二人轉

Abstract：As Er Ren Zhuan spreads over in China， more and more people raise interest in this kind of art. Although Er Ren Zhuan performances are common seen now， most of them are not as regular as born. Some of them with the only aim to make money are preformed in vulgar ways even with blue jokes to draw attentions. Due to this phenomenon in the society， it is necessary to show true face of Er Ren Zhuan that it is a form of folk art rather than a low level form of farce， which is only used for joking. This paper has four main parts， which is helpful to introduce Er Ren Zhuan in details.

摘 要：隨著二人轉遍及全國，越來越多的中國人對其產生興趣。但現今大部分的二人轉表演卻不盡規范，一些表演的目的過于商業化，娛樂觀眾。本文的目的在于展現二人轉藝術的真實面目于世人，即民俗藝術而非低級娛樂。

Key words: Er Ren Zhuan； art； background； evolution； development

關鍵詞： 二人轉；藝術；背景；進化；發展

作者簡介：劉姝昕，碩士，中山大學，外國語言學及應用語言學。

[中圖分類號]：G04 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-12-0230-02

Introduction

There are so many forms of folk art in China， lots of which are local art forms. In China there are 34 provinces and each province nearly has its own art form. In northeast of China Er Ren Zhuan is the most popular local art form， which now even becomes familiar with people from all over China.

1、Background

1.1、Origin of Er Ren Zhuan

There are two main kinds of saying about the origin of Er Ren Zhuan. The first one is that this kind of art is evolved from a play named “Bangzi Game”. The second saying is Er Ren Zhuan is evolved form from the libretto which is sung for spirits in shamanism. Some reserved the libretto and added content of daily lives and wonderful images; it became a form of another art， Er Ren Zhuan.

1.2、Forms

Er Ren Zhuan is not a form which is played by only two people. This is a wrong opinion of many people about the art. There are four main forms of Er Ren Zhuan， including single form， double form， crowd form and play. Single form is a form that there is only one person in the play as the actor， performing as one or more roles， which is a little same as monodrama， such as Going Back to Mama’s Home. Double form is a form that there are two actors in the one play， which is namely Er Ren Zhuan. The two actors in the play perform respectively as multiple roles， through narrative and agent words， out and in the role， and singing and dancing joyously. Crowd form is another form of Er Ren Zhuan. It can be definite as a comic dialogue performed by more than three persons. The last form of Er Ren Zhuan is “Play”， which is like double form. This form is the popular form of Er Ren Zhuan theatres. For instance the female actor and male actor perform a couple， through the dialogue between them and their body language， showing audience a wonderful tiny play.

1.3、Schools

Due to the long history of Er Ren Zhuan.， it is common for it having different schools. In terms of region， it can be divided into four schools， east school， west school， south school and north school.

East school is centered round Jilin City， which pays more attentions to playing colorful sticks and fighting scenes. West school is mainly located round Black Mountain County of Liaoning province， which gets much influence from lotus play of Heibei region. South school is also located in region of Liaoning province. Its center is in Yingkou City of Liaoning province， as it emphases both songs and dances. The last， north school centre-locates in the great northern wilderness of Heilongjiang province. Thanks to effects of the local folk music it has sound voice and fluent tune.

Once there was a saying that south school pays attention to dancing， north school depends on singing， west school makes best of boards， and east school relies on playing sticks. With time going by， individual schools have integrated into today’s Er Ren Zhuan.

2、Evolution

2.1、Farm amusement

It is hard to say that this art is of any city-flavor， due to its origin rooting in ground. When it turned out it is a kind of amusement， such as jokes and there aren’t any drama and gestures for “actors”. Farmers play for getting relax and amusing themselves during the rest time. Therefore in the first period it only happened on the farming field and performed by famers.

2.2、Local art

As this art becomes relatively regular and the content of it turns richer and richer， it is brought onto local art stage. In northeast of China there are tiny local theatres， in which actors perform on the stage and audience sit opposite to the stage watching the play. So even in this period， Er Ren Zhuan is only recognized by local citizens in the northeast of China.

2.3、Popular culture

If it is Zhao Benshan that brings Er Ren Zhuan onto the stage from farming ground， it must be Director Zhang Yimou that leads Er Ren Zhuan to the road of popular culture. His film， named A Simple Noodle Story， is consisted of scenes shown by forms of Er Ren Zhuan. Taking the ending part of the film as an example， so many people dance together with singing， as it is a form of Er Ren Zhuan， crowd form.

2.4、Academic subject

For some historical reasons most of the actors of Er Ren Zhuan don’t receive regular education， even some of them did not finish primary school education. In order to get better development in future and improve the quality of art， groups leaded by Zhan Benshan has been founding schools for training professional actors. In Liaoning University there is Benshan Art College， co-founded by Liaoning Folklore Group and Liaoning University， which is for training professional Er Ren Zhuan actors.

3、Future Development

In this monetary society， nearly everything exists for money. From commercial perspective， Er Ren Zhuan has its future of wonder. As it is accepted by more and more people， many businessmen will occupy the market to make money by Er Ren Zhuan. If the Er Ren Zhuan itself cannot deal with this impasse well， in future it will be full of stink of money， losing its nature as a form of art. By that time it is useless to advocate green or healthy Er Ren Zhuan， because it is dying to end.

From the perspective of culture， it has such a good future. China is a great nation and its culture needs being pluralistic， as a result Er Ren Zhuan being a form of local plays will be preserved as property. Recently it has been awarded another intangible cultural heritage in China.

Therefore there is a long way for Er Ren Zhuan to go. It needs to solve such-and-such issues and only through this it can walk further and further in the road of art.

4、 Conclusion

To introduce its background is to help more people know truly nature of Er Ren Zhuan; to talk about its evolution is to let people know its improvement， which shows that Er Ren Zhuan is not balky but developing， although it still has long way to go; to point out its future development is to suggest that if wanting to go further it must deal with such issues， which are the stumbling block on its developing road.

Selective references

[1]、Geng， Ying. (2008). Active Explanation of Er En Zhuan. Liaoning: Chunfeng Art Press.

[2]、Wang， Guohua. Li， Ping. (2009). Thousands Around Er En Zhuan. Beijing: China Travel Press.

[3]、Yang， Pu. (2007). Cultural Explanation of Er En Ehuan. Beijing: Culture and Art Press.