Review: Li Miaohui (Fujian Xiang opera)

Title: Li Miaohui (李妙惠)
Genre: Fujian Xiang opera (芗剧)
Format: Stage opera
Production year: 1993
Director: Wu Ziming
Script: Shao Jianghai, Guo Zhixian (rearranged)
Music: Yang Senlin, Su Dengfa
Casts: Zheng Xiuqin as Li Miaohui, Hong Zhenping as Xie Qi, Hong Cailian as Lu Mengxian, Yang Yuexia as Bai Jinhua, Han Tiansong as Lu Nanchuan, Jiang Tiedan as Bai Laofu, Xiao Shuqin as Hua Mifeng

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At first glance...

This is one of the first original Fujian Xiang opera scripts ever written by the late Fujian Xiang opera master Shao Jianghai. So far no other Chinese opera genres have this same show telling the tale of a man who “married a woman to become her brother”!

Synopsis

Li Miaohui was a ill-fated widow. Her husband Lu Mengxian was reported dead while on his way to pursue the imperial examinations. Subsequently her family was reduced from riches to rags in a fire breakout followed by flood. One day, Guangdong salt merchant Xie Qi was cruising down the river when he saw Li Miaohui washing clothes by the riverbank. He was captivated by her beauty and hence got a matchmaker to try ask for her hand from her father-in-law. Old Mr. Lu did not want his daughter-in-law to suffer with him, therefore he forced Li to get remarried to Xie. However on the wedding night, Li tried to commit suicide, but was subsequently saved by Xie. Xie was touched by Li’s love for her late husband and decided to become her sworn-brother instead.

Not long after, Lu Mengxian was “revived” and returned home as a top scholar! It turned out that Lu had not died on his way to the imperial city, but was robbed of his possessions and subsequently being saved a passerby. However, a confusion arose later on, when another man of similar-sounding name died in the same region, leading his family servant to mistook this dead man as Lu himself.

Lu was devastated to find that his wife had remarried to Xie Qi. Jinhua, a childhood playmate and neighbour of Lu, was deeply moved by Lu’s love for Li. On seeing Jinhua’s admiration for his son, Old Mr. Lu got his son to marry Jinhua. Lu was reluctant, and only accepted Jinhua as his sworn-sister. On the night of his wedding, he sneaked away to Guangdong to look for his wife. The entire family gave chase, and after much explanation and persuasion, this complicated affair finally had a happy ending: Li and Lu were reunited again, while Jinhua became Xie’s wife.

Review

This is a VCD show which I’ve bought from China. The recording quality was bad, probably recorded off from video tape, which was in turn recorded off from TV. There were no subtitles to the entire show, so it was a bit hard to understand at some point. Fortunately I had the original cassette recording of the show (a even earlier production) complete with the lyrics to the songs, hence I was able to grasp the meaning to most of the songs.

For the storyline, many scenes had been sliced off from the original script in order to make the plot more compact. This however did not compromise the integrity of the script. In fact it made the show easier to digest, as the original complete show would require 2 days to act.

Acting the role of Li Miaohui is first grade actress Zheng Xiuqin. She is the only first grade Xiang opera actress in China now, and in the history of Xiang opera culture, only 2 actresses have been awarded this honour. Her shen duan was good, and her singing can really move the audience to tears. However, her looks were at a disadvantage as her age was catching up. Hong Zhenping's clownish rendition of Xie Qi was hilarious, funny yet not compromising with his shen duan. A pity that his singing was just average. Hong Cailian, who acted as Lu Mengxian, has got good shen duan, but wasn't as good as before due to age. Yang Yuexia's performance as Bai Jinhua was average, and Xiao Shuqin's portrayal as Hua Mifeng (matchmaker) was funny, but her shen duan was average too.

This opera is a very traditional opera, in the sense that it concentrates alot on singing. Scene 2 and scene 5 are 2 major scenes with lots of singing. In scene 2, Zheng Xiuqin sang solo for almost 3/4 of the scene, a total of about 52 lines, about Li Miaohui's yearning for her husband's return as well as her unwillingness to remarry. In scene 5, Hong Cailian and Yang Yuexie took turns to sing, Lu Mengxian expressing his unwillingness to betray his wife by marrying Jinhua, and Jinhua trying to reason that Li Miaohui's remarriage could not be annulled. I find the music for this show was quite well composed. The tunes were very melodious, and goes well with the traditional feel of the opera. Besides the focus on singing, the dialogues used in this show, especially that of the Xie Qi, was written with a rich minnan (Hokkien) flavour. One will find that Xie Qi's dialogues are usually very rhyming. This kind of rhyming dialogues is a characteristic of traditional chou roles, probably borrowed from "Da Zui Gu", a kind of minnan folk comedy.

In short, I find this opera a gem of Xiang opera. It has all the elements of traditional Xiang opera: sorrowful singing, comedy and simple storyline which audience can easily identify with. If you love traditional Chinese opera, this show would be a good one to see, though the video quality and lack of subtitles could cause a problem.

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Review: The Pot Mender (Hunan Flower Drum Opera)

Title: The Pot Mender(补锅)
Genre: Hunan Flower Drum opera (湖南花鼓戏)
Format: Chinese opera movie
Production year: About 1964
Director: Zhang Jianjun
Script: Tang Zhou, Xu Shuhui
Script: Zhang Guohui
Casts: Zhong Yichun as Madam Liu, Li Guyi as Liu Lanying, Peng Fuguang as Li Xiaocong

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At first glance...

Hunan Flower Drum opera is the main opera genre of Hunan province with a history of over 200 years. As this opera has its roots from the local folk music and dance, the opera has got a strong local flavour, and it's music is cheerful and melodious.

