"The more lasting popularity is actually the explosive benefit formed after the content is accepted by the market, rather than just hyping traffic. Traditional theatre is always calling for inheritance, but I think we can't ignore that the essence of art is creativity. ”
Reporter Wang Yueyang
It is said that this is a time when love is not believed. In the past, the two were happy, you and me, before the flower, under the moon, they were always scorned "don't be too up-on-top". Until the appearance of a person, tens of millions of netizens and fans exclaimed, "I believe in love again". She is Chen Lijun, a young actor born in the 90s. On the Internet, she was affectionately called "Husband Sister" by everyone, and in her, everyone saw the long-lost "boyfriend power", handsome, domineering, tender, full of protection and possessiveness. Whether it's a boyfriend or a husband, it doesn't matter about gender, it has become a temperament and an aesthetic. Naturally, Chen Lijun broke through the circle from a young opera actor to an entertainment star-like existence, which aroused heated discussions in the society, drove the performance market, and also aroused everyone's thinking and exploration of the future of Yue Opera, which was once known as "China's second largest opera genre". 
Above: The most attractive curtain call "Circle Circle" in "New Dragon Gate Inn". "New Dragon Gate" fire Yue drama
Lifting the curtain of the small theater, the sound of the wind hunting blows in the ears, the light and shadow flow on the transparent curtain, and the desert yellow dust fills the eyes. Sit down on the rattan chair specially made by the small theater performance space of Hangzhou "Butterfly Theater", and the 115 audience members at the scene suddenly turned into the guest officers of the Longmen Inn, and placed themselves in the inn lobby opposite the hostess gold inlaid jade boudoir. Born in the spring of 2023, the environment-style Yue opera "New Dragon Gate Inn" is the second drama to be stationed in the "Butterfly Theater" after "Three Laughs". In fact, the production of this Yue Opera adapted from the movie of the same name is itself because of the fate of Mao Weitao, the chairman of "Baiyue Culture" and the Yue Opera performance artist, and the famous screenwriter He Jiping. A few years ago, Baiyue Culture produced the drama "De Ling and Cixi" written by He Jiping, and invited Lu Yan, Jiang Shan, Zheng Yunlong and other big names to participate, causing a sensation. It is precisely because of this that the Chinese martial arts movie classic "New Dragon Gate Inn" written by He Jiping naturally entered Mao Weitao's field of vision, why not adapt it into a small theater Yue opera, maybe it can become a hit?As soon as the news came out, there were those who looked forward to it, those who waited and watched, and there were many doubters. Although it is allowed to be called a classic, the movie "New Dragon Gate Inn" is a film work in the early 90s of the last century after all, and its audience is mostly the post-70s and post-80s, if it was adapted 20 years ago, it is undoubtedly a hot spot, but the film has been released for more than 30 yearsMany people have doubts about this. On the other hand, the first resident play of "Butterfly Theater", "Three Smiles", has also been criticized by many industry insiders for being nondescript, with more than enough watchability but insufficient artistry, coupled with the huge impact of the epidemic on the performance market, it has failed to achieve the expected performance effect and market response. Whether it is possible to break the bottleneck of the drama genre and increase the audience of Yue Opera by adapting a popular movie from 30 years ago with the adaptation of Yue Opera after the epidemic and the increasingly diversified performance market, many people also have a wait-and-see attitude. However, the Yue opera "New Dragon Gate Inn" really succeeded. Although all of them, from screenwriters, directors to actors, are young people, it is this group of Yue Opera people full of youth and vitality who have made this work popular and popular. As Mao Weitao hoped, relying on young and fresh blood to bring something with a sense of the times to the Yue Opera genre, and at the same time, it can also have audiences of the same age. After all, compared with ancient operas such as Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Qin Dialect, and Sichuan Opera, Yue Opera is so young, and the era of integration is an important reason for the maturity and development of this genre. Especially in the 30s of the last century, after Yuan Xuefen and others began the reform of Yue Opera, they emphasized the shaping of characters, so they often broke through the restrictions of the industry and adopted eclectic performance techniques. Throughout the development of Yue Opera