Abstract: Gannan tea-picking opera is one of the traditional operas native to southern Gansu in Jiangxi Province. It was formed on the basis of local folk lanterns and tea-picking songs and dances. Its emergence and spread have a long history. So what are the artistic characteristics of Gannan tea-picking opera? What are the traditional repertoires of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi? Following this article’s introduction to the tea-picking opera in southern Ganxi, let’s learn about the artistic characteristics and historical origins of the tea-picking opera in southern Ganxi! Gannan tea-picking opera is one of the Han operas native to southern Gansu, Jiangxi Province. It is based on local folk lanterns and tea-picking songs and dances. Its production and spread have a long history. Tea-picking opera in southern Gansu is mainly comedy and farce, with a humorous, lively and lively style. The music mainly uses lantern opera music accompanied by suona and gongs and drums, and tea-picking music played by "Goutong" (Huqin). The tunes include lantern tune, Lu There are four types of performances: Fan Hua and Dwarf Hua.

1. Historical origin

Jiangxi tea-picking opera mainly originated in Xinfeng and Anyuan areas in southern Jiangxi. Tea-picking opera is related to the rich tea production. During the Ming Dynasty, during the Grain Rain season in the tea areas of southern, eastern and northern Jiangxi, working women would go up to the mountains to pick tea and sing folk songs to encourage their enthusiasm for work. This kind of folk song spread in the tea areas was called "tea-picking song". . It developed from folk tea-picking songs and tea-picking lantern singing, and then became a kind of folk opera with characters and storylines. Because it usually only has the performance of two Dan Dan and one Chou, or three people, Sheng, Dan and Chou, it is also called "Triangle Class". After the tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi was formed, it developed outwards in several ways and merged with local dialects and tunes to form five major schools of eastern, western, southern, northern and central Jiangxi, each with different local accents. The general characteristics of Jiangxi tea-picking opera are: cheerful performance, humorous, singing and dancing, strong comedy, rich in local flavor, and very popular among the masses.

There are several stages in the development from singing tea-picking songs to tea-picking opera. The earliest tea-picking songs were only sung in minor tunes, with only four lines in each sentence, such as "The spring days are long when picking tea, and white camellia flowers are all over the roadside; the eldest sister returns home to report to the second sister, and the first tea is no more fragrant than the evening tea." This kind of ditty is vivid and lively. Lively, euphemistic and pleasant. After further development of tea-picking songs, the "tea-picking song medley" was formed from the tea-picking ditties, which was called "Tea-picking Songs in December". For example, "Picking tea in the first month of the year is the New Year. The sisters both went to the tea garden and rented twelve acres of the tea garden. They wrote a book in person and paid for it. Picking tea in February..." Later, "Song of Tea Picking in December" was Combined with folk dance, it entered the ranks of Lantern Festival lanterns and became "tea-picking lanterns". The main singing tunes of "tea-picking lanterns" are [tea yellow tune], [tea-picking song], [kancha tune], and [tea name] wait. It consists of Jiaotong dressed as a tea-picking girl. There are eight or twelve people in each team, and two young and elders are the leaders of the team. They hold flower baskets and dance while singing "Tea-picking in December". This kind of "tea-picking lantern" is simple in form and is purely a song and dance performed by a group, but it has taken a step towards tea-picking opera.

In the Ming Dynasty, tea farmers in the Jiulongshan Tea District of Anyuan County in southern Jiangxi, which is rich in famous tea, often used tea-picking lanterns to perform impromptu performances with tea-picking content in order to receive Cantonese merchants. That is to say, two of the eight (or twelve) tea-picking girls in the "Tea Picking Lantern" are divided into the eldest sister and the second sister, and the leader of the team is left as the clown, which happens to be the "triangle class" with two roles and one clown. ". The two sisters perform a performance of picking tea in the mountains, holding tea baskets, singing and dancing, singing the "December Tea Picking Song" (each takes turns singing for six months); a clown holding a paper fan intersperses in the middle to joke. This is the original show "Sisters Picking Tea". Later, details such as opening a tea mountain, frying tea, sending brother to sell tea, and serving tea were added. The clown dressed up as brother Gan to sell tea, so it was renamed "Send Brother to Sell Tea". This tea-picking lantern (also known as "tea basket lantern") performance is the prototype of tea-picking opera. The "tea basket lanterns" in southern Gansu continue to add new content, and there are also small plays that perform other working lives and are played by two or one ugly people, such as "Yangmai", "Digging Bamboo Shoots", "Mending Leather Shoes". ", "Picking up snails", "Selling Flower Thread", "Grinding Tofu", etc., because they are sung in tea-picking tunes and are sung in harmony without orchestral accompaniment, they are collectively called "tea-picking opera". Tea-picking opera is a local opera developed from folk songs, dances and lanterns. Its repertoire reflects the lives of working people, and its music and singing have a folk song flavor, so it is deeply loved by the people.

