1. Shadow Play

Xiaoyi Shadow Play is a rare and precious traditional folk art in China, which has been listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list published by the State Council.

(1) The characteristics of filial piety and puppet show. Shadow play is a kind of props manipulated by actors behind the scenes, which is projected onto a white curtain through lights, accompanied by musical instruments, singing and telling the truth. Let the audience hear and see colorful drama stories, and give the aesthetic feeling of both human and god. Because the plane characters and props in the play are all leather products drawn by folk artists through hand carving, it is called shadow play, or shadow play. Shadow play is a unique artistic variety which is skillfully combined with China folk crafts and China traditional operas, and it is a pearl in the Chinese national art palace. With the unique charm of its lighting performance equipment, rich and beautiful vocals and wonderful performances, it has been widely circulated for thousands of years and is deeply loved by the people.

Xiaoyi shadow play is divided into paper window shadow play and screen window shadow play, with paper window shadow play as the main one. Paper window shadow play mainly uses hemp paper paste window as screen and is illuminated by hemp oil lamp hanging behind the paper window, so it is called "lamp shadow" and "paper window". Generally, the paper window is about 1 meter high and 2 meters long and fixed on the cabinet frame. Paper window stickers have five strict procedures: cutting paper, deburring, proportioning, pasting and leveling, and the window is smooth and wrinkle-free, and white and flawless. Shadow play is usually made of sheepskin, cowhide or donkey skin. Shadow puppeteers carve various vivid and personalized characters according to the drama stories, such as tables and chairs, pavilions, flowers and trees, strange mountains and rocks, and Long Ting Golden Temple. There are all kinds of exquisite scene props and handsome tents and other natural things in the military camp. Generally, the scenery and props of these characters are carved to a height of 42-60 cm and painted in various colors. These carved objects are also called xiaoyi leather carvings. Xiaoyi's leather sculpture has simple composition, unique shape, meticulous knife work, exquisite carving, different density, bright color, both form and spirit, and unique aesthetic value.

Xiaoyi shadow play is a folk art that integrates literature, music, performance and carving skills. It can not only perform stories, but also be appreciated as an independent folk arts and crafts work. The music of Xiaoyi Shadow Play is unique and unique, with strong local characteristics. Xiaoyi shadow play has rough modeling, concise lines, exaggerated techniques, outstanding personality, exquisite carving, simple and refined modeling, rich lines, elegant and unique colors and great charm.

Xiaoyi shadow play has been popular for a long time in Xiaoyi area, with a small circulation and distribution scope. In terms of music, it is less influenced by foreign operas, so the filial piety shadow play develops slowly and lacks changes, but it retains its quaint charm and color.

(2) The origin of filial piety shadow play and puppet. Shadow play art can be called the originator of today's film and television art, which originated in China and is one of the earliest operas in China. According to historical records, shadow play began in the pre-Qin period, flourished in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and spread to West Asia and Europe in the Yuan Dynasty with a long history. Xiaoyi is one of the birthplaces of Chinese shadow play and an important branch of Chinese shadow play. Named after the popular filial piety in Shanxi Province. According to historical research, xiaoyi shadow play has a history of 2400 years. According to historical records, during the Spring and Autumn Period, from 445 BC to 396 BC, Xia Zi, Confucius' favorite student, gave lectures in Xiaoyi. In order to attract more people to listen to his speech, he used the form of "shadow music" to gather people to give lectures at night. Because Xia Zi studied under Confucius, he can also "play music and piano", give lectures in the form of movie music, and make education entertaining, so that "teaching, playing music and movie music" can be integrated into one and become a perfect film form of "movie, music and education". Lectures in summer are loved by local people, who have learned the skills of performing shadow play music. Over time, the form of shadow music teaching has become a shadow play in the local area, which is the earliest filial piety shadow play.

(3) The historical ups and downs of the art of filial piety shadow play. By the Han Dynasty, the shadow play in filial piety had been widely developed. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the shadow play of filial piety has matured and become a kind of cultural and recreational activity loved by filial men, women and children. According to the cultural relics that can be verified (xiaoyi city 1980 14 February 14, the head mural of shadow play unearthed in Nanjin Tomb in Yushuping Village, Yima Township), it is confirmed that shadow play had flourished in Xiaoyi at the latest before the first year of Jin and Zheng Long (1 156). According to records, filial piety's shadow play has reached its peak in the past thousand years. At the peak, there were more than 100 people in Xiaoyi's shadow play class, and hundreds of people were engaged in this work. Basically, there is no village, no temple, no stage and no drama, which spread to Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. These can be verified by historical sites, such as the Xiaoyi City God Temple, which was built in the ninth year of Yuan Dade (1305) and rebuilt many times in the past dynasties. Its scale is rare in China. To 1992, xiaoyi city also has 125 over the building and ancient stage, and 12 shadow play stage. During the Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of Wan Wan Qiang and Shadow Play into Xiaoyi from Shaanxi, the local shadow play of Xiaoyi gradually declined in the competition. After the Republic of China, the popularity and distribution scale became smaller and smaller, the performance market became smaller and smaller, the film troupe was dissolved, and artists changed careers. However, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, shadow play flourished again because of its complete speaking, singing and acting, few people acted quickly, and the repertoire was rich and colorful, which was welcomed by the masses. On the eve of the founding of New China, Xiaoyi also had 15 shadow play teams. Due to historical, social and self-related reasons, since the late 1980s, shadow play, like the fracture phenomenon of other traditional cultures, has lost its former glory and gradually declined. The singing, production methods and carving skills of shadow play are in danger of being lost. The ancient singing skills of shadow play are on the verge of extinction, and the shadow play buildings left over from history are destroyed. With the death of old artists, fewer and fewer people can play shadow play, fewer and fewer artists can sing shadow play, and fewer and fewer people do shadow play.

Xiaoyi piqiang

With the emergence and development of filial piety shadow play, suona is mainly used as an accompaniment instrument, so it is also called "filial piety tune", which retains the characteristics of mixed rhythm and strong ups and downs of couplets, and is one of the ancient tunes of China opera, which is of great value for studying the evolution history of China opera tune.

Leather cavity is developed from white paper window during performance, which is commonly known as paper window cavity by locals. There are two basic forms of leather singing. One is a four-sentence structure, which artists call "flat (adagio)" and "flowing water" of gongs and drums. The other is to sing the upper and lower sentences repeatedly, which artists call "stack" Leather cavity singing is a plate variant, and the upper and lower sentence structures are mostly composed of playing music (including Xiao Suona, Sheng, Hu Jia) and percussion music (including Ming Gong, Er Gai Yan, Rao Qian, Mu, etc.). The music of Xiaoyi Piqiang is unique and unique, with strong local color, simplicity and freshness, simple and lively singing, rough and lively.

There are more than 50 kinds of Piqiang traditional operas, and there are more than 30 existing ones. Their contents can be divided into two categories: one is to write stories about monsters, and the representative works are Zhu Xian array, Wan Xian array, Yellow River array, sandstorm array and so on. One kind writes Taoist legends, and the representative works include Zhenwu becoming a monk and Rosen array.

With the introduction of filial piety by Qiang, Piqiang shadow play gradually declined in the competition. Especially after the Republic of China, the situation went from bad to worse. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, only half of Xiaoyi City had a shadow play class.

Excerpted from Baidu netizens, thank you.