Ancient Opera Stage in Shanxi

Author: Qiao Zhongyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Linfen City and Yuncheng City were once known as Pingyang Prefecture in ancient times, which included Shilou County and was also under the jurisdiction of Pingyang Prefecture at that time. In other words, all eight surviving Yuan Dynasty opera stages are located in the ancient Pingyang Prefecture. This is the historical glory of the ancient Pingyang Prefecture. This glory has a long history, with the dawn of political civilization in the Yao, Shun, and Yu era rising from here, and the culture it nurtured has been passed down from generation to generation, lasting for millennia. A history of opera is always closely followed by the history of opera stages. The Yuan Dynasty was the period of maturity for opera, which was also the period of maturity for opera stages. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, opera became even more prosperous, and opera stages became diverse and colorful. Looking through the "History of Chinese Opera," the development and changes of opera stages during the Ming and Qing dynasties first involved changes in the location of the opera stages. The typical product is—the mountain gate opera stage, also known as the mountain gate dance hall. The phrase "to establish a mountain gate, with the upper part as a dance gate" records this change. Mountain gate opera stages are generally two-story buildings, with the lower level for pedestrians and the upper level for performances. From the outside, they look like majestic mountain gates, and from the inside, they are spacious and imposing opera stages. Compared to Jin and Yuan Dynasty opera stages, they not only save costs but also save space, making them convenient for viewing, and thus they became widely popular. When appreciating the ancient opera stages in Shanxi, we will notice a phenomenon: most opera stages are located in temples, and even if they are outside temples, they face the temple halls. This is known as a temple theater or a temple stage square. Upon researching these historical sites, it is found that this is a common phenomenon in ancient Chinese opera stages. The temple stage square is not only the earliest form of theater in China but also continued until modern times without interruption. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, cities emerged with "washi" (entertainment quarters), but unfortunately, they declined sharply in the early Ming Dynasty and became nearly invisible. After that, although specialized theaters—known as "xueyuan" (opera gardens)—were introduced, in terms of quantity and scope, temple stage squares were the main form of ancient theaters.