2. Artistic characteristics

The stage language of the tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi is the local Hakka dialect. It features singing and dancing, a lively atmosphere, humorous language, and the integration of local folk oral literature, folk songs and dances, and lanterns, giving it a rich flavor of life. Its repertoire is mostly comedy and farce, with few dramas and tragedies.

The subject matter mostly focuses on the daily life of the lower class people, especially handicraft workers and craftsmen, and the scenes of love between men and women account for a large proportion. Its music singing style belongs to the Qupai style, mainly tea tune and lamp tune, as well as road tune and miscellaneous tune, commonly known as "three tunes and one tune". The accompaniments are all folk musical instruments, mainly including goutong (erhu type), suona, gongs, drums, cymbals and flutes. The characteristics of its performing arts are mainly reflected in the two professions of clown and Xiaodan. There was once a saying that "a triangle forms a class and two Xiaodan are in charge".

1. Music tone

The music of Gannan tea-picking opera is rich and colorful, highly malleable, rich in local flavor, and very distinctive in style. According to their different modes, strings and functions, they are divided into four categories: "tea tune", "deng tune", "road tune" and "miscellaneous tune", referred to as "three tunes and one tune". "Tea tune" is the main tune of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi. It has a lively and lively rhythm, beautiful and lyrical melody, and is rich in pastoral and mountainous flavor. For example, the nationally renowned "turtle dove tune", "peony tune", "shoe sole tune", "shangshan tune" and so on. "Dengqiang" is an important tone of tea-picking opera. It is high-pitched, vigorous, rough and warm, with ups and downs of melody, relaxed and relaxed, and has a strong flavor of opera. Coupled with the close cooperation of suona and gongs and drums, the atmosphere is hot and the mood is uplifting, just like the upward spirit of the mountain people; "Road Tune" is named after it is adapted to the tunes sung while walking on the road. Its unique liveliness, humor and humor are the basis of tea-picking opera. The performing arts of singing and dancing provide a vast world. "Za Tiao" is delicate, sweet, exquisite and gorgeous. Although it does not play the main tune in the music of the tea-picking opera, it is used interspersed and occasionally appears to embellish the mood, which can often produce unique artistic effects. Lining words are widely used in the singing music of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi, whether it is tea tune, lamp tune, road tune and miscellaneous tune. The lyrics are composed into a jingle: going up the mountain and entering the pit to say "yo hey", going out on the road "na ho hey", making shoe embroidery "oh hey yo", and men and women playing with each other's flowers "pulling." It can be said that any singing is inseparable from the lyrics, and there are even situations where "the lyrics are not enough to match the lyrics".

2. Accompaniment instruments

The main instrument in the accompaniment is "Goutong" (similar to a local erhu), which is accompanied by straight and reverse strings and is played in Hakka dialect and Ganzhou Mandarin. There are more than 300 tunes for chanting and singing. The roles of Dan are mainly "two once and one ugly" (after liberation, the "Three Xiaos", namely the apple of the eye, the niche, and the clown are mainly). The singing and dancing performances are started, which have a rich atmosphere of life and labor, are humorous and full of rich flavor. The local flavor and charm of southern Jiangxi are deeply loved by the masses, and it is the local opera that local people like to listen to and watch most.

3. Performance form

In addition to music, what best expresses the characteristics of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi is its performance, which pays equal attention to singing, dancing and opera. Its performance characteristics can be summarized as "three wonders and three unique features". The three wonders are: the traditional tea-picking opera expresses the love and labor of the lower class working people, and there is no court dance or dance of talented people and beauties, which is a wonder; a large number of performance figures imitate the movements of animals, and are named after the movements of animals, which is The second wonder is that the song and dance drama go hand in hand with each other, so that some people think it is a local song and dance drama. This is the third wonder.

