Chapter 7 Section 2 Southern Opera of Song and Yuan Dynasties

Although Song Zaju and Jin Yuanben have basic drama forms, only some titles have been preserved, and a complete script has not been found yet.The earliest preserved scripts in our country are Song Yuan Nan Opera.Therefore, some people think that Nanxi Opera is the earliest mature drama in China. Nanxi is a folk drama native to the southeast coast, also known as "Xiwen".It is generally believed that it was first produced in Wenzhou, so it is also called "Wenzhou Zaju" or "Yongjia (another name for Wenzhou) Zaju".Wenzhou is located on the south bank of the Oujiang River not far from the mouth of the sea. It is a transportation hub that controls mountains and seas and benefits both water and land.The climate here is warm and humid, the river network is intertwined, the products are rich, and the scenery is beautiful [yini Yiyou]. Shipbuilding, lacquerware, porcelain, and embroidery are all well developed.At the beginning of the southward migration of the Song Dynasty, Wenzhou was once the temporary capital of the fleeing regime in the Southern Song Dynasty and became the political, economic and cultural center of the country.Wenzhou has a good style of shamanism, admiration for singing and dancing, rich in alley songs, village ditties, and folk operas, and social fire activities are quite prosperous, providing a solid foundation and good conditions for the formation of Nanxi Opera.Xu Wei in the Ming Dynasty said in "Nanci Xulu": "Yongjia Zaju flourishes, and it is also a village ditty." This is quite insightful.

The early Southern Opera was flexible in structure, free in form, less particular about palace tunes and rhythms, and the tunes were melodious and soft. It mainly showed its talents in folk social activities in Wenzhou; later, it was processed by literati and spread to towns and cities. Influenced by Song Zaju, It has also extensively absorbed the nutrition of various music, singing, dancing, and rap art since the Tang and Song Dynasties, forming a comprehensive art composed of singing, chanting, chanting, popular science, and dancing.Through character dressing, complex and complete stories can be expressed.

Xu Wei's "Nanci Xulu" is the earliest classic record of Nanxi opera. It says: "Nanxi opera began in the Guangzong Dynasty of Song Dynasty. The two real firsts of "Zhao Zhennu" and "Wang Kui" written by Yongjia people... or Yun Xuanhe Jian It originated from Nandu, and it was called "Yongjia Zaju" and "Falcon Lingsheng Cough." Southern opera sprouted in the late Northern Song Dynasty, prevailed in the Southern Song Dynasty, and spread widely in the Yuan Dynasty. competition show.At that time, there were folk creative groups in Jiangnan such as "Yongjia Book Club", "Guhang Book Club", "Jiushan Book Club" and "Jingxian Book Club", which gathered veteran artists with rich performance experience and frustrated people. The literati, their joint creations, provided a large number of scripts for Southern Opera.After the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, some famous drama writers also joined the creation team of Nanxi Opera, such as Ma Zhiyuan, Xiao Dexiang, Wang Yuanheng and so on.At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Zaju tended to decline, but the Southern Opera made great progress. Many literati were involved in the guide opera, and there were many innovations and creations in the art form and performance skills.

There are about 180 Nanxi operas in existence, and only 17 have been handed down in full (see Qian Nanyang's "Song and Yuan Opera Collection"), and most of them were revised by Ming people.The earliest performances include "Zhao Zhennu" and "Wang Kui", all of which have been lost.The "Yongle Dadian" of the Ming Dynasty included 33 kinds of operas in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded, the remnants of the books were robbed, and there were only three kinds of operas left: "Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan", "The Eunuch's Children Wrong Standing", and "Xiaosun Tu".They preserve more of the style and features of early Nanxi opera.Among them, "Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan" compiled by "Jiushan Shuhui" retains the traces of the evolution from rap and singing palace tunes to drama, and is known as the "living fossil" of opera.

"Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan" is a "heart-wrenching drama". It describes Zhang Xie, a scholar in Chengdu, Sichuan, who suddenly had a strange dream in the year of the Dabi. After the dream came true, he bid farewell to his parents and went to Beijing to take the exam.Passing through Jiange Wuji Mountain, the bandits were looted by robbers, seriously injured, and fled into the ancient temple.When his life was dying, it was thanks to Wang Poor Girl who took him in and rescued him.Under the agreement of the neighbor Li Dagong, the two became husband and wife.The poor girl sells her hair to borrow money to make up enough money to make money, which makes Zhang Xie go to Beijing to win the first prize.But after Zhang Xie was in high school, he didn't recognize the poor girl who came to find her husband, and ordered her to be kicked out with sticks.For the sake of fame, Zhang Xie refused Prime Minister Wang's offer to marry him, causing the prime minister's daughter Wang Shenghua to die of shame.On his way to take office, Zhang Xie passed through Wuji Mountain again, and met a poor girl again, and he chopped her seriously with a sword.Later, the poor girl was accepted as a righteous daughter by Prime Minister Wang and married Zhang Xie again.On the wedding night, the poor girl found out that the groom was the ungrateful and cruel Zhang Xie. She told her past grievances on the spot and refused to get married.Later, under the persuasion of Prime Minister Wang, the two reunited with Luanfeng again.

"Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan" criticized the behavior of the rich and the noble changing their wives, praised the simple and kind character of the poor girl of the king, and advocated the traditional national virtues.The story is complete, with twists and turns, numerous characters, ups and downs of contradictions and conflicts, interspersed with many comic jokes to enhance the dramatic effect.The quality of its songs is simple and simple, lively and natural, with a strong flavor of folk literature and regional charm. "Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan" adopts the form of a series of scenes that are not strictly separated and performed from beginning to end, with free flow of time and space, and initially formed a comprehensive performance system that includes singing, reading, acting and playing.The performance form using people as props fully demonstrates the genius and creativity of ancient artists, which can be called a masterpiece.

The representative works of Nanxi Opera are "Jing, Liu, Bai, Sha, Pi", namely: "The Story of Jingchai", "Liu Zhiyuan" ("White Rabbit"), "The Story of Worshiping the Moon Pavilion", "The Story of Killing the Dog", "The Story of the Pipa" "Five Big Books. "The Story of the Hairpin" is generally believed to be written by Ke Danqiu, a native of the Yuan Dynasty, and plays the role of Wang Shipeng, a famous scholar in Wenzhou, from a poor family.After marriage, Wang Shipeng went to Beijing to take the exam and won the first prize.The prime minister Wan Qi [moqi Mo Qi, surname] wanted to betroth his daughter, but Wang Shipeng refused to marry him, so he was transferred to a remote and smoky place to work.Sun Ruquan, a son of a rich man who had long coveted Qian Yulian, took the opportunity to tamper with Wang Shipeng's family letter, falsely claiming that the king had entered the family.Although Qian Yulian didn't believe that Wang Shipeng would remarry, she couldn't bear the pressure of her stepmother to remarry, so she threw herself into the river angrily. She was rescued by Fujian comfort envoy Qian Zaihe and recognized as her adopted daughter.Later, Prime Minister Wan Qi was defeated, and Wang Shipeng was promoted to the prefect of Ji'an. He returned home to pick up his mother, vowed not to marry for life, and declined Qian Zai and the kindness of recruiting a son-in-law.When Jing Chai reappeared, the husband and wife were reunited.

Obviously, the conception of this play is quite different from the large number of "heart-wrenching plays" in Southern Opera.In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was implemented to select scholars, and many scholars from poor families "became famous all over the world in one fell swoop without being asked for ten years in the cold window", and "became the farmer in the morning, and the emperor's hall in the evening".Many of them immediately abandoned their wives who had been through hardships after a sudden change in their status; and the rich and powerful often chose "east bed" (son-in-law) from the upstarts to expand their power.This kind of political "marriage" has caused a lot of tragedies in which the rich and the rich changed their wives.The above-mentioned "Zhao Zhennv" wrote that after Cai Erlang was the number one scholar, he abandoned supporting him to study and took care of his parents' original wife Zhao Zhennv.Zhao Zhennv went to Beijing to find her husband, but Cai Erlang galloped her heartlessly and kicked her to death.Later, Tianlei struck [jiji] and killed this vicious heartless man. "Wang Kui" whipped the heart-changing champion Wang Kui. He didn't want the kindness of Gui Ying, the prostitute who helped him to study and take the exam. The underworld asks the crime. Zhang Xie in "Zhang Xie Zhuangyuan" did not report the kindness of saving the poor girl's life, but even swung a sword to injure the poor girl. Later, he was reunited under the pressure of the powerful forces.These dramas always deeply sympathize with the victimized women, ruthlessly expose and severely criticize the ungrateful men, and express the clear love and hatred of the people.

"The Story of the Hairpin" is also written about this kind of subject, but it is written from the front, creating an image of an upright literati who is rich and noble, who never forgets his wife and who is loyal to love.He also praised Qian Yulian's good character of being unyielding in might and unyielding in wealth and honor.The whole play takes Jing Chai as the main line to unfold the story. It is well-conceived, compact in structure, sincere and touching.Among them, "Diao Chuang", "Jian Niang", and "Sacrifice to the River" are quite popular.

