Xiqu
By Fujin
Chinese theatre boasts a long, rich history with many different theatrical forms scattered across the country’s vast territory. In the middle of twelfth century China saw the emergence of a unique and highly developed form of theatre, characterised by a distinct national style. This has continued to evolve to this day and is the form of traditional Chinese song-dance theatre often referred to as xiqu (lit. theatre [of] sung-verse).
Xiqu incorporates both singing and acting. Wang Guowei defined xiqu as “telling a story through song and dance”. Scripts of xiqu inherited the defining features of sung literature and storytelling from the Tang and Song dynasties. These include the interchangeable use of yun (rhyme) and bai (vernacular), and combining chang (songs) and nian (speeches) to tell stories. In this sense music is the soul of xiqu. While xiqu combines the performance skills of singing, speaking, dance-acting and combat, it lays particular stress on the techniques of xuni (mime-like movements and dance) and chengshihua (conventionalization, i.e. every aspect in this theatre is highly stylized and follows set conventions which evolve through generations of practitioners).
As a term, xiqu appeared in writings in the early fourteenth century. Both Liu Xun (1240-1319) and then Tao Zongyi (1321- Circa 1412) used it to refer to theatrical forms predating Yuan dynasty plays. It was Chen Duxiu (1879-1942) and Wang Guowei (1877-1927) who started using “xiqu” as a generic term to describe indigenous/traditional Chinese theatre including historical theatrical forms from the twelfth century as well as the huge variety of regional song-dance theatres on the contemporary stage.
Xiqu is the most distinctive and representational form of Chinese theatre, and has maintained the same integral aesthetic characteristics since its conception. Among all of the widespread theatre forms in the world, xiqu may be one with the longest history. In comparison to classical Greek theatre and Sanskrit drama in ancient India, xiqu came into being relatively late. Nevertheless, in an area populated by over a sixth of the world’s population xiqu is still being practised. There are numerous performances and thousands of new plays created every year, which just serves to demonstrate the vitality of xiqu.
All theatre performances in the world involve conditionality, which is an understanding that within the conditions of a performance, everything is to be believed and anything can happen. Chinese traditional song-dance theatre is no exception. However, the degree of application of ‘conditionality’ varies between different national theatres. The technique xuni is used heavily in Chinese xiqu, and performers portray characters belonging to specific hangdang (specialized role types). These are classified according to their status, personality and age. When singing, xiqu performers use specific vocal skills and rhyme to conform to the musical rules. Their songs and speeches are also poetically rhythmic, following strict prosodic rules. Typical xiqu performances use the mime-like basis of the style to alter and refine reality, while retaining an essentially emotional and reasonable narrative. The gestures, body movements and expressions of the performers are laden with meaning. The core of this theatre is to express feelings yet it contains a narrative quality.
The xiqu stage is minimal but communicative, often comprising only a table and two chairs, along with some necessary props. The space and scenes where the story takes place are easily adaptable, and conveyed to the audience through acting, speeches and songs. The style of the delivery is versatile and unrestricted. There are certain conventions for characters’ appearance. The style of the costumes has developed and improved upon clothing in the Ming Dynasty. The characters’ face paint uses striking colours and the style of the characters is fixed. Some facial patterns are exaggerated and distinctive. At the end of 19th century and into the early 20th century, modern Western drama was first introduced into China. As a result stage and theatre performances started changing. Realistic sets appeared; costumes and make up began to resemble everyday life. Naturalistic tendencies also emerged to varying degrees in performance.
In Chinese theatre circles the eight hundred years of xiqu history are typically divided into three phrases: Zaju (lit. “miscellaneous drama”) in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), Chuanqi (“marvel tale”) in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and Difangxi (regional song-dance theatres). From the Song dynasty (960-1279) up to present day, xiqu has inherited and evolved its features all the time. Xiwen (lit. “theatre text”), which appeared during the Northern Song Dynasty, was the earliest known mature form of theatre. During the Yuan Dynasty, zaju was popular and hundreds of works from this period are still used. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, kunqu theatre became predominant as the highest standard of literary and performance art. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a trend for using local music to perform theatre emerged, forming into a multitude of local theatrical genres. Examples include, Qinqiang in and around Shaanxi, chuanju in Sichuan, bangzixi in northern China, Cantonese theatre as well as yueju (shaoxingxi in Zhejiang) and pingju (Northeast) etc., which emerged in the twentieth century.
These regional song-dance theatres are well received within relatively small regions, only spreading through the area in which the dialect used in the theatre is spoken. Regional song-dance theatres have an inseparable relationship with local culture, and the regional character of their music and speeches are extremely distinctive, which makes xiqu yet more diverse. Traditionally different genres were named according to the style of music that they incorporated into their repertoires. Since the early twentieth century, more genres have added geographical names of regions before the musical system (such as hunan huaguxi or shangdang bangzi), some theatres use a geographical name plus “drama” (ju) or “theatre” (xi), for example in huju (Shanghai drama) and fuzhou xi (Fuzhou theatre). In those names above, Hunan, Shangdang, Hu (Shanghai’s special abbreviation) and Fuzhou are all names of areas where these genres first emerged. Jingju (Beijing Opera) was born in the era of popularity of regional song-dance theatres, and became the most influential theatrical form of the 20th Century. Jingju incorporated local musical forms and methods of emotional expression from a number of different regions, satisfying the different aesthetic expectations of society. Among more than 200 variants of xiqu, jingju and kunju are two exceptionally good examples.
