Part 1 (1) pleasing The relationship between Bai Xianyong and Kunqu Opera began more than half a century ago.It was 1946, shortly after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Bai Xianyong came to Shanghai with his family to watch Kunqu opera performances by Mei Lanfang and Yu Zhenfei at the Majestic Theater.The repertoires performed by the two masters at that time were "Si Fan", "Thorn Tiger", "Broken Bridge" and "A Dream in the Garden".It was when Bai Xianyong was ten years old and he came into contact with Kunqu opera for the first time.Although "I don't understand a word, I only know to go to see Mei Lanfang with my family. However, the music of [Zao Luo Robe] in "A Dream in the Garden" and Mei Lanfang's graceful dance" are deeply imprinted in the into his mind.

The audio-visual "beauty" of Kunqu opera that I saw when I was young, echoed its charming "color" and "sound" twenty years later.In 1966, when Bai Xianyong was unsatisfied with the way of expression in his novel "A Dream in the Garden", it was Kunqu Opera that inspired him.Therefore, Kunqu Opera not only became the object of direct description in his novels, but also the fate of several characters in the novel coincided with the fate of Kunqu Opera.This novel not only introduces the "beauty" of Kunqu Opera, but also uses Kunqu Opera to express the vicissitudes of history, the fate of characters, and structure different time and space. The effect can be described as great!And Tang Xianzu's "A Dream in the Garden" by Bai Xianyong "lived" again in a "modern" way.

The novel "A Dream in the Garden" is the literary relationship between Bai Xianyong and Kunqu Opera. When the stage play "A Dream in the Garden" adapted from his novel was successfully staged in Taiwan and mainland China in 1982 and 1988 At that time, the relationship between Bai Xianyong and Kunqu Opera extended from the paper to the stage.This stage play was a sensation at the time and would occupy an important position in the history of stage plays on both sides of the strait. An important breakthrough was to bring Kunqu opera into modern stage plays. While watching the stage play, the audience can also directly enjoy Kunqu opera. The "beauty" of Kunqu opera in this stage play is not only a "role" to participate in the plot, but also a self-sufficient "beauty" world.

Part 1 (2) The direct appearance of Kunqu opera in the stage play "A Dream in the Garden" undoubtedly made Bai Xianyong's relationship with Kunqu opera deeper and stronger.In 1987, Bai Xianyong was invited to give lectures at Fudan University as a professor at the University of California, and he visited Shanghai and Nanjing.This time in mainland China, his greatest achievement was watching the performance of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe in Shanghai, watching "Three Dreams" ("Startling Dream", "Insane Dream") sung by Zhang Jiqing in Nanjing, and interacting with people from mainland Kunqu opera circles. Get married.Later, the mainland version of the stage play "A Dream in the Garden" invited Hua Wenyi to act as the heroine. In 1992, a Kunqu opera starring Hua Wenyi was produced in Taipei. The talks are all the "consequences" of the "causes" of this trip to the mainland.

The impressions and memories of Kunqu opera left in childhood, the "resurrection" of Kunqu opera in the world of novels written by the pen, and the three-dimensional presentation of real Kunqu opera in stage plays can be said to be the three important stages of Bai Xianyong's love for Kunqu opera.The reason why Bai Xianyong never forgets Kunqu Opera is because the "beauty" of Kunqu Opera deeply moved him. "Kunqu Opera has no other, it has a beautiful word: beautiful singing, beautiful figure, beautiful rhetoric, which combines the beauty of music, dance and literature. After more than 400 years, it has been refined and perfected. The most perfect form." Bai Xianyong's words fully express his appreciation and affection for Kunqu Opera.Faced with the essence of comprehensive art in traditional Chinese culture, Bai Xianyong has a deep understanding of its delicacy and perfection.Bai Xianyong has infinite emotion for the ups and downs and love tragedies of "the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty from the beginning, and the story of Tianbao's bequest in detail". Bai Xianyong was also deeply fascinated by the beautiful and romantic "true love".

Kunqu opera made Bai Xianyong deeply feel: Chinese music rhythm, dance essence, literary poetry and spiritual realm are all contained in Kunqu opera.In a sense, Kunqu Opera has become the artistic sustenance of Bai Xianyong's cultural spirit and aesthetic ideals. What Kunqu Opera brings to him is endless aesthetic pleasure and lasting pleasure. It also gave it the chance of revival and the luck of revival in the new historical period. Part 1 (3) pleasure Since the 1990s, Bai Xianyong has expanded his love for Kunqu Opera from his own personal appreciation—enjoyment of the heart—to a more social promotion and promotion behavior, and he takes it as a pleasure.Bai Xianyong's love for Kunqu Opera has developed from appreciating to appreciating both pleasure and fun, which stems from his understanding that the "beauty" of Kunqu Opera should not be appreciated only by himself or a few people in society, but should be appreciated by more people in society. People, the entire Chinese nation, and the whole world can recognize the value of Kunqu Opera and appreciate the delicacy and perfection of this cultural treasure of the Chinese nation.For this reason, he has spared no effort in Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China and North America for the revival of Kunqu Opera, working enthusiastically and willingly as a volunteer.

