Qin Opera in the Countryside Reading
Qin Opera in the Countryside
Wang Chansheng
The lovesickness of Qin Opera has been tugging at my heart for the past few years.
On the way back to my hometown, the sky in the countryside is so fresh. The sky emits a soft light, clear and narrow, which reminds me of the folk games and the ancient theaters in the countryside. In the dusk surrounded by sunset, when the setting sun was lingering on the horizon, I entered the house.
As soon as I got home, my second uncle told me that there was a big opera in the East Village. Because I have been very interested in Qin Opera since childhood, I took my nephew to the East Village after dinner.
The big gongs and drums make the ground tremble. From the high-pitched tones, exciting melody, sad notes, and lingering musical instruments, you can tell that this is Guanzhong Qinqiang opera.
The bright electric lamps, purple-red curtains, and the stage are set up in the idle land of the East Village with door panels and reed mats. I heard from my nephew that on the day of the performance, the villagers had dinner early, used stools to occupy space, and sometimes fought over a piece of "feng shui treasure land".
When we arrived at the place where the performance was being performed, the play had already begun, attracting a dense crowd of people, squeezing each other, and the shouts of the food stall owners around, making it extremely lively. After the curtain opened, the first play was "The Case of the Guillotine". Although the actors were all amateurs, the lifelike acting skills and the ups and downs of the plot made the country people watch it attentively and intoxicated. Sometimes sobbing, sometimes laughing, often accompanied by shouts and thunderous applause.
I can’t remember how many times I have watched the play "The Case of the Beauty", but I can’t get enough of the high-pitched and distant tones, the twists and turns of the plot, and it was so fascinating to watch today. Her acting skills evoked a strong feeling of beauty in me. If you don’t believe it, look, an old farmer sitting next to me couldn’t help but tap the beat on his knees, humming with his partner, and he couldn’t help but smack his lips when he was excited.
Qinqiang Opera, a type of opera popular in the five northwest provinces, has ancient style and ancient charm, and has been performed for a long time. Its high pitch is like a thunderbolt from the blue, and the mountains collapse and the earth is split; it is as exciting as a mountain waterfall, and the rocks are emptied; it is lingering like a drizzle. Things, whispering, joy like beads falling on jade plates, bamboos and silks breaking, bursts, touching people's hearts again and again, leaving a deep impression on me.
The stage was empty and people dispersed. When I pulled my nephew back with the flow of people, a middle-aged man walking in front couldn't help but dance, and even shook his head and shouted: "You who are kings, meditate on the ground of Chang'an..." My wife walking behind He turned his head, pursed his lips, smiled, pointed at the man, and said, "Look, you're getting crazy again."
When I was working in a production team when I was a child, I often heard some people amusing themselves. He sang the Qin opera happily, and the gods and ghosts were frightened by it... Later, when he grew up, he followed the villagers in groups to watch operas in nearby villages. Most of their stages were set up in front of temples, at street intersections or in vacant areas. The sky was full of stars, bright gas lights, and the red curtain opened. Actors and actresses dressed as raw, dandy, clean, and ugly started the show amidst the heart-stirring music. The crowded crowd in the audience sometimes laughed and sometimes sobbed due to the ups and downs of the plot and the skills of the actors. Thunderous applause and whistles sounded from time to time. "Zhou Ren Returns Home", "The Black Ding Book", "Suppressing the Town", "Sanniang Goddess", "Beheading the Son", "Arhat Money", "Blood and Tears", "Hate of the Poor", "Divorce by Two Coincidents", "The White-Haired Girl"... Those beautiful and moving performances and the inner activities of the actors left a real impression on me that I can never forget. At that time, the ancient style and unique amateur theater troupes, self-entertainment classes, shadow puppet shows, puppet troupes, etc. were all over the city and countryside. Those colorful performing arts made me see that Qin Opera contains many precious things.
Ah, the Qinqiang opera in the countryside is a symphony of local accents. No matter where you go, you can never forget the folk Qin opera that has been performed for a long time and is widely circulated in your hometown. It is like a wonderful aria, the rolling water of the Yellow River singing loudly, singing the praises of the people of Shaanxi who are constantly struggling, and the city of Xi'an singing loudly about reform and opening up.