(1) The three unique skills are: dwarf steps, single sleeves, and fan flowers.

The basic steps of the dwarf step include the short step, the high step, the short cross step, the waddling step, the startling step, the sliding step, and the shoveling step. The dwarf step is divided into short pile, medium pile and high pile. This is a unique dwarf step in the world of opera.

Single sleeve, this is another unique feature. In general, the water sleeves in dramas are in pairs and elegant, but in the tea-picking dance in southern Ganxi, there is only one left sleeve. But it has created numerous dance terms. Such as grab sleeves, lap sleeves, back sleeves, sunshade sleeves, fan sleeves, armpit sleeves, phoenix tail sleeves, thread sleeves, flower basket sleeves, throw up, throw down, wrap around the waist, wrap around the knees, side roll and fly

Beauty is a kind of symmetry, and a single sleeve seems to be a neglect of the laws of beauty, but no, the fan on the stage is symmetrical with it, with one hand shaking the sleeve and the other hand dancing. Walking in the unique dwarf steps, it looks very unique and interesting.

There are many movements for fanning flowers, and they are of various types, including throwing fans, folding fans, sheltering fans, sun-shielding fans, distant viewing fans, flower-smelling fans, face-shielding fans, etc., which are very expressive. It is particularly strong. Among them, there are artistic tips about fan flowers left by old artists, such as: five fingers with the flower head facing up, four fingers with the flower head facing forward. Flowers with three fingers hit the four sides, and flowers with two fingers shake the chest. Use the belly surface to press, grasp and shake.

The characteristics of the three wonders and three unique features are the product of the Hakka people in southern Jiangxi living in the severe ecological environment in the mountains and forests for a long time.

For example, the Hakka people live in the mountains. When they go out to climb mountains, they bend down and bend their knees. The tall people also become "dwarfs". The clever Hakka people made the short step a unique basic dance step in the world. The mountains are covered with clouds and mist, and the mountains are filled with mist tea. Girls carry tea baskets, sing tea songs, and dance while picking tea. Boys carry tea leaves on their shoulders and step on low, medium, and high piles made of dwarf steps. Dancing single sleeves and fan flowers create a unique Gannan Hakka tea-picking dance. For another example, there are many performing figures named after animals. This is because Hakka people are accustomed to hanging out with birds and beasts on the long mountain roads. The endless joy of life in the animal world has actually given the whimsical Hakka people an inexhaustible source of joy. Inspiration for artistic creation. Imitate the movements of animals and simply name them with their movements, such as: monkey washing face, wolf looking for food, lion opening its mouth, thrush jumping, turtle crawling on the sand, dragon head and phoenix tail, dragonfly playing in the water, dog tail wagging, lazy cat There are more than 300 names for scratching an itch, a fox passing by, a butterfly collecting nectar, a rooster pecking at rice, a monkey frightened, a frog (frog) missing something, a crow basking its wings, a cat exploring the night, etc. The movements of animals expressing their consciousness of life were captured by the Hakka people. It is not difficult to imagine that without mountains, there would be no birds and beasts. Without observation and refinement of life, how would these numerous stage performance figures be created?

(2) Clowns and Xiaodan

There are two types of clowns: one is "ugly act and act ugly", which is called "upright and ugly"; the other is "ugly act and act ugly", which is called "ugly act". "Anti-ugly".

Zheng Chou: mainly young and middle-aged men among the working people. They have the character traits of being hard-working and simple, cheerful and generous, optimistic, funny, resourceful and brave. When singing, the actor wears a "handful of hats" on his head, a "three-flowered dress", a "white skirt" around his waist, and "bloom pants" underneath. He dances the "fan flower" with his right hand and shakes the "long sleeve" with his left hand. Singing and dancing, lively and relaxed. The performance is mainly based on "dwarf steps" and "fan flowers". It combines high and short steps with a lively rhythm and is quite distinctive.

Anti-ugly: They are mostly smokers, gamblers, gangsters, swingers, etc., who often expose each other or mock themselves with some vivid, subtle, witty and humorous language and actions. Their performances often imitate some animal images such as: "monkey washing face", "monkey peeing", "dragonfly splashing water", "lazy cat scratching an itch", "rooster pecking rice", "thrush jumping on the frame", "dog wagging its tail" "Turtle crawling on the sand" and so on. The facial makeup, whitening of the nose, footwork and fanning movements are similar to those of the "righteousness and ugliness" performance.