"Liu Zhiyuan" was also written as "The Story of the White Rabbit", the author is unknown.The source of the story is very early. Song has "Five Dynasties History Pinghua", and Jin has "Liu Zhiyuan Zhugong Diao".This play tells the story of the joys and sorrows of Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty after the Five Dynasties.Liu Zhiyuan herded horses for rich man Li Wenkui and was recruited as his son-in-law.After Li Wenkui's death, Liu Zhiyuan was oppressed by his brother-in-law Li Hongyi and his wife. He had no choice but to abandon his family and join the army.His wife Li Sanniang was tortured at home, and the mill gave birth to a son "Bite Navel Lang", who was unable to raise him, so he sent someone to the army. 16 years later, Zhuanglang grew up beside Liu Zhiyuan and became a heroic young general.On a hunting trip, chasing a white rabbit, she met Li Sanniang who was drawing water from a well, and only then did she know it was her mother.Bite Navel Lang returned to the camp, interrogated Liu Zhiyuan, and facilitated a family reunion.This play describes Liu Zhiyuan's frustration and humiliation when he was a teenager, the hardships and sufferings after joining the army, and the struggle and struggle when he was not prosperous; Short fortune and thin grace".The script describes Li Sanniang's tragic fate of being persecuted by her brother-in-law and abandoned by Zhiyuan, and enduring torture in loneliness and desolation.It reveals the contradictions within the feudal family, as well as the warmth and coldness of human relationships and the inconsistency of the world.

