Mao Appreciated Four Regional Operas of Zhejiang

Mao Zedong (1893-1976) was closely associated with Zhejiang Province From the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 up to the 1970s， the founding father visited Hangzhou， the capital of the province， more than 40 times

Mao Zedong first met with Yuan Xuefen， a leading Yueju Opera artist of the time， in September 1949 when Yuan came to Beijing to attend the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Mao apparently knew quite well about the Yueju Opera reform initiated by Yuan in 1942 in Shanghai and about Yuan’s career It was a pleasant message to Yueju Opera artists

In July 1950， Mao Zedong watched “Butterfly Romance”， a Yueju Opera play based on an ancient folk story， at Zhong-nanhai Mao liked the play very much He made many comments as the plot unfolded When he found the lead man computed dates in a very awkward way， Mao laughed and commented that the girl would get married when you finally get your dates right

On October 1， 1951， Mao Zedong watched “Butterfly Romance” and “Lotus Lantern”， two traditional plays in Yueju Opera repertoire In 1952， he watched “Tale of the White Snake”， another major traditional Yueju Opera play Artists and scholars concerned with Yueju Opera felt that Mao’s appreciation of Yueju Opera at the time when the young People’s Republic had so many things to do was a great honor to a regional opera of Zhejiang

Mao watched Yueju Opera plays and listened to the records of Yueju Opera arias during his numerous stays in Zhejiang One summer day in 1969， Mao wondered， while taking a stroll in the Wang’s Resort on the West Lake， whether he could hear some arias of “Butterfly Romance” Mao listened to some records While someone commented that Yueju Opera music was too soft and therefore did not sound pleas-ant to ears， Mao disagreed He commented， “Yueju Opera has characteristics typical of the south Melodies are soft and mild， exquisite， and relatively more lyrical” He paused， then continued， “All things have positive and negative sides I think Yueju Opera is all right We should not conclude it is without any merit”

In the autumn of 1969， Mao Zedong inquired about the status quo of the cul-tural circles in Zhejiang while watching a show in Hangzhou Artists complained that Yueju Opera had changed so much that it sounded neither like Peking Opera nor like Yueju Opera They complained that it even did not sound like western opera On the spot Mao listened to some records of “A Dream of Red Mansions” and “Butterfly Romance” and said that the melodies of the former were pleasant to hear and that the overall music of the latter was good with only a few notes sounding too grave After hearing an aria from “The Red Lantern”， a radical adaptation from the namesake Peking Opera play which was called ban-ner play in the Cultural Revolution， Mao commented， “Each regional opera has its unique features Otherwise， why does China have so many regional operas? One would suffice I don’t think it is a good idea to make Yueju Opera sound unlike Yueju Opera”

On September 8， 1971， Mao Zedong watched “Half a Basket of Peanuts” on television at his residence in Hangzhou This was a play staged by both male and female artists， an innovation introduced during that time Mao Zedong liked the play， saying it retained the original charm and style of the genre

Judging from Mao’s comments on Yueju Opera plays， the chairman approved the traditional form of the regional play and hoped Yueju Opera would retain its old charms On the other hand， he also hoped there should be new subjects and new ex-pressions for audience in the new time

Kunqu Opera was on the brink of extinc-tion before the founding of the People’s Republic as Guofeng Troupe was the last one struggling to survive The artists were so cash-strapped that they used paper costumes in their performances Although not exactly a regional opera of Zhejiang， the Guofeng Troupe staged a comeback with governmental subsidies， settled down in Hangzhou， and morphed into Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe On April 17， 1956， it performed “Fifteen Strings of Copper Coins” at Zhongnanhai Mao Zedong watched the play and took strong interest in a character that glowed with pride for his seemingly spotless dedication to red tape while failing to investigate a murder case thoroughly Mao recommended the play to government officials， saying too many officials acted like the character in the play Mao watched the play again on April 25 As state leaders paid high atten-tion to Kunqu Opera， Kunqu Opera had a chance to survive well A number of Kunqu Opera troupes were founded and the old art came back

“White Peony’s Repartees” is a 30-minute highlight of Wuju Opera， a re-gional opera popular in central Zhejiang Wuju Opera dates back to more than 500 years ago On the evening of March 18， 1960， Mao Zedong watched the play in Hangzhou The play described how an im-mortal learned about the beauty of White Peony， the daughter of an herbal pharmacy， and came to make things difficult for the boss The immortal created a few names for nonexistent herbs on the spot and said he wanted them White Peony came to his father’s rescue and her repartees made the god speechless Mao Zedong warmly applauded the play While meeting the artists after the show， Mao remarked the 30-minute play was a good adaptation from old versions Then he commented that the play was good because the immortal failed to beat the mortal， the old failed to come out a winner in verbal spar against the young， and the person who eagerly wanted to take advantage of others ended up in failure

Shaoxing Opera， which is a different opera genre from Yueju Opera， dates back to the early years of the Qing Dynasty (1664-1911) The regional opera was a rural entertainment， featuring exaggerat-ing performance and loud singing， very different from Yueju Opera though the two originated in the same region In 1961， Zhe-jiang Shaoxing Opera Troupe made a play out of chapter 22 of the classic novel “Jour-ney to the West” and named it “Monkey Subdues White Bone Demon” The troupe performed the play in Beijing in September 1961 and at the night of October 10， Mao Zedong and other state and party leaders watched the play at Zhongnanhai Guo Moruo， a scholar， watched the play three times and wrote a poem sharply criticizing the Monk in the play for his folly Mao Zedong wrote a poem in response to Guo’s poem， pointing out that the monk shouldn’t be overly criticized and that he， a man in the middle， should be won over

Toward the end of that year， Mao came to Hangzhou He planned to meet the art-ists， but the troupe was away on a road show Mao Zedong later gave a copy of his poem to the troupe in care of the CPC Zhejiang Committee

On September 3， 1971， Mao Zedong stopped over in Hangzhou on his southern inspection tour He watched “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy” on television， a Shaoxing Opera play adapted and staged by Zhejiang Shaoxing Opera Troupe Mao commented that the troupe did a good job in adapting a Peking Opera model play to a Shaoxing Opera play Mao pointed out that Shaoxing Opera needed reform and in-novation but cautioned that it should retain its original characteristics after reform and innovation and that it should never copy other operas mechanically In the spring of 1975， Mao Zedong watched “Monkey Subdues White Bone Demon” on television in Hangzhou □