Chapter 9 Section Two

"Donghai Huanggong" was developed on the basis of "Chiyou Opera" and "Jiaodi Opera" in the pre-Qin period, and absorbed ancient animal taming skills. "Xijing Fu" says: It is recorded in more detail in Ge Hong's "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" in the Jin Dynasty: There was a Huang Gong in the East China Sea. He practiced magic when he was young, and he could subdue poisonous snakes and beasts. He often wore a red gold knife on his waist.He tied red silk on his head and cast spells, swallowing knives and spitting fire, making clouds and fog.Later, when he was old, he drank too much alcohol, which made his body weak. As a result, when he was fighting with a white tiger, his spell failed, and he was bitten to death by the tiger. Although "Xijing Fu" and "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" both record this story, their conclusions are quite different. "Xijing Fu" believes that Huang Gong "took evil as a bewitch" and deceived himself and others. "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" believes that Huang Gong is "aging, weak in strength [lei Lei], exhausted, drinking too much, and unable to resume his skills."In "Donghai Huanggong", "swallowing knife and spitting fire" is a kind of illusion. According to the records in "Fu on Swallowing Knife and Spitting Fire" by Wang Qi [qi Qi] of the Tang Dynasty, this kind of phantom fire was introduced from the Western Regions in the early Han Dynasty. "Donghai Huang Gong" not only includes hand fighting, wrestling, wrestling, but also new content such as illusion and animal taming. At the same time, a storyline is added to the comprehensive acrobatic performance.Therefore, it is not only an innovative content in the development of acrobatic art, but also a prototype of the development of Chinese opera.Unearthed in Linyi County, Shandong Province, there is a scene of Huang Gongyi fighting a fierce tiger in the East China Sea. Angry at Huang Gong, he opened his mouth eager to hurt someone.From this stone portrait of the Han Dynasty, it can be seen that Donghai Huanggong was very popular in society at that time.

Probably due to the influence of "Donghai Huang Gong", the "Liaodong witch" appeared during the Han and Wei dynasties.According to "Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · Qi Wang Ji" Pei Songzhi's annotation quotes Sima Shi's "Fei Di Zuo": Knowing that this acrobatic performance is performed by a man pretending to be a woman, and the content of acrobatics, dance and teasing is integrated, which is an attempt to develop towards dramatization.Wang Guowei, a modern university scholar, said in the book "Song and Yuan Opera Research": During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, or possibly during the Six Dynasties, "Botou" appeared. According to Duan Anjie's "Yuefu Miscellaneous Records" in the Tang Dynasty:

This is also a fight between humans and beasts, with a certain storyline, which is similar to the "Huang Gong in the East China Sea".Judging from the plot, it was a certain person who went up the mountain to kill the beast because his father was injured by a tiger.It seems to be performing the story of the son of "Donghai Huanggong" avenging his father, and it is also an acrobatics of animal taming.