The first half of "Liu Zhiyuan" describes Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang's transition from separation to separation, and the second half describes the two from separation to separation, interspersed with Dou Gong giving off his son in the middle, laying the groundwork for the growth, hunting and family reunion of the navel man. fine.His ci is "extremely old-fashioned, with a peaceful taste, and the ancient color can be used (yiyi)." (Lv Tiancheng's "Qu Pin") "refers to things and emotions, can speak similarly to people, does not use false words, and naturally rhymes "("Summary of Quhai Zongmu") Among them, "Mofangzi", "Dou Gong Sending the Son", and "Hunting Huishu" are very popular. "Worshiping the Moon Pavilion", also known as "The Story of the Quiet Boudoir", is mostly believed to be Shi Hui (Junmei) of the Yuan Dynasty adapted from Guan Hanqing's Zaju "The Boudoir's Beauty Worshiping the Moon Pavilion".The story happened at the end of the Jin Dynasty. The gold master was fatuous. He listened to the slander of the traitor Nejale and killed the whole family of the chief minister Tuoman Hague.Tuoman Xingfu, the son of Hague, was rescued by Jiang Shilong, a talented scholar, and the two became brothers.When the Mongolian army attacked Zhongdu (now Beijing), Wang Ruilan, the daughter of Wang Zhen, the minister of the Ministry of War of the Kingdom of Jin, was separated from her mother when she fled. She met Jiang Shilong, a scholar, and they got married.After Jiang Shilong's younger sister, Jiang Ruilian, was separated from her brother, she was recognized as a righteous daughter by Mrs. Wang Zhen.When Wang Zhen and Fan came back, they happened to meet their daughter Wang Ruilan in a recruiting store. They thought Jiang Shilong was poor, so they forcibly separated the two, and returned to the mansion with his wife and Ruilian.Wang Ruilan thought about her husband day and night, and expressed her sincere feelings under the moon worship pavilion.Later, Jiang Shilong and Tuoman Xingfu were divided into Chinese and Wu champions, and they were both recruited by Wang Zhen by order.Shilong and Ruilan refused to accept the silk whip at first, and when it was confirmed that they were a couple in distress who were separated in the past, they were pleasantly surprised and reunited. Jiang Ruilian also married Tuoman Xingfu. "Worshiping the Moon Pavilion" enthusiastically praised the sincere love between Wang Ruilan and Jiang Shilong through mutual understanding in adversity.Wang Ruilan is not the kind of carefree woman who "knowledge is not a companion, but is urgent and accompanying"; nor is she the kind of weak and independent woman.She is calm in her enthusiasm for Jiang Shilong, reserved in her aggressiveness.In order to defend the hard-won love, he launched an uncompromising struggle against his domineering, snobbish and hypocritical father.Although the play did not get rid of the happy ending of Shengdan in the end, it quite truly described the sufferings of the people of all ethnic groups in northern my country who were separated and displaced during the war, and showed people's mutual support in times of crisis in many ways. beautiful emotions.Through the personality conflicts among the characters, it exposes and criticizes the paradoxical and absurd feudal ethics. The story of "Worshiping the Moon Pavilion" took place in the midst of war and is full of tragedy.The author uses chance to avoid the tragic ending, and uses comic coincidence to highlight people's wishes for good things and the irony of feudal ethics.Especially when "Worshiping the Moon" came out, in the alternation of sadness and joy, the psychological character of the characters was delicately portrayed, revealing the true feelings of the elder sister as the sister-in-law and the younger sister as the sister-in-law, which produced a fascinating dramatic effect. The language of "Worshiping the Moon Pavilion" is simple and natural, with a high degree of proficiency, and the literary talent can be seen in its true colors. Is it artificial?" (Li Zhuowu's general criticism of "The Story of Prayer for the Moon" and the published version) Some people even think that "The Story of Prayer for the Moon" surpasses "The Story of Pipa" and can be compared with [pipi]. "The Story of Killing a Dog" is generally believed to be adapted by Xu Zhen (zhenzhen) from the early Ming Dynasty based on the drama "Wang Xiu (xiao Xiao) Ran Duan Killing a Dog Persuading Her Husband" by Xiao Dexiang from the Yuan Dynasty, and then processed and polished by Feng Menglong.It describes that Sun Hua was instigated by his friends Liu Longqing and Hu Zichuan, and he fell out with his brother Sun Rong and drove Sun Rong out of the house.Sun Hua's wife Yang Yuezhen refused to listen to her repeated persuasion, so she killed a yellow dog, disguised it as a dead body, and left it at the door.Sun Hua came home drunk late at night, and was terrified when he saw the dead body. He hurriedly went to Liu and Hu for help, but they both refused on excuses.Sun Rong didn't remember the past, and carried the body outside the city to bury it.Sun Hua was deeply moved and repented, and the brothers reconciled as before.Using contrastive techniques, this play clarifies the life principles of being cautious in making friends and not easy to maintain a career, and criticizes the poor world style, which has a certain enlightening effect.However, feudal preaching such as "filial piety and friends first", "amity first", "wife is a good husband and less misfortune" are full of drama.The images of Sun Rong and Yang Yuezhen are not vivid enough. "Pipa Ji", the author Gao Ming, styled Zecheng, called himself Caigen Taoist, later generations called him Mr. Dongjia, from Ruian, Wenzhou (now in Zhejiang).He was born in the seventh year of Dade in Yuan Dynasty (1303 AD) and died in the third year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1370 AD).Gao Ming was born in a scholarly family. His ancestors and fathers entered the Yuan Dynasty from the Song Dynasty. With hatred for the subjugation of the country, he never held an official position.However, the young and energetic Gao Ming was determined to realize his ambition to save the world through the imperial examination, so he read the scriptures angrily, won the Jinshi, and embarked on an official career, and became a provincial governor in Jiangnan and a provincial capital in Fujian.Because of his incorruptibility, self-defense, honesty and uprightness, he could not understand the dark officialdom and corrupt officials, so he disobeyed (wu wu) the dignitaries several times.Later, he finally resigned from his official post and lived in seclusion in Shenshilou of Lili Society in the suburbs of Qingyuan (now Ningbo), thanking guests behind closed doors, and concentrating on writing.Gao Ming is "a long-term talent and a master of learning, and a celebrity at the time", and has a lot of friends.There are 20 volumes of "Rou Kezhai Collection" in poetry and prose, and "Min Ziqian's Single Clothes