HUANGMEI DIAO, HUANGMEI-XI and Shaw’s triumphs (Part 2)
Alright, one might say, but were did the Huangmei Diao genre originate and what was it all about? Why did the Shaw studio believe in the potential success of cinematic formats and most importantly – why became the high class Shaw invention of “Huangmei-Xi” so dominant and revered?
To answer this question one must go back in time. After the demise of the Manchu dynasty, the chaos of wars and the cultural revolution in China, the traditional classic Beijing Opera, which had dominated the cultural scene of China for ages, became somewhat outlawed and suffered from its pretension and political testimonials. Until then, this high class form of opera was reserved for the wealthy, the scholars, the intellectuals and the court. The troupes which toured the country to bring culture and plays to the “average” public and which thrived to expose the “average Joe” (who liked but seldom understood the stories and the literature variations as well) to “high culture”, slowly altered the plays to meet the demand and to reach the communities. They shortened the plays, added folk songs and simple language and soon reacted to the fact that it was far from ideal to present a play which could last for three days and had to be played for 8 to 9 hours per day. The commoners simply did not have the time, the attention span and the wits to endure such a demanding play, they rightfully thought.
Additionally, it was very important for the audiences to have some sort of art education and prime understanding to react to each gesture, to appreciate each movement and mimic. One could not ask for common workers or tea leaf pickers to understand the complicated art form, especially if they just came to visit the performance to find some relief from their daily chores and had no knowledge beyond a certain point. So, in each region soon different opera styles – which often drifted into easily understandable folk song performances - were invented to expose the public to certain themes. Songs and texts were altered and simplified and soon became folk songs and public quotes. Especially for exiled Chinese, for people in hardships and for the masses it was important to get a chance not to think too much and to indulge in dreams about a potent, rich, great and dreamlike China instead. The Anhui region prominently proved to be the cradle of a new form of opera. From the revolutionary 1920ies onwards, a special form of Huangmei was introduced which established itself against the previously dominant forms of Cantonese Yue Yu and Mandarin Shaoxin Yueju. In the early 1950ies this variation of art became the norm to entertain the masses.
It was called „Huangmei Diao“ (tune of the opera) and except for some similarities in terms of stories and content it had not much in common with previous Beijing Opera performances. As the communists were very wary and sceptical towards “high culture” which they deemed unfit for the masses and which included elements of political and social opposition to the regime, they embraced the new style of opera. The nomenclature used the new folk operas in terms of their plans to transport new politics, to keep the people preoccupied and to install a new self respect within China’s population. Especially the style of the Yangtze delta proved promising, as the forms of “Lian Xian” (bamboo clapper music), “Hua Guo” (flower drum music) and “Jiang Nan Guo” (Southern River ditties) captured the heaqrts and minds of the Chinese. The move to nurture the use of Mandarin instead of the original Hubei province dialect added to the satisfaction of the regime.
The themes of the new “Huangmei Diao” plays were basically run-of-the-mill, exchangeable and served only the need to entertain the common people and to distract them from their daily problems. Foremost “lovce” and the matters of the heart were prominent themes, but also topics like exile, natural disasters, the hardships of the poor and spiritual plays were tolerated. From Anhui, the wave soon spilled to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Global Chinese expatriates took to the new art genre as well. So it was no surprise, that the Shaw studios jumped on the bandwagon to reach potential target groups and to dominate the Asian movie industry. At the time “Diau Charn” was shown, only rival studio MP&GI had discovered this future gold mine as well. Two weeks previous to the premiere of “Diau Charn” the rivals presented “To borrow a Wife” (directed by Huang Yu) and then rode in the slipstream of Shaw’s success. From now on for several years Shaw and MP&GI fought hard for dominance at the box offices. But the high class productions and huge budgets of Shaw won the race hands down and projects like „The Kingdom and the Beauty“, „The Magnificent Concubine“, „The Love Eterne“ and „Dream of the Red Chamber“ became classics whilst the output of the rival studio never was mentioned again. Starting in the 1960ies, the international cinematic community became aware of Shaw’s epics. For example, the movie “The Magnificent Concubine” was shown at the film festival of Cannes and it was the first Chinese movie to receive a “Palm d’or”. Soon film critics and scholars stated that Shaw’s new genre “Huangmei-xi” was the ultimate example of Chinese cinematic output and they were sure that this genre was the only art of Chinese movie making. It lasted until the early 1970ies that, in the face of action-ladden “martial arts movies” this general assumption was overturned. For Huangmei Diao and its sister “huangmei-xi” the doors of recognition and praise had opened…
(to be continued)