for decades, emphasizing the "unity of love and beauty", taking lyrical and soft love stories as the main theme, coupled with the extensive absorption of the strengths of brother operas, keeping up with the trend of the times, and constantly improving the iteration and progress of the drama genre in vocal cavity and performance, it has the glory and influence of the "second major drama genre". It can be said that the popularity of "New Dragon Gate Inn" also provides new possibilities for the inheritance and development of this drama in the present, integrity and innovation. The new performance forms produced by the new repertoire quickly played a role, and the ticket price was 199 yuan, and the attendance rate reached 100% after more than a dozen performances. As Mao Weitao wished, they also attracted more young people. On August 6, "New Dragon Gate Inn" was broadcast live online on Douyin, even if you need to pay 99 yuan, ** the number of people also exceeded 9.24 million. Since then, "New Dragon Gate Inn" has been sold out. Today, this new national style and environmental "New Dragon Gate Inn" presented by Xiao Baihua's "all-female class" is performed 15 to 18 times a month at the Hangzhou Butterfly Theater, and it is almost hard to get a ticket. In particular, Chen Lijun, who plays Jia Ting in the play, attracts fans by holding the "gold inlaid jade" domineering circle with one hand. Many audiences were attracted to the theater after watching this passionate and sultry picture, and even more so, they still can't stop watching the play. The sudden rise of "New Dragon Gate Inn" allows the century-old Chinese women's Yue Opera to cross the intergenerational barrier and show her unique aesthetic style and performance style to audiences of different ages and circles. Contemporary young people who are fascinated by the "little girls" are also following in the footsteps of their parents to feel and fall in love with traditional Chinese opera. 
Above: Mao Weitao admonished Chen Lijun, "How to make better works in the future, this is the right way." Success is no accident. As a producer, Mao Weitao saw the strength and future of young people, and took advantage of the east wind of the times to push the ancient Yue Opera to a new direction of development, as she said in an interview: "Good drama has an audience." As a stage artist, you must work with the audience to complete a creation on the day, and they are your consumers. Whether it is entertaining or artistic, it is worth the audience to spend this money, spend this time, and spend this cost to enter it, and it has become a consumption style in his life. Today, when the traditional opera performance market is not the only choice, the emergence of a "hot style" has driven the overall performance market of Zhejiang Xiaobaihuayue Opera Troupe to be hot. Whether it is the resident performance of "New Dragon Gate Inn", the cultural and tourism integration version of "Liang Zhu" specially produced for the Hangzhou Asian Games, or the classic repertoire "Five Women's Birthday", "Chen Sanliang Climbs the Hall", "Lu You and Tang Wan" toured all over the country...Everywhere the girls of Xiaobaihua went, they attracted widespread attention, and the tickets were sold out early, especially Chen Lijun's performance, which was quickly sold out as soon as the tickets were opened, and a big drama "He Wenxiu" starring her appeared in two minutes to quickly sell out. The young post-90s opera actors have also enjoyed the popularity and love of entertainment stars, who would have thought that the "fan circle" would also be "circled" to the opera industry!In this regard, a reporter from the entertainment industry said: "This phenomenon is not normal to say, and it is normal to say normal." It must be known that the opera industry was originally the earliest 'rice circle'!Indeed, breaking the circle does not depend on luck, but a kind of confidence. A lot of accidents are very sure that they will come to fruition. At present, how opera can fly to new heights with the help of the wings of modern media, how to attract more young audiences with profound traditional opera, and how to attract more young audiences through the phenomenal performance of "New Dragon Gate Inn" and Chen Lijun's unexpected popularity, have all become the directions worth thinking about and exploring for contemporary opera people. "Husband and sister" Chen Lijun
In these rapidly changing times, there is one force that is quietly rising – and that is feminine power. They are independent, confident, and brave, and interpret the charm of women in the new era in their own way. "Husband Sister" Chen Lijun is relying on her own strength and beliefs, and taking advantage of the advantages of ** communication, she was able to quickly become popular and become an idol in the hearts of countless people. 