Story" (lost) and "Pipa Story" in opera. "The Story of the Pipa" tells the story of Cai Bojie and Zhao Wuniang.This story has been circulated among the people for a long time, and it has been used in raps, courtyard books, and early operas. They all wrote Cai Bozhe as a heartless man who "betrayed his relatives and abandoned his wife" and was killed by thunder; Most of the plots have been fundamentally transformed, and Cai Bojie has been transformed into a weak, wavering, and cowardly "against the heart".Cai Bojie, a playwright scholar, was newly married for two months. He was on the imperial list to recruit talents. His boss recommended him, but his father forced him. Under the reprimand of "a son who doesn't listen to his father's words is unfilial", he had to bid farewell to his wife in tears and go to Beijing to rush for the exam.After being the number one scholar in high school, he repeatedly asked to resign and return to his hometown to serve his parents to fulfill his filial piety, but the emperor forbade him and forced him to stay in the capital as an official.Under the pressure of "disobeying the emperor's order is disloyalty", he reluctantly put on the black hat.Prime Minister Niu wanted to recruit him as his son-in-law, but he couldn't refuse again and again, so he had no choice but to marry him.Living in the prime minister's mansion, enjoying endless glory and wealth, facing the beautiful and virtuous Miss Niu, he frowns, sighs, and his heart is full of contradictions and pains.Cai Bochi "failed to resign from the examination, refused to resign from the office, and refused to resign from the marriage".He couldn't support his parents, couldn't bury them when they died, and stopped his wife and remarried.In this way, through the setting of the plot of "Three Disobediences" ("Three Strongs"), the script exonerates Cai Bojie's guilt, and turns the criticism to Prime Minister Niu and the "jun relative".Relying on the power in his hands, Prime Minister Niu only cared about recruiting a quick son-in-law, and broke up Cai Bojie and Mei's family.The emperor of the current dynasty forced him to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, and submit to the "teacher" marriage.The powerful feudal forces made Cai Bojie step by step into a difficult situation, and the Cai family fell into a tragic fate. Gao Ming's remodeling, of course, has the motive of overturning the case of Cai Boxie in history, and the purpose of promoting and advocating feudal morality through "filial piety and virtuous wife"; but more importantly, it uses this historical story to express the difficult Full of worry and indignation.Gao Ming used Cai Bojie's mouth to express sadly again and again: "After all, the article misunderstood me, and I misunderstood my parents." "The article misunderstood me, and I misunderstood my wife and house." Thoughts, and pointed out that the root of the tragedy lies in going to the examination to seek an official.The play is full of dislike and criticism of the imperial examination system and official career path, which entrusts the writer's experience and thinking about real life. The most touching part of "Pipa Ji" is the description of Zhao Wuniang's fate.Zhao Wuniang is the embodiment of suffering and the epitome of ancient Chinese working women.She doesn't admire a life of glory and wealth, and she doesn't agree with her husband to take the exam.After her husband left, it was a famine year, her parents-in-law were old, and the burden of the family's life fell on her shoulders.He received some relief food, but was snatched away by Lizheng (township official).He eats the bran by himself and leaves the rice for his in-laws, but he is misunderstood by his in-laws.After the death of her parents-in-law, she had no money to bury her, so she cut off her hair and sold it along the street.The skirt is covered with soil, and the tomb is built by itself.Finally, he drew the remains of his parents-in-law, played the pipa and sang along the way, and went to Beijing to find his husband.The script highlights Zhao Wuniang's excellent qualities such as kindness, gentleness, hard work, simplicity, hard work, perseverance, and self-restraint and sacrifice, leaving a very deep impression on people. "Pipa Story" has 42 episodes in the whole play, with magnificent structure and exquisite conception. Two clues intersect with each other and move forward in ups and downs: Cai Bojie is caught in the net of fame and fortune step by step and cannot extricate himself; Can't get rid of it.So, on the one hand, Zhao Wuniang sighed before putting on makeup, and stayed at home;On the one hand, the disaster is imminent, and the relief food is robbed;On the one hand, I eat bran swallowed vegetables with my parents-in-law on my back; on the other hand, I drink wine by the lotus pond to pass the summer.On one side is "the loess is sad, and the red maple is stained with tears", and the grave is built with Luo skirt wrapped in earth; on the other side is the bright moon in the sky, missing the people in the dream of hometown.One sad and one happy, one sad and one happy, one cheap and one expensive, one poor and one rich, the two complement each other, forming a sharp contrast.In the comparison, the different moods and personalities of Cai Bojie and Zhao Wuniang are portrayed, which makes people have infinite sympathy for Zhao Wuniang's experience.Composers in the past dynasties often called "Pipa Ji" and Yuan Zaju together, and gave them high praise.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Siren even thought: "It is easy to learn, and "Pipa Ji" is not easy to learn. It is easy to listen to the stories about good talents and sons. The words about filial sons and virtuous wives are simple and difficult to move. Therefore, there will be more After the pipa, it is difficult to continue. It is necessary to let Dongjia stand alone." (Mao Shengshan's commentary "The Story of Pipa") The language of "Pipa Ji" is simple and true, and it uses oral language to describe the things in the heart, euphemistically.Describe the state of matter, lifelike.In particular, the "Song of Filial Piety" that Zhao Wuniang sang while eating bran is even more popular.Zhao Wuniang thought of her life experience from the unbearable chaff.With bran and rice, one cheap and one expensive, they are referred to as two places in life, which is a metaphor for the different fates between husband and wife, touching things and hurting feelings, and pouring out endless grievances in my heart.It is said that when Gao Ming wrote this, the two candles on the case merged into one, reflecting each other's brilliance, which can be called a magical pen. Although "Pipa Ji" still has some obvious deficiencies, such as some unreasonable plots, the image of Miss Niu is conceptualized, and lacks a sense of reality, etc., it is worthy of being the first masterpiece of Southern opera after the Zhongxing, and it occupies a very important place in the history of opera. Status, for hundreds of years, has been living on the opera stage.