Xiqu is a rare gem of Chinese traditional culture. It is a brilliant amalgamation of the spiritual quest, emotional expression as well as the values of the Chinese as a nation.
关于中国戏曲
傅谨
中国戏剧历史悠久，经历了漫长的发展过程，形态各异的戏剧活动，分布在广袤的区域。12世纪中叶，中国出现了具有鲜明的民族风格、成熟而独特的戏剧形态，持续发展至今，这种中国特有的传统戏剧形态，通常称为“戏曲”。
戏曲是融歌唱、表演为一体的戏剧样式。王国维用“以歌舞演故事”为戏曲定义。戏曲的剧本文学继承了唐宋讲唱文学的文体特点，用韵、白相间、唱念结合的方式讲述故事，所以，音乐是戏曲艺术的灵魂。戏曲表演融唱念做打为一体，偏重虚拟的手法和程式化的表达。
“戏曲”这个名词古已有之，宋末元初刘埙〔1240-1319〕在《水云村稿》“词人吴用章传”提到“戏曲”一词：“至咸淳，永嘉戏曲出”。这是最早的记载。后来元代的陶宗仪（1321-约1412）在《南村辍耕录•院本名目》中写道：“唐有传奇，宋有戏曲、唱诨、词说。金有院本、杂剧、诸宫调。”当然刘、陶二人所说的戏曲是专指元杂剧产生以前的宋杂剧。从近代陈独秀（1879-1942）、王国维（1877-1927）开始，才把“戏曲”用来作为包括宋元南戏、元明杂剧、明清传奇以至近代的京剧和所有地方戏在内的中国传统戏剧文化的通称。
戏曲是中国最具独特性与代表性的戏剧艺术，戏曲诞生以来，始终保持着完整而同一的美学形态。在世界现存的传播范围较广的戏剧类型里，戏曲可能是历史最为悠久的一种。相较于古希腊戏剧和古印度的梵剧，戏曲的诞生固然较迟，但它依然在超过世界人口六分之一的广阔区域内流传，各地均有大量演出，每年都有数以千计的新剧作出现，生命力更显旺盛。
世界上所有的戏剧表演都以“假定性”为基本美学原则，中国戏剧也不例外。但是不同民族的戏剧，在假定性的运用以及程度上有所不同。中国戏曲的演员在表演中大量运用虚拟性的手段，按人物的身份、性格、年龄等特征，分为不同的“行当”。戏曲歌唱时有特定的声韵技巧，剧本唱词以音乐格律为规范，道白遵从诗的韵律。戏曲表演基于虚拟的原则，在写实基础上加以变形和提炼，演员的手势、眼神和身段都有丰富内涵，以抒情为核心，又具有叙述性。戏曲舞台简约传神，只有简单的一桌两椅和少量必需的道具，戏剧故事的空间与场景，均通过演员的表演和唱、念向观众交待，自由灵动。戏剧人物的妆扮有一定之规，人物服装主要在明代服饰基础上加以改造和美化，化妆色彩浓烈，部分戏剧人物有固定的脸谱，造型夸张而独特。19世纪末至20世纪初，西方戏剧被引进中国，戏曲的舞台形态和表演出现某些变化，舞台上开始运用实景，服装与化妆更接近于日常生活，表演上也出现了不同程度的写实主义倾向。
戏曲界通常把长达800多年的中国戏曲史分为元杂剧、明清传奇和“地方戏” 三阶段。从宋代至今，戏曲的形态既有传承，又有演变。北宋时代出现的戏文是已知最早的成熟的戏剧样式；元代杂剧创作盛行，留下了数以百计的优秀作品。明清两代，昆曲渐次兴起，成为文学和表演艺术水平最高的戏曲表现方式。从明末清初开始，用地方音乐演唱戏剧渐成趋势，形成了众多地方剧种，如西北的秦腔、西南的川剧、北方的梆子、岭南的粤剧和20世纪出现的越剧、评剧等，它们都在某个较小的文化圈深受欢迎，传播范围大致与方言区重叠。地方戏曲剧种与地域文化关系密切，唱腔音乐的地方色彩非常明显，使戏曲拥有了更多元的姿态。历史上多数以音乐形态命名，近代以来，在剧种名称前冠以地域简称的现象更为普遍，因此，地名加上其声腔种类（如湖南花鼓戏，上党梆子之类）的称谓比较多见，另外就是地名加上“剧”或者“戏”。京剧就诞生在地方戏兴起的时代，它广泛汲取了多个地区的地域音乐与情感表达方式，满足了社会各阶层的审美期待，因而成为20世纪最具影响力的剧种。戏曲在发展过程中，出现至少200多个剧种，京剧、昆剧是其杰出的代表。
戏曲是中华传统文化的结晶，浓缩了中华民族的精神追求，情感表达和价值取向。