Above: Jia Ting's evil smile has caused countless fans to bend their waists. In the eyes of outsiders, Chen Lijun's popularity seems to have been overnight, and she ranked fifth on the "Douyin Fan List" announced not long ago, with more than 800,000 fans in a week. The introduction column reads like this - This is a Yue Opera actor who has gained attention for his handsome appearance as a woman. Female pretending to be ** is an interpretation in a popular sense. Transgender performances are never new on the Chinese opera stage. Originally it was Qiandan, and then there was Kunsheng. Compared with the lonely female students or old female students of other drama genres, the female students of Yue Opera are different, they are an important part of women's Yue Opera, and the performance style of the "all-female class" is unique among hundreds of Chinese operas, laying the unique aesthetic of women's Yue Opera. All successes have deep reasons behind them. Tailor-made, in line with the aesthetics of the times, and the excellence of art is one of the absolutely indispensable reasons. In "New Dragon Gate Inn", whether it is the role setting, singing design, performance program or costume modeling, the eunuch Jia Ting portrayed by Chen Lijun is extremely particular, especially the gauze hat without a brim is very suitable for Chen Lijun's small head shape, and it also magnifies the advantages of the small face. All the advantages have been highlighted, very smooth lines, very tall figure, clothes make her particularly long and jade, especially the evil smile that covers her face with a folding fan, everyone loves it. This is Mao Weitao's specially designed action inspired by Chen Lijun after watching Song Joong-ki's performance in the Korean drama "The Scandal of Sungkyunkwan", the particularity of this role makes him always look at people from the side, always with a trace of vigilance and self-protection for everything, and the evil smile under the fan shows the character's own scheming and pretentiousness, this detail is really a success. Also successful is the return link, when he saw that Jin Zhuyu wanted to get close to Cao Shaoqin, Jia Ting immediately crossed his arms between the two, looking like no one should approach, but the next second after being hooked by Jin Zhuyu's foot and pretending to kick, the corners of Jia Ting's left side of his mouth immediately turned up, and his eyes lowered slightly, showing a kind of pride mixed with joy. At this moment, Chen Lijun's expression was tossing and turning, comfortable and natural. This clip circulated in all corners of the Internet and seemed to have become the pinnacle of charm for Jia Ting played by Chen Lijun. Of course, there is also a circle that is popular all over the Internet, which is also in the return link, Chen Lijun used a fan to block Li Yunxiao's way, Li Yunxiao grabbed the fan and hooked Chen Lijun's neck with one hand, and Chen Lijun hugged the other party's waist and turned in place. The audience's reaction changed from applause to cheers and then screams. After the success of the two people's brilliant design, Mao Weitao said to Li Yunxiao, "You can even be a little bolder, and dancing is no problem." Later, Li Yunxiao really made a dance appearance before turning in a circle, and the cheers at the scene doubled. Now, the circle has become a fixed return link for the two. "If you don't go around in circles, the audience will roar. Mao Weitao said proudly. And the sense of strength displayed by Chen Lijun when she hugged Li Yunxiao made people feel a kind of cross-gender charm, and the "boyfriend power" was bursting. Such a passionate and irresistible scene could not be more suitable to appear in the all-female class Yue Opera performance. Because Chen Lijun's version of Jia Ting released a sense of youthfulness and purity that is different from ordinary men. As the audience said: "Although they play men on stage, they are actually women, even if you don't realize it when you pay attention, but there are actually this psychological hints subtly, so no matter how handsome they are on stage, you won't think they are greasy." Mao Weitao once interpreted the unique gender treatment of female students in Yue Opera, "Female students and male students have a common lineage, both from the perspective and