(East-West Question) Wu Fengchu: How does Tang Xianzu's drama promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries?
China News Agency, Nanchang, February 22, Question: Wu Fengchu: How does Tang Xianzu's drama promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries?
China News Agency reporter Wu Pengquan
"Love doesn't know where to start, but it goes deep." More than 400 years ago, Tang Xianzu, a great opera master in the Ming Dynasty, wrote "The Peony Pavilion", "The Story of the Purple Hairpin", "The Story of Handan" and "The Story of Nanke" (collectively known as "Linchuan Four"). "Dream"), regarded as a treasure of the world's dramatic art, has been performing prosperously on Chinese and foreign stages so far.
Why did Tang Xianzu's plays spread overseas and attract worldwide attention?
What role did Tang Gong's plays play in the cultural exchange and mutual learning between China and foreign countries?
Wu Fengchu, director of the Tang Xianzu International Research Center in Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions" to give an in-depth interpretation of this.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: Tang Xianzu is known as the "Oriental Shakespeare". What do you think the plays of Tang Gong and Shakespeare have in common?
Wu Fengchu:
Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare were born in different countries, from different cultural backgrounds and living environments.
Coincidentally, they lived in the same era and died in the same year.
Their works have the same orientation in affirming the value and dignity of human beings and pursuing freedom and happiness of mind and nature.
They are all thinkers and dreamers of the times, standing at the forefront of the times and spreading avant-garde ideas.
Shakespeare lived in the era of Elizabeth I and James I, when Britain was in the Renaissance period of reflecting on medieval civilization; Tang Gong lived in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in China, which was the period of Yangming's reflection on Cheng Zhu's philosophy.
They think together what is human dignity and how to achieve freedom of mind and nature.
In reality, the power of "god" and "reason" is too great, so their works depend on drama and dream.
Shakespeare has a Midsummer Night's Dream, the old king's dream, etc.; Tang Gong is even more "a dream because of love, because of a dream into a play", "Four Dreams" such as Garden Dreams, Dawning Dreams, Nanke Yimeng, Huang Liangmei Dream, etc. Through dreams, the author's thoughts on the real world are expressed.
In 2016, "A Dialogue Across Time and Space" - a theme exhibition commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of literary giants Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare was held at the Chinese Cultural Center in Brussels.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Shen Chen
They all sing about pent-up love and affection.
Love is widely expressed in both Tang and Shakespeare's plays. For example, Du Liniang is a typical example of "extreme love", a love that can be life or death; Juliet is "born to death".
Although the two dramas have different endings, they both sing the praises of pure love and anti-patriarchy, which are actually anti-Taoism and anti-theocracy.
They all profoundly reveal that human nature is distorted, vividly show the return of human nature, and give people belief and inspiration.
"To survive or to perish, that is the question" is the classic phrase in "Hamlet". This kind of entanglement, confusion and hesitation is reflected in actions and thinking, and it also reflects the confusion and entanglement of people in that era.
Shakespeare encountered this problem, and Tang Gong also encountered it: such as serving as an eunuch or abandoning office, sticking to or giving up, etc. The characters Liu Mengmei, Li Yi, and Chunyu Fen in the play are all portrayed and described.
China News Service reporter: Why did Tang Xianzu's Four Dreams in Linchuan represent the peak of Chinese classical drama creation and be regarded as a treasure of world drama art?
Wu Fengchu:
"Four Dreams of Linchuan", also known as "Four Dreams of Yumingtang", is the collective name of four famous dramas written by Tang Xianzu, "The Peony Pavilion", "The Story of the Purple Hairpin", "The Story of Handan" and "The Story of Nanke".
In "Four Dreams of Linchuan", there are four such dreams: "Dream at the Dawn Window" in "The Story of the Purple Hairpin", "A Dream in the Garden" in "The Peony Pavilion", "A Dream of Nanke" in "The Story of Nanke", "Dream in the Garden" in "The Peony Pavilion" The "Dream of Yellow Liangliang" in The Story of Handan.
The actors performed the Jiangxi opera excerpt "Four Dreams of Linchuan", which selected classic fragments such as "The Peony Pavilion" by Tang Xianzu, a dramatist in the Ming Dynasty.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Xiaoyuan
When talking about the creation of "Four Dreams", Tang Xianzu once said: "Dreams become dreams because of love, and dramas become dramas because of dreams." "Dream" is only the expression of drama, and "emotion" is the main theme of Tang Gong's drama.
The first two dreams "The Peony Pavilion" and "The Story of the Purple Hairpin" sing praises of the "good feelings" in the world;
Whether it is the publicity of "good feelings" or the denial of "evil feelings", the "Four Dreams" all embody the contradiction between emotion and rationality that "emotions die in rationality, and rationality perish in emotion". A zigzag projection of the struggle.
The confrontation between love and reason in the play just reflects the dissatisfaction and hatred of the general public in late Ming society for autocratic politics and patriarchal traditions that have long suppressed people's natural rights and reasonable individual appeals, and reflects a clear anti-feudal tradition and advocacy of humanistic enlightenment. ideological tendencies.
