Based on Jiulong Tea Lantern, it was gradually formed by absorbing its folk art in southern Jiangxi, which was mainly popular in southern Jiangxi, northern Guangdong and western Fujian, and once spread to southern Guangxi. Gannan tea-picking drama developed from folk songs and dances, which is close to life and humorous in language.
From its gestation to its formation, Gannan tea-picking drama has roughly experienced three stages: tea-picking songs, tea basket lights and tea-picking drama, but the three stages are closely related and overlapping.
First, the period of picking tea songs
Since the Ming Dynasty, stimulated by national economic activities and population growth, tea production in the south of the Yangtze River has gradually flourished, and there has also been a corresponding upsurge of "tea culture" among the people, which has received positive responses from people from all walks of life. Tea-picking songs are widely sung in the south of the Yangtze River with different names.
One of them begins with one year 12 months, and sings about the process of tea farmers planting, picking, making, tasting and selling tea, and is performed by 12 tea girls carrying tea baskets. Later, from December to the first month, it was called "tea picking", and the characters were different from songs.
Second, the tea basket lamp period
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were many small song and dance performances in Hakka areas with simple figures, fans and tea baskets as props, such as sisters picking tea, double picking tea, picking tea in four seasons, sending brothers to sell tea and so on. After the formation of the scale of tea production, tea merchants from all over the country have frequent exchanges, and there are festivals such as "opening the tea market" and "closing the tea market". Tea farmers and tea merchants edited more programs about tea. For example, in Ruijin's Tea Lamp Tune, there are aria for picking tea, watching tea, weighing tea, counting tea money and delivering tea.
There are "tea pilgrims" and "tea sisters" in the song. During the festival, these programs are also used to congratulate tea makers and shops on the New Year. In order to create a lively atmosphere, some people hold various lanterns while traveling, while others perform with lanterns and flower drums. There are two kinds of lanterns, two and four. Accompanied by suona gongs and drums, they sing lanterns while riding horses, and will perform some simple operas after the circus.
Third, the tea-picking opera period.
On the basis of tea basket lamp, the model of "two Dan and one ugly" was further established. Gradually formed a form of tea-picking drama based on "triangle class". It gradually broke away from the limitation that the light only reflected tea as the main content, and edited a number of small plays that reflected a broader vision of love, production and life, such as Four Sisters Against Love, Big Cousin, selling groceries and Cousin's Big Whistle.
These operas are all performed by two Dan and one ugly or once ugly, accompanied by the positive and negative strings and gongs and drums of the main musical instruments of tea-picking opera, and tea-picking opera has since entered the "triangle class" period. However, in the process of the development and perfection of "Triangle Class", there was a meaningful attempt, that is, "tea picking in Jiulong Mountain".
Tea picking in Jiulong Mountain, also known as big tea picking, is a relatively complete drama. On the basis of the original Tea Picking in Jiulong Mountain, which was performed by two poets and a clown, two tea girls and one tea girl were added, and complicated plots such as dressing up, picking curtains, dialing lights, going out, going up the mountain, picking tea, and putting on "Peace in the World" were added.
At the end of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (18 15), Li, the deputy governor of Wangmudu in Ganxian County, made a processing adaptation, adding the plots of tea merchants going to Jiulong Mountain to buy tea, stopping shop on the way, making a scene, going up the mountain to see tea, negotiating tea, sending tea down the mountain, returning by boat, getting together and so on.