vision of the opposite sex, which is a dual aesthetic, that is, you examine it, and at the same time you embody it, absolutely with a kind of aesthetic, ideal, and romantic." There is no doubt that the character image created by the female students of Yue Opera on stage is the ideal male in the female spiritual world. Today's young people use a more straightforward expression to show their favor for girls, "husband is not a gender, but a feeling". It is no wonder that 31-year-old Chen Lijun has become the "old sister" in the hearts of contemporary young people. The training of the class, the difficulty of changing careers, and the loneliness of perseverance. "My husband and sister" seemed to become popular by chance, but in fact, it was foreshadowed early in the morning. In 2008, Chen Lijun was 16 years old, with a height of more than 1.65 meters, and was one of the tallest girls in the 2008 Yue Opera Xiaobaihua Class of Zhejiang Vocational College of Arts. Due to comprehensive considerations such as height, appearance and personality, the teachers asked Chen Lijun to play Xiaosheng instead. After three years of Hua Dan's study and art, Chen Lijun was naturally unwilling, not to mention that she had already emerged at that time. After careful consideration, in the end, Chen Lijun did not insist anymore, but chose to accept: "Hua Dan and Xiaosheng are transgender, each form of expression is different, since I accept the change of career, the most important thing is that I want to erase everything before, which is the most critical." To this end, Chen Lijun has to start from the most basic practice. At first, she would always make mistakes, but the teacher encouraged her, "You might as well overkill, don't be afraid of exaggeration, you should be able to put it first, and then take it." Later, when Chen Lijun learned cloud hands, the tiger's mouth was bigger than others. Xiaosheng has martial arts, and some of the movements are very difficult, and the hard-working Chen Lijun won them one by one, "practicing until all the internal organs hurt". 
Above: Chen Lijun, a young Yue opera actor born in the 90s. Chen Lijun's graduation drama is Mao Weitao's tailor-made Yue opera "Step by Step" adapted from the network of the same name**, in which she plays the protagonist of the fourth master, and when she made her debut, the audience saw a good seedling who looked like Mao Weitao back then. In the past ten years, she has gradually matured and has become more and more popular with the audience, not only with a handsome image and outstanding temperament, but also hard work to the point of forgetting herself in all aspects such as singing, reading, doing, and fighting. From taking over the "Treasure of the Town Group" "Five Women's Birthday", inheriting the Yin School classic "He Wenxiu" to participating in the original work "Funeral Flower Yin", Chen Lijun has always worked hard to move forward. At the same time, how to make Yue Opera closer to young people is also the direction that Chen Lijun is constantly working towards. First of all, in 2014, when variety shows were the most popular, Chen Lijun came to Hunan Satellite TV's "Everyday Upward" and performed a clip of "Step by Step". It was also because of this recording that Chen Lijun was invited to participate in the Hunan Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala twice a year. Later, she participated in the first season of "The Voice of China" Yue Opera and won the award. There are many attempts like this, and Chen Lijun is unwilling to let go of these good opportunities to promote Yue Opera every time. Until November 6 this year, Chen Lijun appeared on Weibo hot search four times in one day, and the topic words were - Chen Lijun is so handsome, husband is a feeling, husband sister, Chen Lijun New Dragon Gate Inn. That's it, she broke the circle. When she was lonely, she hoped for success, but it really became popular all of a sudden, which made Chen Lijun at a loss. As a person who came over, Mao Weitao warned her: "At this time, you have to be more humble, even have to be a man with your tail between your legs, and all the people on the side are wearing colored glasses to look at you. The traffic will pass in a year at most, or half a year at the least, but your art will be eternal, so how to make better works