Cultural Magnificence｜The Brilliant Light of Opera Art

Editor's note: Continue the historical context and compose contemporary chapters. Since the new era, under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s cultural thoughts, the inheritance and development of China’s excellent traditional culture has taken on a new look and created a new situation. Each cultural heritage, from tradition to modernity, connects history and future, and becomes a vivid cultural business card for the world to understand China and for China to go global. The "Lianbo" column specially launches the "Passing on the Fire" series of planning to experience the Chinese cultural heritage from cultural inheritance.

Kunqu Opera is one of the oldest extant Chinese operas, with a history of more than 600 years.

In Yongjia County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, there is a Kunqu opera school called Yongjia Kunqu Opera. Because it is rooted in the folk, its performance is simple and rough, its singing is bright and smooth, and it has a strong sense of life. It still retains the lingering rhyme of southern opera.

Kunqu opera master Yu Zhenfei once praised: "Southern Kunqu opera and northern Kunqu opera are not as good as Yongjia Kunqu opera." This shows the unique artistic value of Yongjia Kunqu opera.

However, such a Kunqu opera school with a profound historical and cultural heritage once faced the dilemma of a lack of talent and no plays to perform from the end of the last century to the beginning of this century.

One day in May 2005, a Kunqu opera excerpt was performed by the Yongkun Training Institute in the Dongzong Ancestral Hall on Lishui Street in Yongjia County. There was a special spectator in the audience - Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee.

At that time, Lin Meimei, an older generation artist from Yongkun who accompanied Xi Jinping to watch the performance, introduced the "rescue" situation of Yongkun to Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping asked with concern: "What difficulties does Yongkun have at present?" and "How many people do you need now?"

Lin Meimei answered truthfully: "We lack both hardware and software. We don't have a troupe headquarters. We live in civilian houses and rehearse on the temple platform." "If you give us another 30 indicators, we can still cope with it."

Lin Meimei never expected that her face-to-face communication with Xi Jinping would change the fate of this ancient drama that she has been upholding.

On June 2, 2005, Xi Jinping wrote a note on the report of Yongjia County Party Committee and County Government on rescuing and revitalizing Yongjia Kunqu Opera Troupe: "The protection of Yongkun should be included in the protection plan of our province's intangible cultural heritage."

That month, the Yongjia Kunqu Opera Troupe was restored and became one of the seven Kunqu Opera troupes that were given priority support by the Ministry of Culture at the time.

"A provincial party secretary has so many things to do, but he still paid attention to a county-level theater troupe, sent a letter to the Yongjia County Party Committee, and signed it in person." Lin Meimei was deeply impressed by Xi Jinping's protection and attention to Yongkun.

Since then, Yongjia County has regarded Yongkun as a "golden business card" for cultural construction. Through models such as mentoring by veteran artists and talent training cooperation between schools and troupes, it has trained batches of outstanding inheritors of Yongkun, giving this ancient opera a new lease of life.

In November 2023, a sharing session on Yongkun performance and musical characteristics was held at the Zhengyi Temple Theater in Beijing.

As the only performing group that inherits Yongkun art, the Yongjia Kunqu Opera Troupe has excavated, sorted out and re-staged traditional excerpts, created and staged large-scale plays, and has traveled beyond Wenzhou and Zhejiang, with its footprints all over the country.

Not only Yongkun, Xi Jinping also fully supports the protection and inheritance of other types of opera.

In 2000, thanks to Xi Jinping, then governor of Fujian Province, the Fujian Fanghua Yue Opera Troupe, which had been in trouble, was able to "rise from the ashes". During his inspection, Xi Jinping said to the on-site personnel: "Fanghua Yue Opera Troupe founder Yin Guifang and other veterans supported Fujian during the most difficult times and settled down in Fuzhou. Now that the troupe is in trouble, we have no reason not to support it."

Opera is a native art form of China and a treasure of Chinese culture. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to and paid attention to opera.

In June 2017, when inspecting the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, the General Secretary watched a Cantonese opera performance by two Hong Kong children. He said to the young actors cordially, "I am very happy to see that you like Cantonese opera so much. This shows that there are successors to Cantonese opera in Hong Kong and that China's excellent traditional culture has tenacious vitality."

In October of the following year, when inspecting Guangzhou, the General Secretary visited the Cantonese Opera Art Museum again. He showed concern for the inheritance and protection of Cantonese opera art and had a cordial conversation with Cantonese opera fans, hoping that they would inherit and carry forward Cantonese opera.

On October 23, 2020, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Opera, the General Secretary wrote back to the teachers and students of the academy. In his reply, he was pleased that the art of traditional Chinese opera has been passed down from generation to generation, and reminded that "the key to the prosperity and development of traditional Chinese opera lies in people."

Chinese opera is a distinctive cultural name card of China. President Xi Jinping has used opera as a medium to showcase the unique oriental aesthetics to the world on many international occasions.

Actors perform "Beautiful Love Legend" on September 4, 2016. On the same day, leaders of G20 members and guest countries and heads of relevant international organizations attending the G20 Leaders' Summit in Hangzhou watched the live performance symphony concert "The Most Memorable is Hangzhou" in the West Lake Scenic Area of ​​Hangzhou.

On September 4, 2016, President Xi Jinping and guests from various countries who were invited to attend the 11th G20 Summit gathered at the West Lake in Hangzhou. On the shore of the West Lake, he introduced: "The Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet was born here, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai." That night, this love legend was presented to the foreign guests from afar in the form of a fusion of Yue Opera and various art forms.

On November 5, 2019, President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan invited French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife to visit Shanghai Yu Garden at dusk, during which Kunqu opera and Yue opera performances were arranged.

Opera is one of the flowers in the garden of Chinese excellent traditional culture that is most deeply rooted in the folk soil and blooms most beautifully. In recent years, opera art has adhered to the principle of keeping the truth and making innovations, and has achieved great development. From the opening of the opera theme museum that brings together 348 Chinese opera genres, to the Kunqu opera "Shishuo Xinyu" being "chased" on video platforms, to the Yue opera being "popular", more and more young people are watching opera online and going to theaters offline, becoming fans of China's excellent traditional culture.

Only by protecting, inheriting and developing opera, a treasure of Chinese culture, can this ancient art continue to radiate new vitality.