Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 2/Chapter 1
BOOK II—SOCIAL
CHAPTER I.
Theatricals, etc., 演戲
The puppet shows or Punch and Judy shows are called chou chou tzŭ 肘肘子 because the puppets are held up in a man's arms (chou, arms). An ancient name for puppets was k‘uei lei 傀儡. Another name is pang 棒. This kind of play is said to have been originated by T‘ang Ming Huang (唐明皇) now deified as god of the theatre under the title T‘ai tzŭ 太子 p‘u sa. His image is worshipped in the lao lang temple 老郎廟 which is the temple of actors. In this temple and guildhall aged and infirm actors are housed and fed, and are buried at guild expense.
The puppets are made from the heads of coffins 猬(illegible text) of newly beheaded or murdered persons. Such wood is believed to be very responsive 靈 ling. The spirit of the dead person is worshipped and called for daily, and after a time is supposed to enter the puppet and speak from the stage.
In shadow plays, têng ying hsi 燈影戲, the figures are made of leather and the performance is generally held at night. The court-yard of a house is curtained round with white calico; within there is light, without it is dark, and the figures are manipulated so that the shadows fall on the screen for the spectators outside to view.
In the pei tan 被單 hsi or sheet play the actors screen off a small enclosure with black calico and display a small wooden puppet over the top of it. The puppets are worked by strings attached to legs, arms, tongues, etc. The showmen are trained ventriloquists, and make their puppets dance and kick about in most amusing fashion; the figures are called shên t′ung-tzŭ 神童子, because they are so smart and acrobatic, and they are probably procured in the same way as those of the Punch and Judy shows.
There are amateur theatrical companies composed of local actors or farm labourers with a gift for singing or acting, and called têng pan-tzŭ 燈班子. Many join such a troupe to have a gay time of running round the countryside; the rustics call these escapades sao têng 臊燈. Such companies only get about 5000 cash for a day's performance.
Street singing is termed pan têng 板凳 hsi (stool concert), or wan yu hui 玩友會 (friendly society), or wei ku 圍皷 (round the drum).
The peepshow, hsi hu 西湖 hsi (west lake show) is a box with glaring pictures outside, and peepholes through which those who pay may look at the pictures inside, these being brought into view in turn by means of a handle.
Performers go from door to door getting a single cash at each for making a puppet dance up and down by the motion of a fan; shan tzŭ 扇子 hsi.
Others go from house to house with a monkey, a dog and a box of paraphernalia. Money for a performance having been paid down the performer directs the monkey which opens the box, dresses itself, and rides the dog or drives it hitched to a miniature plough.
Theatricals are given in each parish in front of the Yang miao 秧苗 t′u ti or local god of sprouting grain, in order to keep insects away from the growing crops.
The open stage theatricals ming t‘ai ta pan-tzŭ 名臺大班子 are almost always given on a stage called wan nien t‘ai 萬年台 located in temples in front of the chief idol. They are got up for the purpose of pleasing the gods, and the expenses are always paid from temple funds; but the public is allowed to witness performances. The plays are nearly all historical. They belong to three periods: ch‘un ch‘iu 春秋 period plays, of the time of Confucius; chan kuo 戰國 hsi of the times of Mencius; san kuo 三國 hsi plays about the time of the Three Kingdoms. These last are called 'pure' plays, ch‘ing 清 hsi, because there are no demons in them. Besides the historical plays there are others of a lower grade, such as the fei fei tzŭ hsi; this class is without proper beginning or end to the performances. There are also the lower grade music hall theatricals called fêng hua hsüeh yüeh 風花雪月 and chien yin ku pa 姦淫佔霸.
Behind much that is unreal there is often a good deal of historical truth; for example, in the famous play Mu lien ta hsi or Mu lien chiu mu 目連救母. Mu lien lived near P’eng hsien 彭縣 in Ssŭ-ch‘uan. It is said that his family residence is still to be seen. His father, Fu Yüan-wai 傅員外, had a literary degree and every comfort but he long was without a son. The wife was a strict vegetarian, and they both prayed continually for a son, till, when the husband was 60, a son was born, and named Mu-lien. Later, the mother broke her vegetarian vow, became profligate and came to a bad end; but still worse, when passing through the ten regions of purgatory she was struck by a spike and fell into the abyss. Mu-lien, on hearing of this, determined to rescue his mother. To this end he became a Buddhist priest, and by strict asceticism attained incorporation with the Buddha. Still thinking of his mother he made known the burden of his heart to Buddha and was sent by him to save her. He burst the gates of Hades with a ch‘an chang 禪杖 meditation staff, and bore his mother out of purgatory in triumph, followed by a crowd of demons. The boatmen on the upper Yangtze declare that they are the incarnation of those demons, and the song they sing while rowing is said to sound very like a hungry demon's. They say that if they do not sing this song the boat will not move foward.
This is a famous play, and when acted in full takes 40 or 50 days. All the details are acted, even to the throwing of the dart which struck the woman; and a coffin is always ready to receive the corpse if the throwing should be unskilful and cause death. If the actor survives, the coffin is sold and he receives the money.
It is a common belief that Mu-lien became Ti-tsang wang 地藏王, god of the lower world.
The actors in a dramatic company are as follows. Shêng 生, who acts the youthful scholars' parts. Lao 老 shêng acts the old and bearded scholar, and hsü 鬚 shêng the black-bearded scholar. Wên and wu hsiao 文 and 武小 shêng are respectively the civil and military student. Tsun 俊 takes the wise man's part.
The term tan 旦 is used for these who take women's parts; lao 老 tan, the old woman; hsiao 小 tan, the respectable woman; chêng 正 tan, the unmarried girl; and hua 花 tan the indecent woman, the singer of lewd songs, etc.
Mu 目 is the clown, also called ta hua lien 大花臉 first clown, with the whole face painted, and êrh 二 hua lien or second clown, with half the face painted. San 三 hua lien or ch'ou 丑 the third clown plays off against the hua tan, and has generally only one patch of colour, about the nose.
As to times, the early morning performance is tsao san chih 早三折; the chief performance of the day, between ten and two o'clock, is kêng pên 耿本 or chên mu 正目; that in the afternoon is hsia pên 下本, and an additional evening performance is hua hsi 花戲, while night theatricals from 7 to 9 o'clock are yeh 夜 hsi.