays and the hearts of the people. The reason why Chinese opera can continue until now is that it can keep absorbing national, folk, and even foreign artistic nutrients with the development of the times, so as to push forward the innovation. There have been many changes in the art form of opera since its formation in the Qing Dynasty (Qianjia), and it has been more than two hundred years since the formation of opera in the form of board changes. Chinese society has ended the agricultural era and entered the period of industrialization and informationization. Will there be another change in the form of opera? According to the requirements of the times and the law of opera development, such a change is inevitable. Therefore, in the transition period of society, we should encourage various forms of opera innovation practice, as long as the artistic form in line with the "song and dance storytelling" as the basic characteristics of the opera, can be recognized by the audience, especially by the young audience favorite, should be enthusiastically supported, and to make it gradually improved.
China is a country with a very unbalanced economic and cultural development, and the development of opera art is also very unbalanced. The emergence of new forms of opera does not mean the rapid extinction of the old ones. New times and new life call for new forms of opera expression, but the old forms of opera still have their own part of the audience, but it is the young audience that decides the future and destiny of opera. If an opera cannot be close to real life and reflect the feelings of the majority of the people, it will inevitably decline or even die out. Peking Opera, Qin Opera, Yu Opera and Ping Opera, as the main types of Chinese opera, created and staged a large number of new plays reflecting modern life, revealing social conflicts, reflecting the people's voices, and portraying the image of contemporary youth from the 1950's to the 1960's. The current repertoire is far away from the real life, but it is not the youth who are the most interested in the opera. And now the repertoire creation, away from real life, avoiding social conflicts, in the historical subject matter on the article, in the lighting set on the tricks, how can attract the audience? The crisis of opera, of course, there are reasons in the form of art, but the main thing is the content of the stale and detached from real life.
The third reason is the management system of the troupe. Most of the existing theater troupes managed by the government at or above the county level were established under the planned economic conditions before the 1980s. Before the founding of New China, the management mechanism of most of the professional opera troupes was flexible and dynamic. Opera troupes were not fixed in a certain place, and actors were not fixed in a certain class society. They would perform there if there was a market for their performances, and they would perform in that troupe if the troupe offered a high price for their performances. After the founding of New China, with the public-private partnership and socialist transformation, private theater groups and collectively owned troupes became state-run or local state-run troupes. The actors were fixed in a troupe, and a troupe was fixed in a place and managed by a certain level of government. The funds of the troupe were provided by the government treasury, and the artistic creation was guided by the government authorities, and the repertoire of performances was finalized by the government authorities. This kind of management system has played a positive and important role in the protection of opera genres and the rescue of opera heritage under the planned economy. For example, at the beginning of the founding of New China, the rescue of many endangered opera genres such as Hebei Opera, Shanxi North Road Opera and Kunqu, the discovery of traditional repertoire in various places in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the compilation and publication of the Chinese Opera Journal and the Integration of Chinese Opera Music in the 1980s and 1990s. These major projects are difficult to do under the conditions of the market economy, the leaders of the cultural sector and opera workers involved in these projects have made selfless dedication, which is something that we should not forget today, not to mention that we should not deny their achievements. However, the management system of theater groups formed under the conditions of planned economy in the market economy, does have its drawbacks. For example, the troupe and the actors are fixed in one place and one unit, which is not conducive to the development of the troupe and the growth of the actors. The present salary distribution system of the theater company has not broken the shortcomings of eating a big pot of rice and ranking seniority, which is not in line with the law of artistic production. The interference of the administration in the artistic production of the troupe has derailed the creation of repertoire and the performance market, restricting the production and popularization of new plays. The contradiction between the development of the market economy and the lagging reform of the management system of the troupe has aggravated the difficulties of the troupe's survival and accelerated the disappearance of the theater and so on.
Three, on the protection of cultural heritage of opera thinking
The State Council on strengthening the protection of cultural heritage notice, to strengthen the protection of cultural heritage, heritage and development of China's various ethnic groups around the theater has an important significance. Here are a few specific comments on the protection and development of my opera repertoire.
1, the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage as a new period of building a moderately prosperous society and the construction of socialist spiritual civilization to understand the strategic height, and to enhance the general public, especially at all levels of government to protect and develop the culture of opera consciously
The State Council on the protection of cultural heritage of the notice pointed out that: China is an ancient civilization with a long history. In the long years, the Chinese people have created a rich and colorful, precious cultural heritage. Opera is a masterpiece of Chinese culture and a concentrated embodiment of the national spirit. However, the development of Chinese opera has encountered unprecedented impacts and challenges. Protecting and developing Chinese opera culture is not only a simple task of protecting a cultural heritage, but also an important matter of keeping the genes of the Chinese national culture free from foreign infringement, and it is an urgent matter in front of the whole Party and governments at all levels. The opera styles of various regions and ethnic groups reflect both the ****ness of Chinese culture and the unique features of local and ethnic cultures. Therefore, the protection of the cultural heritage of opera should not only be a slogan, a **** knowledge, but also to be implemented in the protection of each specific type of opera.
2. According to the development history, artistic value and cultural value of each place and each type of opera, we should give proper positioning and formulate practical policies to legislate for the protection of excellent cultural heritage including opera
According to our investigation, there are basically three kinds of existing types of opera, the first one is with a long history, rich artistic heritage and high cultural and historical value. Types of opera, such as Kunqu, Peking Opera, Minnan's Liyuan Opera, Putian Opera, puppetry, the Qinqiang in the northwest, the Sichuan opera in the southwest, the state and all levels of government should be protected as a key type of opera, the establishment of stage performances, training of talents, collection and collation of the research as one of the theaters, so as to become the inheritance and development of the art of this type of theater main position. In the funding to implement the full allocation of funds, the funds required mainly by the local from the financial expenditure, the state and the province to be focused on funding. Secondly, although the history is long, there are certain artistic characteristics, but the performance repertoire is not much, the audience is very few types of theater, such as playing the city theater. The content and performance form of these plays are difficult to be accepted by the present audience, and it is inevitable that they will be eliminated naturally. However, there are some cultural value and research value, the state and local government should allocate special funds as soon as possible, the repertoire, music, performance of the characteristics of these types of modern means of recording. Thirdly, the audience is more, the performance is more prosperous, in the development or emerging types of theater, such as Minnan's Gaojia Opera, Gezai Opera, Henan's Henan Opera, Shanxi's Jin Opera, etc., the state and the local government to encourage and create the conditions for them to come into the performance market, the funding is mainly based on the income from the performance, the government to give appropriate subsidies. But to choose the better conditions of the theater as an artistic experiment and demonstration unit. The main task of these experimental troupes is to create and stage high-quality plays and artistic exploration and experimentation, and to promote excellent plays for the people
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