in the future is the right way. After that, Chen Lijun became more and more cautious in her words and deeds, either rehearsals or performances, refusing ** interviews that she could refuse, and trying not to participate in unnecessary social occasions, as she herself said: "I know how many pounds and taels I have, and I know that my ability is still far away." The audience put this emotion on me, not for me alone, it is this respect and support for opera, not that I Chen Lijun is so good. Most of the experiences of successful people are the same, hardworking, diligent, persevering and seizing opportunities. The strength breaks the circle, and the world is sober. Chen Lijun's story is not only the growth process of a Yue Opera actor, but also a real case of how an ordinary girl achieves success through hard work and perseverance. She used her own experience to tell people that as long as they have dreams and perseverance, they can shine on the stage and realize their own value. The more promising the future, the more promising
This is an inspirational story of a young girl in Yue Opera who has won the audience for her industry for a long time, and suddenly ushered in a new round of attention to the drama genre. But in fact, women's Yue Opera is not only becoming popular now. As Jiang Jin, a professor of history at East China Normal University, emphasized, "the womanhood and the gender concern that accompanies it coincided with the wave of women's liberation in China in the 20th century, and among the more than 300 local dramas at that time, women's Yue Opera was the only single-sex (female) stage." In Mao Weitao's understanding, the male portrayed by female students is an impossible and idealized creation in real life. "I am first and foremost a woman, examining a man, and then playing the role of this man with my body, so that what is presented under this dual aesthetic is very hypothetical, idealized, and romantic. Looking at the glorious years of Yue Opera, long before the invention of the word "top stream", Yuan Xuefen, Yin Guifang, Fan Ruijuan, Fu Quanxiang, Xu Yulan, Wang Wenjuan and other founders of the Yue Opera genre interpreted the meaning of "top stream" with singing, acting skills, strength, popularity and peerless elegance. Since the day of its birth, women's Yue Opera has been a conscious theater art, and innovation has always been integrated into the blood. In the metropolis of Shanghai, the performance market is fiercely competitive, and the cultural environment is mixed with the West. Drama and Kunqu Opera are the two "nurses" of Yue Opera. Yuan Xuefen recalled the reform and innovation of the year in this way before her death. In May 1946, Yuan Xuefen adapted Lu Xun's ** "Blessing" into the Yue Opera "Xianglin Sister-in-law", which shook the Shanghai literary and art circles, and since then there has been a "milestone of new Yue Opera". In 1958, the Yue opera "Dream of Red Mansions" was performed 54 times in less than a month and a half. In 1962, the Yue opera "Dream of Red Mansions" was made into a movie, and in that era when movie tickets were only sold for 2 cents, the film only hit a box office of more than 200 million yuan from 1978 to 1982. Mao Weitao did not accept the name "inheritor of intangible cultural heritage" at one time, because "intangible cultural heritage" seemed to mean "so perfect that it could no longer be changed" and needed to be protected or else it would be on the verge of extinction. But in fact, Yue Opera is still very young, far from the stage of stereotyping, "I am still an advanced productive force, why do I want you to protect it, I can still support myself." As a practitioner, Mao Weitao does not want Yue Opera to be placed in museums and become a representative of a past culture. Especially after stepping down as the head of Xiaobaihua and leaving the system, Mao Weitao saw some things more clearly: subsidies may breed hotbeds, and there are many works of "swords and guns into Kuma and Nanshan", but on the other hand, in the absence of big support, people who want to do things are still cultivating. She believes that good drama can silently influence a generation from the aesthetics and value system, and all attempts, whether successful or not, are meaningful, and it is better to do better than not to do well. 
