Rescuing Pingju Opera
Compared with shadow puppetry, Pingju Opera is a relatively young art form. Its birthplace is Tangshan City, where it was founded by Cheng Zhaocai in 1910. Unlike Peking Opera, Pingju Opera is deeply rooted in the lives of common people in northern and northeastern China, portraying their everyday trials and tribulations and meandering love stories. A number of them were made into movies in the 1950s and were very popular.
Becoming a professional Pingju performer requires training from a young age, and most begin when they are about 12 or 13 years old. Four or five years are spent studying in professional schools, after which they start their careers playing small roles. Not until the time they are around the age of 30 are they considered to have mastered their craft enough to take on the leading roles.
After making the long journey to Tangshan, we were lucky enough to witness a rehearsal of the Pingju Opera Yuhe Bridge. It tells a story set during the Ming Dynasty. A father, against his daughter’s free choice of a husband, flies into a rage and throws her into the river. She does not drown, however, and is rescued and reunited with her lover.
“It’s a traditional story, and has a happy ending,” the director of Pingju Troupe of Tangshan Jia Xiangguo remarked. He told us that Yuhe Bridge, which premiered 50 years ago, carries a message against the arranged marriages prevalent in China before the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. It’s strange hearing Jia, who has been performing Pingju Opera for 30 years, explain this after seeing him play the part of the brutal father.
Pingju Opera has had its ups and downs. It reached the height of its popularity in the late 1970s, but was replaced by other forms of entertainment as more and more TV sets entered people’s homes. Many troupes were dismissed, and performers took on other jobs. “Some performers went into business, and some even repaired bicycles,” recalled the troupe’s Chief Artistic Officer Zhang Junling, who had just starred in a TV play centering on Cheng Zhaocai.
Now attempts are being made to revive the public’s interest in Pingju Opera. Plots have been modernized, with more love stories and historical themes from China’s recent history. Plays like that based on the life of revolutionary martyr Lin Juemin (1886-1911) can educate as well as entertain young people today. The play tells of how he chose to devote himself to freeing his motherland and could no longer carry out his promise to look after his wife, which he famously explained in his “Letter to My Wife.”
Further promoting Pingju Opera, since 2000 the Tangshan municipal government has held a biennial festival dedicated to the art form. The Pingju Opera Festival provides a platform for performers from different regions to exchange experiences and discover outstanding talent. It seems that Pingju Opera has been rescued from its road to obscurity and is now a dynamic and growing scene.
Adapting for the Future
With just the click of a mouse, people can effortlessly access a world of free online entertainment. But modern life does not need to be the death of traditions like Pingju, and older art forms can find new life by adapting to present trends. This is one of the goals of the cultural reforms of Hebei’s 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015), and Hebei’s cultural restructuring in previous years has already helped build Dachang County into one of the 20 most culturally influential counties in China.
“We are adapting ourselves to modern life,” said Zhang Junqi, the Dachang Pingju Troupe’s finger dancer.
Finger dancing is just one of the many other art forms that the Dachang Pingju Troupe has added to its repertoire since it was established in 1974. As well as Pingju Opera and finger dancing, the troupe performs Chinese acrobatics, Mongolian dancing, skits, and Pipa dancing.
Born in Henan Province, Zhang Junqi has had a dramatic life. Years ago he was found, having fainted from starvation, by Zhao Deping, head of the Dachang Pingju Troupe. Zhao adopted him and offered him the chance of education.
Now Zhang Junqi has become rather stout and he hasn’t disappointed Zhao. After years of hard work he has become an excellent actor and has even developed his own style of finger dancing, which was chosen to be performed at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in front of a nationwide audience.
The Dachang Pingju Troupe has produced 14 performers who enjoy, like Zhang, fame all over the country. Ten years ago, their focus was on saving Pingju Opera and trying to connect with the audience on an emotional level, but in recent years they have sought inspiration to develop the art form from all sorts of sources, including the opinions of foreign artists.
Now, the troupe is like one big family with strong loyalty to each other and their roots. When one of the troupe’s performers was offered RMB 30,000 for one night’s performance, he refused, preferring to stay with this troupe. Despite their success, which has taken them abroad and given them many opportunities to perform, they continue to put rural Hebei first. They have performed in four fifths of Dachang’s towns and villages.
As performers of traditional folk arts, the Dachang Pingju Troupe’s members are not only the inheritors of China’s cultural heritage, but are also burdened with a heavy social responsibility. It is clear that the troupe, with their determined approach to their art, will live up to this responsibility and help pave the road for further progress.
By staff reporter Michael Zarate
Source: Chinatoday
Editor: Dong Lin
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