Wu Xiaoru's Collection of Opera Notes

Author: Wu Xiaoru
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features: These two (rough works) include the following sections: The first volume includes "Words from the Audience" and "New Words from the Audience"; the second volume includes "Notes on the Peking Opera World," "Recordings from Tianjin," "Knowledge on Watching Opera," "Random Talks on Opera," and "Gossip of Opera Buffs." Among them, "Words from the Audience" has been reprinted for the third time, and the other contents have also been reprinted for the second time. These writings were all collected in "Wu Xiaoru's Collected Works on Chinese Opera." I do not intend to merely "cook old leftovers," but they happen to still have readers. At the request of the "gods" and with the kindness of Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, I finally gathered the courage to let them meet the readers again. The first printing of "Words from the Audience" has been more than twenty years ago; even "Collected Works on Chinese Opera" has been published for ten years. This book has readers in Europe, North America, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries, including overseas Chinese and international friends. Some foreign friends have even asked for my opinion on translating certain articles into foreign languages. This is almost "unexpected praise," but it is enough to show that these long and short writings are not empty talk or speculation, nor are they or garbage. To this day, readers still occasionally ask me for books and inquire where they can be purchased. Since the original books have long been out of stock, I was unable to respond and thus considered dividing them into two volumes and reprinting them. This can prevent the publishing house from incurring too much loss, allow readers to choose what they need and reduce their financial burden, and slightly ease my guilt as the author. This is sincere, not a mere polite phrase. It must be emphasized and necessary to remind the industry professionals that in the ten years since the publication of "Collected Works on Chinese Opera," feedback from various channels has shown that a significant proportion of its readers are young people. Some young opera enthusiasts have even written to me, considering me a confidant. I have received letters from readers in distant places such as Heihe in Heilongjiang, Ya'an in Sichuan, and Urumqi in Xinjiang, with the youngest being high school and middle school students still in school; while more opera enthusiasts are college undergraduates and graduate students. In addition to correspondence, some young people have even become lifelong friends with me. These readers, regardless of age, share a consensus: they dislike watching so-called "new historical operas" created for awards. Many young people believe that these new operas are nothing more than extravagant "image projects" or "political achievements," with huge investments yielding only fleeting popularity. From an artistic perspective, some are not even Peking Opera or Kunqu Opera. Even if some plays (such as "The Beauty of the Tang Dynasty") retain certain traditional arias, they are completely out of place with the entire script, plot, and stage atmosphere. Some awkward Qing-style plays (such as "The Prime Minister Liu Luo Guo") are clearly farces that trick audiences with gimmicks but are labeled as "masterpieces." This is because these young audiences prefer the long-standing traditional old operas. Since most young people have few opportunities to attend theaters (some are in remote areas, and others cannot afford tickets), they try to listen to old recordings from the early 20th century to the 1960s through media, including the internet. Some young people can even appreciate Tan Xinpei, while more opera enthusiasts are particularly fond of Yu Shurong, Meng Xiaodong, Ma Lianliang, Yang Baosen, and the Four Great Dan. All this information and these views come from readers' letters from all directions, and I can name specific sources to prove they are not baseless. When their personal hobbies and aesthetic views clash with the current media's biased artistic opinions, they accidentally read my works and try their best to contact me, hoping to gain confirmation and support for their chosen artistic subjects and aesthetic tendencies, proving that their choices are correct, believable, and reliable. From these undeniable letters and interviews, I naturally reflect deeply: over the years, the loud discussions about the reform and innovation of Peking Opera, claiming that young people don't like Peking Opera, don't understand it, and that Peking Opera must be reformed to fit current trends (in reality, making Peking Opera as little like Peking Opera as possible) to attract the next generation of audiences, are not entirely the truth. Some of them may be exaggerated by those who fundamentally do not understand Peking Opera (or even our classical traditional arts) or hold a nihilistic attitude toward classical art, merely to serve their own purposes. There may even be subjective speculation or even wall-fiction in some of these arguments. These seemingly plausible but actually misleading arguments have caused multiple misguidances: misleading the performing arts industry, and even more so, certain decision-makers in cultural and artistic fields. The latter kind of misguidance has the most significant negative impact, even failing to fully implement the by our Party's high-ranking leaders to "prioritize rescue and inheritance of Peking Opera at the moment." Year after year, the final consequence is not only that our traditional cultural arts have gone down a long wrong path (and are still constantly walking down it), but also that they are likely to stray into a dead end. Against this backdrop, my old books have resonated strongly with many young friends. A Ph.D. student from Peking University's Department of Chemistry once said to me directly, "Why is it that the words and articles I wrote over twenty years ago are still ignored and unseen today, still misleading the audience?" However, I am self-aware that those who actively advocate "innovation" and are determined to integrate our classical traditional cultural arts with international standards are not only ignoring my words and articles but are actually unwilling to listen or even them. A few years ago, I even received an anonymous letter cursing me and Mr. Zhu Jiagui (sadly, Mr. Zhu passed away more than a year ago and can no longer speak for our traditional cultural arts) as stubborn conservatives, believing that the slow pace and limited progress of "reform and innovation" in Peking Opera are due to our old holding them back. However, the facts have shown that if you truly go out and face grassroots audiences, understand young people's views on traditional cultural arts, you will see who is creating culture and who is desertifying the cultural and artistic frontiers—truth and falsehood will be clear. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons I decided to "cook old leftovers" and reprint my works. This is the preface. Completed in Beijing in October 2004.