Above: Mao Weitao admitted: "Traditional theatre is always calling for inheritance, but I think we can't ignore that the essence of art is creativity. The reason for the recognition of "New Dragon Gate Inn" is that it achieves a balance between elegance and vulgarity, which not only contains martial arts culture, but also cuts into the spiritual world of contemporary people. "Personally, I think that our generation should not complain, shout, or be angry, we will use a spirit of holding on to the incompleteness to touch and explore the boundaries of a drama. Mao Weitao believes that the art form of Yue Opera will definitely exist, and people especially need it at the moment of rapid social development. She observed that most of the most loyal female viewers are people with a rough love path, and they have an extreme pursuit of the emotional or spiritual world, "only in women's Yue opera, can we get a kind of inner comfort." At the same time, how much impact will the breaking circle of "New Dragon Gate Inn" have on the future of Yue Opera, Mao Weitao has his own in-depth views on this: "There is a ** proposal, "New Dragon Gate Inn" is popular, is Yue Opera and even opera really popular?How long will this fire last?While "New Dragon Gate Inn" is hard to find, other plays are still cold as a whole, and the opera ** does not seem to be boosted by the explosion of "New Dragon Gate Inn". There is still a long way to go before opera really enters the market. However, the explosion of "New Dragon Gate Inn" has also released a signal to the market that users still have consumption demand for opera, but they just need to establish a connection with current users with appropriate content and the right way. This is a long process of refinement and individualization, and it is also an important issue that needs to be considered in the current opera market. I was inspired by this point of view. In contrast, there is a lack of discussion in our own circles. Throughout our commentary and theoretical research, we are still accustomed to evaluating the screenwriter, director, actor and theme values of the work from the content level of the work, starting from personal aesthetic taste, but often lack the perspective of criticism at the market and communication level. At the same time, I don't know how to use the high traffic of "New Dragon Gate Inn" to generate greater social benefits, which also exposes the lag of the overall operation concept of practitioners. "Young fans on the Internet jokingly called it 'splashing wealth' when describing this 'circle-breaking' traffic. Indeed, in today's era, traffic is wealth and wealth, and it is also a value recognition. The 'breaking circle' of "New Dragon Gate Inn" not only surprised netizens that one day they would start grabbing tickets for Yue Opera, but also allowed netizens to discover the beauty of opera. How can I make the most of traffic and trends?Just as theories and criticisms should not only stop at judging the likes and dislikes of artistic content, our operating philosophy should not only stop at a single creative work and complete performances, but should try to focus on discovering the charm of actors and genres, and focus on making culture spread and making creation amazing to the world. Frankly speaking, "New Dragon Gate Inn" is based on the operating experience of a good show company in Shanghai, and we must change our concept and learn from more mature industries. The premise of cultural self-confidence is cultural self-knowledge, because the culture of 5,000 years is under our feet. In that case, why should we be afraid to learn?In Mao Weitao's eyes, starting from the phenomenon of "New Dragon Gate Inn", practitioners seem to be more likely to study whether it is a work that is truly completed with the audience in the theater, or whether it retains the audience just because the actors are beautiful or the unique charm of Kun Sheng. "The more lasting popularity is actually the explosive benefit formed after the content is accepted by the market, rather than just hyping traffic. Traditional theatre is always calling for inheritance, but I think we can't ignore that the essence of art is creativity. The more promising the future, the more promisingLooking for a meeting point with modern life, the new national style makes traditional culture "trendy". Behind the opera actors' emergence from the circle is the troupe's attempt to innovate the performance of Yue Opera, which has changed from style, style to observation form. All encounters are reunions after a long absence, and all trendy traces back to the classic inheritance and innovation. The real "top stream" can withstand the washing of time, because it is the removal of the chaff after countless innovations, and it is also the one who never gets tired of watching it after being tempered on the stage. This is why the 100-year-old women's Yue Opera can still seize the opportunity to break through the barriers of the circle, find a contemporary audience from online to offline, and capture the hearts of young people, even in today's diverse art categories and stage forms. A flower blooming alone is not spring, the most important thing is that "New Dragon Gate Inn" must not be the only successful individual, but should take advantage of the east wind of the times to emerge more phenomenal works, and more "Chen Lijun" will quickly break the circle because of their strength and hard work, and create a future for the drama.