In 1990, Bai Xianyong published a dialogue with Hua Wenyi on the media, exchanging views on Kunqu Opera and understanding the history of Kunqu opera talent cultivation in mainland China.In 1992, promoted by Bai Xianyong’s planning, famous Kunqu opera performers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait collaborated for the first time to produce Kunqu opera in Taipei. , and thus set off a craze for Kunqu opera in Taiwanese society.In the following years, Bai Xianyong either participated in the operation of the plan, or had talks with famous masters (Xu Zhuoyun, Zhang Jiqing, Yue Meiti, Zhang Jingxian), or gave interviews to give his own experience, or wrote an article introducing the development history and aesthetic characteristics of Kunqu Opera...to promote Kunqu Opera in Taiwan. , Bai Xianyong did his best and enjoyed it.

Under his advocacy, facilitation, impetus and influence, the Kunqu opera performance market in Taiwan was unprecedentedly active, and several major mainland Kunqu opera troupes were able to perform in Taiwan many times (the most grand one was the collective debut of the five major mainland Kunqu opera troupes in Taiwan in 1997. ), the "first-class actors" from mainland China take turns to show the beauty of Kunqu opera in Taiwan, which not only gives mainland Kunqu opera talents the opportunity to show their skills, but also helps Taiwan cultivate "first-class audiences" who can fully appreciate the beauty of Kunqu opera.It should be said that Bai Xianyong has made great contributions to the fact that Kunqu opera can form a craze in Taiwan, and that the performance and appreciation of Kunqu opera on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can be continuously improved through interaction.

In addition to promoting Kunqu Opera in Taiwan, Bai Xianyong also expanded his ambition to promote Kunqu Opera to the whole world.In Hong Kong, in Houston, in New York, in Vancouver, in Shanghai, in Beijing, in Suzhou, you can see Bai Xianyong on any occasion related to Kunqu Opera.He aroused the topic and upsurge of Kunqu Opera in various ways such as speeches, interviews, watching, and writing articles. With his own influence, he devoted himself to restoring, shaping, and extending the image of Kunqu Opera in the world, and contributed to the revival of Kunqu Opera. Make a sound and spread the "beauty" image of Kunqu Opera to the whole world.When UNESCO recognized Kunqu Opera as a "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" on May 18, 2001, Bai Xianyong had been promoting the "beauty" of Kunqu Opera in various ways around the world for nearly 20 years up.

Part 1 (4) In order to fundamentally revive Kunqu Opera, at the beginning of the new century, Bai Xianyong implemented the promotion of Kunqu Opera into recreating an "authentic" sample of Kunqu Opera—the youth version.The so-called "authentic" sample refers to the original Kunqu opera originated in Suzhou (Kunshan). The melodious singing of Kunqu opera and Wu Nong's soft words are of course performed by the Kunqu opera troupe in Suzhou. The deeper meaning refers to retaining the original characteristics of Kunqu Opera and rejecting any "innovation and reform" that would damage Kunqu Opera.As for the "youth version", it is to express the youthful love between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei with exquisiteness, beauty, and youth, so that their love that breaks free from shackles, touches ghosts and gods, and surpasses death is full of youthful charm and vitality, so as to attract young people. audience.For this reason, in the selection of actors, Bai Xianyong tried his best to overcome all opinions, and selected newcomers Shen Fengying and Yu Jiulin to play the leading roles.In order to improve the artistic level of young actors and ensure the artistic quality of the youth version, Bai Xianyong invited Kunqu opera masters Wang Shiyu and Zhang Jiqing as art directors to teach and talk about plays for young actors.In order to let the art of Kunqu Opera be passed down from generation to generation, Bai Xianyong also urged the older generation of Kunqu Opera masters to accept apprentices and teach them, and let young performers kneel and worship, so that the inheritance of Kunqu Opera can be bound by etiquette and guaranteed by masters.In this way, in the process of creating the youth version, it not only produces a high-quality drama, but also trains and trains newcomers, and also enables the inheritance of Kunqu opera to have the "legality" of the teacher-student relationship, which can be said to serve multiple purposes.

Seeing that the youth version is becoming more and more perfect, Bai Xianyong is very pleased.For this play, he spent more than a year traveling back and forth across the Taiwan Strait, from the adaptation of the script to the selection of actors, from the implementation of the venue to the raising of funds. Create an ideal in his mind.Bai Xianyong has experienced another three stages of his love for Kunqu Opera from his personal appreciation of Kunqu Opera, to vigorously promoting Kunqu Opera, and then to making this big play.All the efforts in it are, in the final analysis, to realize one of his dreams: when Chinese culture has been retreating in the face of the wave of Westernization since the 20th century and has been inferior and self-abased, Kunqu Opera, the "best of the best" in the back garden of Chinese culture, should be It can be a powerful evidence for Chinese children to regain their cultural pride and self-confidence—behind the love of Kunqu Opera lies Bai Xianyong's thinking and response to the modern destiny of traditional culture. The melodious sound of the flute has already sounded, and the curtain of the youth version is about to kick off. Let us join Bai Xianyong to enjoy the fun and enjoy the colorful Kunqu Opera. (The author is an associate professor of the Chinese Department of Nanjing University)