Chapter 13 The first section of colorful local drama

Taiwan is the hometown of drama. As far back as the Dutch colonial period, drama was introduced from mainland China. Since then, with the influx of immigrants, mainland artists have also come to Taiwan to perform, so that various forms of drama can be spread in Taiwan. Hundreds of years of development and evolution have gradually formed a unique style of "Taiwanese opera". Taiwan has a wide variety of dramas, competing for splendor. The main ones are Liyuan Opera, Gaojia Opera, Fuzhou Opera and Grand Opera introduced from Guangdong, etc. from Fujian; Local dramas produced by using props, etc., such as Gezai Opera, Tea Picking Opera, Chegu Opera, Adult Opera, Boy Opera, Zidi Opera, and Chamou Opera.In addition, there are puppet shows, puppet shows, shadow plays and so on.Especially after Taiwan's recovery in 1949, Peking Opera (called "Ping Opera" or "National Opera" in Taiwan), Shanghai Opera, Yue Opera, Kunqu Opera, Suzhou Tanci, Cantonese Opera, Sichuan Opera, Han Opera, Jianghuai Opera, Yangzhou Opera, Hunan Huagu Opera, Lv Opera, Huangmei Opera As well as Hebei Bangzi, Henan Bangzi, Shaanxi Bangzi, etc., they also spread to Taiwan with the relocation of immigrants from various provinces, making Taiwan's theater stage more colorful and showing a prosperous scene of flowers blooming.

Although there are many types of popular drama in Taiwan, the most popular and loved by the people are Gezai Opera and Puppet Show. Gezai Opera is a rising star of Taiwan's local opera, but it is also a local opera with the strongest local flavor, the most popular and the most representative.According to legend, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when immigrants from southern Fujian crossed Taiwan, they brought various folk songs such as "Jinge", "Picking Tea" and "Car Drum" from the Xiang (Xiangxiang) River area of ​​Zhangzhou to Taiwan. As it spread, the masses spontaneously organized the "Le Club" and "Ge Zi Zhen" to sing "Jin Ge".Later, it combined Taiwanese folk songs of "Seven Characters and Four Characters" and absorbed the performance forms of traditional Chinese dramas to gradually form a kind of ancient costume singing opera sung in Hokkien, namely "Gezai Opera".

The early Gezai Opera was a simple and unpretentious play, mainly composed of men and women answering and singing a cappella.Later, it evolved into singing with the theme of daily life.Later, it changed to singing folk stories and local traditional operas.Then it absorbs stage arts such as Peking Opera, South-North Guan, and Chaozhou Baizi Opera introduced to Taiwan from the mainland, and finally forms a unique opera. Taiwanese Gezai Opera has been deeply influenced by Mainland Peking Opera in its evolution and development.It is said that after the early years of the Republic of China, Fuzhou opera troupes and Shanghai Peking opera troupes in mainland China, which called for powerful martial arts, were often invited to perform in Taiwan, and they were very popular.Gezai Opera absorbed the characteristics of costumes, props, scenes, music, and scripts from Peking Opera, and gradually developed into another drama model.Today, the influence of mainland Peking opera can still be clearly seen from the cultural and military fields, facial makeup, costumes and figures of Gezai Opera.

Taiwanese Gezai Opera can be divided into "Landsao" Gezai Opera, "Yetai" Gezai Opera and "Neitai" Gezai Opera according to their different performance forms.Because different types of Gezai Opera have different performance styles, they are deeply loved by the public. At the end of the 1920s, Taiwanese Gezai Opera spread back to southern Fujian, and soon became popular in southern Fujian. Because it is popular in the Xiangjiang River Basin, it is also called "Xiang Opera" in southern Fujian. The repertoires of Gezai Opera are mostly derived from Chinese history or folk tales, such as "Chen San Wu Niang", "Liu Xiu Fu Guo", "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Ji Gong Biography" and so on.Most of the content emphasizes loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, and most of them have no fixed script, which is taught by old actors or figured out by the actors themselves.The main musical instruments are Gu [gu] Zaixian, Datongxian, Jinghu, suona, single-skin drum, cymbals, gongs and so on.