Xiaodan: Mainly hard-working, simple and smart rural girls and young women. The performance is vigorous, graceful, simple and generous. Its "fan flowers" are more abundant than the clown's. It can fan flowers with one hand or with both hands. The body movements include: dressing up and picking curtains, picking tea by hand, umbrella flowers, opening and closing doors, etc. Its basic steps include eight-character steps, stilt steps, tiptoe steps, grinding steps, walking steps, broken steps, etc. It can be described as a variety of postures.

3. Traditional repertoire

There were originally more than 100 traditional repertoires of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi, some of which have been lost. There are now more than 90 traditional repertoires preserved. Such as: "Picking Tea at Jiulong Mountain", "Tang Er's Wife Trial", "Selling Groceries", "Going to Guangdong", "Double Inspection of Bacteria", "A Blind Man Making a Shop", "Selling Money", "Incense Dragon", " "Ah San Strikes Iron", "Spring of the Five Ridges", "Lantern Fairy", "The Drummer Recruits Marriage", "Man Mei Tian Xi", "_Sister", "Mending Leather Shoes"

IV. Other traditional operas of Jiangxi There are:

Donghe Opera: originally named Ganzhou Opera. It was conceived and formed in Gan County and Xingguo area in the Gongshui River Basin. It is one of the ancient operas in Jiangxi. Donghe Opera is popular in Ganxian, Xingguo, Nankang, Dayu and other counties, as well as Meixian and Chaozhou in eastern Guangdong and Ninghua and Guihua in western Fujian.

Yihuang Opera: Yihuang Opera, formerly known as Yihuang Troupe. The main popular areas are Yihuang, Nancheng Nanfeng, Guangchang and other counties in Jiangxi, as far as northeastern Jiangxi, southern Jiangxi and western Fujian. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was named Yihuang Opera in 1957.

Yuhe Opera: Yuhe Opera, a major local opera, was formerly known as Tu Opera. Because at first it only performed the story of Meng Jiangnu, it was also called Meng Opera. This kind of Meng opera has always been performed by clan troupes. Its popular area is Guangchang area. In 1981, it was named Xuhe Opera and the Xuhe Theater Troupe was established in Guangchang.

Xihe Opera: formerly known as Tanqiang Opera, it is a genre of Gan Opera. Its popular areas are Xingzi, De'an, Jiujiang, Duchang, Yongxiu and other counties. The lower reaches of Ganjiang River divide into east and west rivers and flow into Poyang Lake. Xingzi and De'an are located in the Xihe River Basin, so outsiders call them Xiheban. In 1982, it was named Xihe Opera.

Ninghe Opera: Also known as Ningzhou Taipan in the old days, its popular areas are Xiushui, Tonggu, Wuning and other counties. It is very popular in the adjacent areas of Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan provinces. It originated from the Yiyang tune in the Ming Dynasty and is one of the ancient operas in Jiangxi. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was named Ninghe Opera.

Fuhe Opera: formerly known as Fuhe Taipan. It is mainly popular in Linchuan, Jinxi, Yihuang, Chongren, Guangchang and other counties in the Fuhe River Basin. Its troupes sometimes perform in Nanchang, with a history of about three hundred years. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this opera, which had been lost for many years, was named Fuhe Opera.

Ji'an Opera: A major local drama, originated in the Ji'an area, it is an ancient opera that combines Gaoqiang, Kunqu and Luantan. Its popular areas include central Jiangxi, western Jiangxi, southern Jiangxi and other places, as well as areas in eastern Hunan and Hunan. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were no troupe societies anymore and it became a lost type of opera.

Wanzai Huadeng Opera: In the 1950s, it was called Wanzai Huadeng Opera, and in the 1960s, it was called Wanzai Tea Picking Opera. In 1980, it was officially named Wanzai Lantern Opera. It originated from folk lanterns, gradually evolved by absorbing the singing and performing arts of tea-picking opera in southern Jiangxi and Gao'an silk string opera, plus folk songs and ditties, and has been popular in rural areas for thousands of years. )

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