In the old days, there were many choices for ceremonial performances at the opening of Tanghui operas in Beijing.
There are roughly "breaking the platform", "cleaning the platform", "tiaolingguan", "tiaojiaguan", "dancing the God of Wealth" and "baotai".
These rituals can be complex or simple, depending on the political status and economic status of the host family.
Because whenever these ceremonies are held, the family must pay a separate performance fee, which is what Liyuanxing calls "color money."
Among them, the "breaking the stage" ceremony is a feudal dross that pretends to be a ghost at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night.
Not only is the form mysterious, but there are also steps to kill chickens and draw blood.
It is often bloody and terrifying, and the atmosphere is so terrifying that the host is not happy about it and disappears.
On the contrary, the "cleaning platform" ceremony is much better.
Although the purpose of the Jingtai is to eliminate all evil spirits, the main purpose of the Jingtai is to recite the Jingtai mantra, which is less noisy.
In the earliest cleansing ceremony, actors in the Qing Dynasty played the role of a mage wearing a crown of five Buddhas, a red shirt and a white beard.
After taking the stage, recite the mantra and walk around the entire venue, then step off the stage.
During the Republic of China, this ritual evolved to become more auspicious.
Because at that time, "Po Tai" had been completely replaced by "Tiao Ling Guan", "Tiao Jia Guan", and "Tiao Wealth God".
Then during the "cleaning stage", actors who play the role of the spiritual official, the heavenly official, and the god of wealth often recite the incantation.
You should know that whether "Dancing to the Spiritual Official", "Dancing to the Official" or "Dancing to the God of Wealth" are opera dances with the purpose of flattering and pleasing the audience.
No matter what the role is, they all look gorgeous.
Actors will hold colorful silk banners, dance and dance to the music of gongs and drums, display the banners, present auspiciousness, and win applause and rewards.
After the auspicious dance, let these gods come to clean the platform.
Naturally, it is much more festive than an old monk dressed as an actor reciting mantras.
As an alternative to "breaking the stage", "Diao Lingguan" is undoubtedly the most lively group drama.
Because this play requires at least four spiritual officials to play at the same time.
During the Republic of China, there were even cases where the whole class of "Diao Lingguan" took the stage.
It has become a must-play show when the theater troupe seals the boxes at the end of each year and unpacks the boxes at the beginning of the year.
The so-called spiritual official is actually the most respected protector and deity in Taoism.
There are five hundred spirit officials in Taoism, the most famous of which is "Wang Lingguan".
In the first hall of many Taoist temples, the spiritual official guarding the mountain gate of the Taoist temple is usually the Wang Lingguan.
Traditional Peking operas such as "Hunyuan Box", "Five Flower Cave", "Nine Lotus Lanterns" and "Sizhou City" all feature this spiritual official.
Especially the play "Sizhou City" is the most beautiful.
In the play, when Guanyin summons the gods to subdue the jellyfish queen, the gods follow her.
The red-faced Lingguan and the black-faced Xuantan were the first to file onto the stage.
Also accompanying them are Jialan, Nezha, Qinglong, Baihu, Wei Tuo, and Wukong, all of whom are powerful figures.
Also, the original text of Journey to the West talks about escaping from the Great Sage in the Bagua Furnace and having a massive brawl in rampage mode.
The article says that the Nine Obsidian Stars are behind closed doors, and the Four Heavenly Kings are invisible. The monkeys are about to attack the Lingxiao Palace.
In the end, it was thanks to Wang Lingguan who was on duty at Tongming Hall that Sun Wukong was blocked.
This shows Wang Lingguan's identity, status, and ability.
Therefore, in terms of drama, "Dancing to the Spiritual Official" is superior to "Dancing to the Official" and "Dancing to the God of Wealth".
In fact, before the Republic of China, "Diao Lingguan" was even a repertoire exclusive to the royal family of the Qing Dynasty.
The reason is obvious. Since everyone has become the emperor, there is no need to "get an official position" or "make a fortune", so they pay special attention to the ability of spiritual officials to ward off evil spirits.
According to the legend of Liyuanxing, when the Qing Dynasty opened a play, eight or sixteen spiritual officials usually took the stage.
Sometimes during festivals, they would go to the thirty-two spiritual officials, or even the sixty-fourth spiritual officials.
In addition, the Qing palace also paid attention to using the right angles to win over the spiritual officials.
Such as Tan Xinpei, Wang Guifen, Qian Jinfu, Yang Xiaolou, etc.
Even the leading actress is no exception.
For example, Chen Delin, Wang Yaoqing, etc. all once skipped the Lingguan before acting in the palace.
This shows that the rulers at that time attached great importance to this drama.
As for folk theater, everyone has similar pursuits.
There must be either one of the two "Dancing Officials" or "Dancing God of Wealth", or both.
There are three performance forms of the "male plus official" dance, the "double official dance" and the "female official dance".
The costumes and props are exclusive and specially made.
The character played is based on the "Tianguan" among the three Taoist gods of "Heaven, Earth, and Water" (i.e., the first-grade Shangyuan Blessing Tianguan).
Therefore, the "official official note" opened by the actor to the audience has auspicious words such as "Blessing from Heavenly Official" and "Advanced Official Officer and Profit" written on it.
Therefore, it is called "Jiaojiaguan".