From the 1920s to the middle of the 1930s was the "golden age" of Taiwan's Gezai Opera. At that time, Gezai Opera was popular all over Taiwan, and there were theaters dedicated to its performances in all parts of the province. There were hundreds of professional theater troupes, and the grand occasion was unprecedented. After the "July 7th" Incident, the Japanese colonial authorities stepped up the implementation of the "Royalization Movement", tried every means to control opera troupes, poisoned the content of plays, and forced actors to wear Japanese kimonos to perform, otherwise they would be forcibly banned from performing.However, many actors either went underground, fled into the countryside to perform secretly, or continued to perform Gezai Opera with a new look.For example, if the costumes are changed during the performance, the emperor is called "chairman", the prime minister is called "manager", and the civil and military officials are called "staff". ", was very popular among the people of Taiwan, and the Japanese colonists were helpless, so that the Gezai Opera was fortunately not lost.After Taiwan's recovery, Gezai Opera, like many other banned local operas, recovered rapidly and flourished. The 1950s was the most glorious and prosperous period of Gezai Opera. At that time, the theater performances were full, and there were no seats left. It was hard to find a ticket, which shows how much Taiwanese love Gezai Opera.

Puppetry, also known as "palm opera", originated in Quanzhou, Fujian.According to legend, there was a down-and-out scholar named Liang Binglin in Quanzhou city at the end of Ming Dynasty. He was talented but failed repeatedly.Once, on the way to Beijing for an exam, he dreamed of a white-haired old man holding his palm and writing the five characters "Fame to the Palm". After waking up, Liang Shusheng was overjoyed, thinking: "This time I am going to Beijing to rush for the exam, and I hope I can get the title on the gold list." Unexpectedly, the list will be released. On that day, he still lost his name to Sun Shan.When he got home, he didn't care about reading, and was depressed. When he was bored, he made some puppets to play in his palm to relieve his boredom.Afterwards, he made up some operas and performed "voluntary performances" in the countryside, firstly to show off his full knowledge, and secondly to satirize the world and express his feelings.Due to the unique conception and unique acting skills, he soon became famous far and wide.Only then did Liang Shusheng realize the true meaning of the phrase "Fame belongs to the palm of your hand".Later, many frustrated scholars competed to imitate you, and absorbed Fuzhou sculpture (stage, puppet head), Quanzhou embroidery (costume) and folk music (Nanguan), gradually forming a local drama with unique artistic charm, which is widely spread in southern Fujian. .Because the puppets used in the performance, except for the head, palms and the lower half of the feet, the limbs and legs are all made of cloth, and the shape resembles a cloth bag, so it is called "cloth puppet show" among the people.And because the performance of this kind of play is to insert the palm into the cloth bag that is used as the "body" of the puppet, and manipulate it with the movement of fingers, so it is also called "hand play".

Puppetry was introduced to Taiwan in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and it has been widely spread among the people.Divided by music tunes, word tunes, and play styles, Taiwanese puppetry can be divided into three different genres: Nanguan, Beiguan, and Chaodiao.These three schools have their own characteristics, influence each other, promote each other, continue to innovate and develop, and their acting skills are becoming more and more mature. When the puppet show is performed, the stage is crowded with people, and the performers with superb "skills" (called "head hands") hide behind the scenes, skillfully manipulating the puppets with their hands, performing various delicate movements, and at the same time Imitate the voices of various characters and narrate the plot vividly.There are not only fascinating speeches, but also elegant and tactful a cappella, and sometimes some humorous slang words are inserted.The beautifully carved puppets are vivid and lifelike.Although the stage is small, it shows all the joys and sorrows, truth, goodness, beauty and ugliness of the world.The emotions of the audience, with the development of the plot, are sometimes gratified, sometimes sighed, sometimes resentful, sometimes sad, and the stage and the audience are integrated into one.Many historical stories and folk legends have become well-known and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through the performance of puppetry.

Many traditional Taiwanese local dramas such as Gezai Opera and Puppetry are important national cultural heritages and have had their respective glorious histories. However, with the changes in Taiwan's social structure and the impact of Western culture, after the 1960s, these simple folk arts have disappeared. It is declining day by day, facing the crisis of passing on the torch.In recent years, many insightful people in Taiwan's literary and art circles are taking measures to reform them and strengthen cultural and artistic exchanges with the mainland, in order to make these folk arts, which were once loved by Taiwan compatriots, adapt to the needs of the times. , re-emit splendor.