Synopsis

This show was set in post-revolutionary period of China in the countryside. Pig farmer Madam Liu has a daughter Lanying whom she had always dreamt of her marrying off to someone highly educated and has a good career. She did not know that Lanying was actually in love with a pot mender, an occupation had always looked down upon. One day, Madam Liu broke her pot used for cooking pig food and had to use her rice pot as a temporary backup. She told Lanying to find a pot mender fast so that the pot could be fixed soon. Lanying then collude with her boyfriend, Li Xiaocong, to make use of this opportunity to try and change the mindset of Madam Liu.

Xiaocong turned up at Madam Liu's residence, pretending not to know Lanying. Madam Liu was initially skeptical about Xiaocong's professionalism due to his young age, but was later impressed by his skillful techniques. Xiaocong then hinted that his "mother-in-law" still looked down on him despite his skills. Madam Liu sided with his "mother-in-law", thus making Lanying and Xiaocong worried: they need to change their tactic

Xiaocong decided not to finish the job for Madam Liu and pretended to leave. In desperation, Madam Liu threatened that he would not have pork to eat if he were to leave as the piglets she rear would die of starvation because she could not cook pig food for them. Xiaocong then retorted that no pot menders would dare to come to her house if she refused to change her opinion about pot menders. Madam Liu went speechless. After some thoughts, she realised her foolishness in condemning people of their occupation. On seeing her change of mind, Xiaocong disclosed his true identity and Madam Liu finally accepted Xiaocong as her son-in-law.

Review

I have no idea what the show is all about before watching it, but after sitting through the show for the first few minutes, I was getting worried. Before this, I did have have any good impression for shows which were set in the post-revolutionary era as such shows usually have political themes revolving good-vs-evil and patroitism to the Communist Party, something which I dread to watch. However, after going through half the show, I find that this show was somehow different. Though there are political hints here and there at times, it was rather subtle, or at the very least I was able to finish the show!

For the cast, there are only three actors altogether. Of these three, I only know Li Guyi as a first class classical singer in China, but has been with Hunan Flower Drum opera company for about a decade in the 60s as an actress. Her portrayal of Lanying very cute, with eyes that almost looked as if they could talk. Zhong Yichun, who assumed the role of Madam Liu, was full of expressions and her acting was very down-to-earth, yet do not give the impression that she wasn't doing Chinese opera. Peng Fuguang's role as Li Xiaocong was a bit smaller compared to the other two, but what I like about him is that his singing was soothing to listen to. His tunes were rather high-pitched, but his singing was not sqeaky.

This show was quite well directed too in my opinion. I like the part when Madam Liu asked for Xiaocong's name, he almost blurted out his full name. In a state of panic, Lanying quickly squatted down to chop vegetables. Xiaocong got the hint and quickly changed his statement, and Lanying slowed down her chopping tempo in relief. There was also another part whereby this young couple had to collude discreetly in the presence of Madam Liu, hence they'd lift up the pot to cover Madam Liu's face and speak in front of the pot. I think these 2 scenes were very interesting, and they were effective in trying to bring across the meaning behind.

Overall, this is by far the only post-revolutionary based Chinese opera that I enjoyed. The storyline is very simple, but at the same time very easy to relate to as well. The music of the opera, which is very Hunanese, added colour and flavour to the show, making it a very pleasant show to watch.

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Chinese Opera Jargons

Before I start, I need to explain some Chinese opera jargons which I will be using rather frequently in here, so as to avoid confusion.

Hang dang: Refers to the classification of roles a person plays on stage. In typical Chinese opera, there are 4 main classes, the sheng, dan, jing and chou.

Sheng: Typical male roles. The sheng class can be further sub-classified according to age or character. For age-wise, there are wawasheng (young boy), xiaosheng (young male) and laosheng (old male, often bearded). For character-wise, there are wensheng (scholarly male who do not have martial art background) and wusheng (male roles which has martial art background, like warriors, swordsmen, bandits, etc.).

Dan: Typical female roles. The dan class can be further sub-classfied as: xiaodan (very young girl), huadan (young lady), qingyi (matured and/ or graceful lady), laodan (old lady), wudan (female version of wusheng), daomadan (female warriors, not to be confused with wudan) and caidan (clownish lady). Huadan can also have a few different types like guimendan (mix of huadan and qingyi), poladan (sly, vicious lady), kudan (sorrowful lady), etc.

Jing: Male roles with extreme character, be it extremely just (like Justice Bao), extremely loyal (like Guan Yu) or extremely cunning (like Cao Cao). On stage, these roles are characterised by their painted faces, and hence they’re also known as hualian (“flowery” face).

Chou: Male clownish roles (female clownish roles are known as caidan). On stage, these roles are characterised by a white patch painted over their nose bridge. As they looked a bit similar to the jing, they are sometimes known as sanhua.

Shenduan: Refers to an actor’s body language on stage, as well as how well he/ she is able to use the operatic gestures to convey whatever he/ she is required to do so in the show.

This list will expand, when I find that some terms are getting more commonly used in subsequent posts.

Welcome!

Welcome to the "Hosue Of The Flying Water-Sleeves"! No, this blog is not a spoof of the Hong Kong movie "House Of The Flying Daggers". This blog is dedicated to Chinese opera, a place for me to share my thoughts and reviews on the Chinese opera performances and VCDs/ DVDs/ TV programmes which I've watched.

For review, the shows will be rated according to various criteras: script, music, cast, scenography and video quality (not applicable for stage or "live" performance"). However, instead of the usual alphabetical grade or stars, I use the scholar hat instead:

Equivalent to one exact point (maximum of 5)

Equivalent to half a grade

Hope all visitors to my blog will enjoy what I write!