What is more special is "Female Officer", which is our exclusive play for the old lady's birthday.
It is played by an actor who plays a leading role in the opera troupe, and the character he plays is based on the Taoist goddess "Queen Mother".
Wearing a phoenix crown, a female red python robe, and holding a tooth wand.
Like the male official, he wears a female mask with white smiling eyes, which Liyuanxing calls the "female official face".
Under normal circumstances, if two plays are performed together, the one ranked after "Tiao Jiaguan" is "Diao Wealth God".
The performance form of "Dancing God of Wealth" is divided into two types: "Wen God of Wealth" and "Martial God of Wealth".
Wen Caishen is based on the Taoist god Bigan, and Wu Caishen is based on the Taoist god Zhao Gongming. There is also a saying that it is the "Great Return" of the Western Regions.
Since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the performance form of the Wen Caishen has gradually been lost, and the only dance form of the Wen Caishen is the dance.
During the performance, the actor playing the God of Wealth holds a large gold ingot in his arms, holds his crown with one hand, shakes his sleeves, raises the ingot and jumps twice to the left and right.
Immediately after placing the ingot on the table, he opened the scroll in the tray to reveal a couplet to the audience.
There are festive words such as "Blessings are like the East Sea" and "Wealth and Treasures" on them, which are used to please people and gain good reputation.
Among all the opening ceremonies of the church, the most insipid one should be the "reporting table".
Usually only Kunqu opera troupes have this ceremony.
The content of the announcement lines is determined according to the nature of the church meeting. Different churches have different announcement lines.
The effect is almost the same as the opening poem before the cross talk, it is just a piece of Beijing Bai poetry.
Therefore, Ning Weimin's idea is actually very simple.
He believes that what is national is what belongs to the world, and the most typical stage art in Beijing is Peking Opera.
In addition, the costumes, costumes, and helmets of Peking Opera actors are all colorful and gorgeous.
This is very consistent with the theme of the oriental silk-themed fashion show.
That's why he took the initiative to seek advice from Kang Shude and wanted to try to solve the problem using traditional Peking opera.
Not to mention, since they are all stage performances, there must be something we can learn from.
When he asked this question, he really got the answer he needed from the old man's mouth.
According to the old man's opinion, "breaking the stage" can be eliminated first.
And "jumping to add official" and "jumping to God of Wealth" are not suitable either.
Because although these two opening scenes are joyful and echo foreigners' desire to make a fortune, they are inconsistent with the spiritual civilization currently promoted by the country.
This year the government is promoting the Five Stresses, Four Beauties and Three Loves, and our leading cadres also pay attention to integrity.
This method of getting promoted and making a fortune is really easy to be criticized by domestic newspapers and periodicals.
In the end, only the "Tiao Ling Guan", "Jingtai Spell" and "Bao Taiwan" are left.
If you are just looking for luck and excitement, these are fine.
The old man also added that the inner court of the Qing Dynasty had a unique tradition, which was "Dancing with Five Colored Spiritual Officials".
The so-called five-color lingguan refers to five colors when drawing the face. In addition to the old lingguan with red face, the four are red face with red face, yellow face with black face, blue face with pale face and white face with black face. Most facial makeup is done by rubbing the base
, and then outline the texture with a pen.
In this way, there will be more colors in the field.
If we consider it from the perspective of enriching the performance form, we can combine the functions of jumping on the four-door bucket, climbing on the firecracker pole, throwing firecrackers from high altitude, reciting the Jingtai mantra and announcing the platform.
This kind of performance is full of both literary and martial arts, it's like performing acrobatics, and it's highly entertaining. I'm sure all the Chinese and foreign guests will love to watch it.
In this way, Ning Weimin took advantage of the old man's knowledge and showed his face in this matter.
The day I accompanied Pierre Carton and Song Huagui to the Acrobatic Troupe and Peking Opera Troupe.
Ning Weimin actually came up with his idea in the end, and the result happened to be the brightest, most practical, and most in line with needs.
Because first, the magic show that Pierre Carton wanted to perform was too ordinary.
The ancient color tricks performed by the acrobatic troupe are really not that interesting. They are still at the level of "Appearance on Standing Cabinet", "Appearance of Color on Lantern Pavilion" and "Presenting Color on Basket", which are too lacking in new ideas.
Second, the monkey show is wonderful.
However, due to safety issues, the stage has higher requirements, not only the size and stability of the construction.
Actors also need to adapt to the terrain in advance and rehearse multiple times.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to guarantee the performance effect, and we will have to send a monkey king to show his will, which will not meet Pierre Carton's requirements of brilliance and enthusiasm.
But Ning Weimin had a different idea. He needed five martial arts actors to come on stage.
Although few people in the younger generation understand it, the performance is not a real drama, but the application of basic skills.
There are still old people in the troupe. With some guidance, it's not difficult to audition.
In addition, the lingguan's appearance is all painted with a painted face, with a sullen face, a helmet, and a soft support. The colorful appearance makes the image intimidating.
We found an actor to go into battle and danced a four-door fight, and also performed a high-level task of throwing fireworks. Pierre Carton was so happy that he applauded repeatedly.
Song Huagui was also quite satisfied and gave an OK gesture to Ning Weimin.
So, the plan was decided and the program was finalized on the spot.