China News Service Ningbo, April 26 (by trainee reporter Li Dian) selected wood, elastic ink line, planed wood, joint tenon and so on ... The Wei Ancestral Hall in Xiapu Village, Qiangjiao Town, Ninghai County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, has just ushered in A big "beauty". Behind this "deep beauty", Wei Wenzao, an 86-year-old villager in Xiapu Village, could not do without the guardianship for decades.

　　"The ancient theater of the ancestral hall is not only the memory of the clan, but also the national and world cultural treasure." Wei Wenzao said. Unlike other places, in Ninghai, the ancestral hall is not a simple sacrificial place. The stage set inside makes it a "cultural exchange center" in the village where it is located. Today, more than 120 ancient theatres are better preserved in the local area, known as the "hometown of Chinese ancient theatre culture", and 10 of them are included in China's key cultural protection points.

　　One of the 10 ancient theaters of the Wei Ancestral Hall, built in the eighth year of Kangxi (1669) in the Qing Dynasty. The stage with a width of 4.8 meters and a depth of 4.7 meters is located in the middle of the Wei's Ancestral Hall. It is connected to the girder of the Goulian Corridor. It is carved into 16 dragons and phoenixes in the surroundings. Atmospheric and beautiful.

Elder Wei Wenzao. Li Dianshe

　　The so-called algae well is a "natural horn" invented by working people in ancient times for sound reinforcement and sound reinforcement. In Wei Wenzao's view, that was the most outstanding part of the Wei Ancestral Hall.

　　He pointed to the introduction of two connected algae wells. The pattern of algae wells above the stage was a counter-clockwise step. Under a close look, many birds with red bodies and black beaks flew towards the center. For the magnificent; while another algae well is closer to the auditorium, the Tai Chi pattern in the center shows the Yin-Yang balance approach advocated by the locals.

　　"It's not common for such an exquisite two consecutive algal well stage, which is one of the reasons why Wei's ancestral hall can be selected as a key cultural preservation point in China." Wu Ligao, a staff member of the Party Construction Office of Qiangjiao Town said.

　　"From the moment I have memories, the stage has accompanied our Wei family to spend some important moments." Wei Wenzao recalled that every time there is a harvest, men, women and children in the village will come to the ancestral hall to listen to the drama. On the stage, the military general Hua Dan babbled, sang the ancient mythology, sang the love and hatred of the people, and sang the constant memory and homesickness of the local people.

　　Not only that, the Wei Ancestral Hall in the eyes of cultural relics experts provides valuable historical basis and style information for the study of the history of Qing Dynasty architecture, the stage art of opera, the history of Jiangnan folk custom, and wood carving culture.

　　However, in the 1990s, a huge typhoon scarred the monument on the coast of the East China Sea. At that time, the villagers of Xiapu Village raised more than 100,000 yuan spontaneously and carried out a major repair to the Wei Ancestral Hall. Under the recommendation of most villagers, Wei Wenzao became an obligatory "supervisor" for this overhaul. Purchasing wood, examining details of repairs, arranging craftsmen ... In the past two years of renovation, he also had a deeper relationship with the ancestral hall.

Workers carry out wood carvings to replace damaged structures. Li Dianshe

　　Since then, Wei Wenzao has served as an "amateur cultural protection officer", guarding the "perfect" of this old temple. After hundreds of years of vicissitudes, the ancient theater stage of the ancestral hall has been damaged by moldy, shedding and other components such as eaves, beams, algae wells and other components. He jotted down one by one where the paint faded, where the wood was trapped by insects, and where the tiles soaked in water ... Looking for an opportunity to reflect to the local cultural protection department.

　　On the other side, Ninghai County has also established an ancient opera stage research center, hiring senior folk artists, non-genetic inheritors and famous experts and scholars to jointly carry out ancient opera stage cultural research work. As the local “Ningbo Ancient Theatre Rescue Operation” was launched, the weather-beaten ancient theatres changed their faces under a series of “beauty”.

　　In 2019, the historic stage of the Wei's Ancestral Hall ushered in a historic moment-1.35 million yuan was approved as a special subsidy for national cultural relics protection. It is no longer just "small repairs and small repairs". This time, the main body of the ancient stage of the Wei Ancestral Hall and the arches, halls, and rooms can be thoroughly repaired.

　　"I'm finally looking forward to this day." Faced with the biggest handwriting to date to repair the ancient stage of the Wei Ancestral Hall, Wei Wenzao couldn't hide his inner joy. Since the beginning of the renovation project in early April, he has stayed in the ancestral hall almost every day, witnessing the ancient opera stage a little “make a difference”.

The algae well of the "Hundred Birds and Phoenix". Li Dianshe

　　After keeping the "perfect" of the ancestral hall, Wei Wenzao began to think again: how can the ancient stage rejuvenate?

　　"This time, the ancestral hall can be maintained for at least 20 years and will not be repaired." The workers watching the roof dropped the old tiles, installed the water barrier and the new tiles, and Wei Wenzao stood outside the ancestral hall, looking forward to repairing after half a year. The new look of the finished ancestral hall.

The ancient opera stage under repair. Li Dianshe

　　"Considering the environmental carrying capacity, although the ancestral theater can't be as lively as before, it can connect the theater with Ninghai's characteristic culture and make it a dazzling cultural landscape." He said, for example, to open the tour in a controlled manner and let students Take a tour ...

　　By that time, Wei Wenzao hoped that the stage in the ancestral hall was no longer just a static building, but a series of flowing, time-honored cultural symbols full of traditional Chinese beauty. (Finish)