The Peony Pavilion, in particular, has reached a height unattainable by contemporaries in both thought and art, revealing the direction of the progress of the times.
The fundamental reason why Tang Gong's "Four Dreams" can become a leader of the times and a classic of world drama art lies in its trans-epochal ideological brilliance and artistic charm.
The Kunqu Opera "Peony Pavilion" was held in front of the Cining Gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang
Reporter from China News Service: "The Peony Pavilion" has been translated into many languages and has attracted worldwide attention. Why can Tang Xianzu's plays go abroad and spread overseas?
Wu Fengchu:
First of all, the theme of The Peony Pavilion has universal humanistic significance and a distinct spirit of the times.
Secondly, "The Peony Pavilion" has unparalleled artistic charm, romantic and stunning dream creation, beautiful language expression, and especially created the image of a typical character in a typical environment - "the most affectionate" Du Liniang.
In addition, art has no borders, and drama is easy to communicate among different ethnic groups because of its inclusiveness. Therefore, since the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese drama master Mei Lanfang brought "The Peony Pavilion: A Dream in the Garden" to Japan, the United States and other countries. The performance was enthusiastically welcomed, and since then Tang opera has been popular overseas.
The universal "love" of human beings displayed in Tang Xianzu's dramas, the unique charm of Chinese opera's fusion of "singing, reading, doing and fighting" in one furnace, moving stories, exquisite costumes, facial makeup and splendid interpretation programs, not only for the world. Accepted by various countries, it resonates strongly in people's hearts.
In addition, "The Peony Pavilion" is not only a "play on the field", but also a "desk work", which can not only be acted, but also read as an excellent literary work.
When "The Peony Pavilion" came out, it set off an upsurge, not only "several orders for "West Wing" to be reduced in price", but also "literati and bachelors, all have a book on their desks; mansions and alleys, Weng women all talk about peony".
Today, "The Peony Pavilion" is not only broadcast in many countries in the world in various versions and languages, but also active on the world art stage in different styles such as opera, dance drama and puppet show.
The ballet Peony Pavilion, adapted from the Kunqu Opera of the same name written by Tang Xianzu of the Ming Dynasty, was staged at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin
China News Service: "Tang Xianzu's Hometown" Fuzhou, Jiangxi has held the "Tang Xianzu Drama Festival and International Drama Exchange Month" for many years. What role has Tang Xianzu's drama played in cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries?
Wu Fengchu: It
has opened a window for foreign cultures to "please come in" for cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries.
Since 2016, Fuzhou, Jiangxi has held the "Tang Xianzu Drama Festival and International Drama Exchange Month" for many years, attracting a large number of world-renowned repertoires and outstanding performance teams into China, promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Added a business card for Chinese culture to "go global" for cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and foreign countries.
A reforming and opening-up China needs a cultural business card that people from all over the world can better understand. Tang Xianzu's plays are a golden business card.
Through the active "going out" cultural exchange activities, artists from "Tang Xianzu's Hometown" brought the "Peony Pavilion" performance and various intangible cultural heritage styles of Linchuan culture to the United Kingdom, the United States and many countries along the "Belt and Road"; Jiangxi Fuzhou also The Peony Pavilion, a building with a unique style of Chinese culture, was built in Britain, Russia and other places to promote cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between China and foreign countries.
The classic Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion" rehearsed by the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre was staged at the Pierre Cardin Theatre in Paris.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Long Jianwu
The overseas performances of Tang Xianzu's plays such as The Peony Pavilion fully demonstrated the contemporary vitality of Chinese excellent traditional culture and artistic classics.
Tang Xianzu adhered to the principle of the people, adhered to the "extreme love", and adhered to an independent personality all his life, just as the famous Japanese opera historian Aoki Masako said: "Tang Xianzu not only expressed his greatness in opera, that is, his personality is also quite enviable. Entering Qu Gu is the fastest for our party." (End)
Interviewee Profile:
Wu Fengchu, a well-known cultural scholar, has been engaged in the research of Tang Xianzu and Jiangyou culture for a long time, director and researcher of the Tang Xianzu International Research Center in Fuzhou City, editor-in-chief of "Tang Xianzu Academic Journal", member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, and vice president of Jiangxi Cultural Heritage and Folklore Society. Visiting professor of East China University of Science and Technology, honorary president of Fuzhou Academy of Social Sciences.
He has held cultural lectures in Peking University, Tsinghua University and other colleges and universities for many times. He is the author of "The Biography of Tang Xianzu", "Peony Pavilion: Commentary", "Tang Xianzu and the Late Ming Qutan", "Introduction to Notes from Song Dynasty", and the editor-in-chief and published "Linchuan Four Dreams." Commentary, "Listening to Tang Xianzu at Peking University", "Tang Xianzu on the Clouds" and other books and periodicals.