Many people think that Guo Degang is the savior of Peking Opera, and I wonder if Guo Degang's Peking Opera can still be called Peking OperaArt forms such as Da Vernacular, Huangmei Opera, Bangzi Opera and Taiping lyrics are integrated with Peking Opera, but is this innovation still part of the quintessence of Peking Opera?
Neither can they fully understand Peking Opera, nor can they be regarded as ticket holders. Having worked in the restaurant industry before, I observed some similarities between Guo Degang's innovation in Peking Opera and the development of Chinese cuisine. Traditional Chinese cuisine originally consisted of four major cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese and Huaiyang. Subsequently, the series evolved into eight cuisines, including sixteen, but either way, each with its own unique characteristics. With the improvement of the transportation network, the circulation of people and goods has become faster and more convenient. In the food and beverage industry, two new cuisines, Jianghu cuisine and fusion cuisine, which are very different from local cuisines, have emerged.
What does Jianghu cuisine mean?This is a dish that contrasts with the orthodox cuisine, and it is also another name for the innovative dishes of the "Yeluzi" chef. Its main goal is to satisfy the desire of city dwellers to buy novelties. In my opinion, the Peking Opera described by Guo Degang is precisely guided by this goal.
To put it simply, fusion cuisine is a "mix and match" art form, which is the organic integration of Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine and other Chinese cuisine with Western, Japanese, Southeast Asian cuisine, etc., to create a new taste and flavor through diversified cooking techniques, thus forming a new cooking genre.
I'm not sure that the Peking Opera described by Guo Degang could give birth to a new artistic genre. However, this is definitely a "mash-up" art form, creating a new way of expression through a variety of performance techniques, which we will tentatively name as a new way of integrating "Peking Opera". But I really don't see fusion cuisine brazenly claiming to be Lu, Sichuan, or any other cuisine.
Many people think that Guo Degang is saving the art of Peking Opera, but I don't agree with that. In my opinion, this art form called Peking Opera is actually not worthy of its name, and its real intention is to use the name of Peking Opera to make money, how can we really save Peking Opera?Personally, I prefer to call this kind of Peking opera vaudeville, because vaudeville is more like a "light-hearted comedy" or a "popular opera". It is a theatrical art form that combines elements of skit, dance, acrobatics and burlesque. Guo Degang's Peking Opera is not such an art form
It is not that innovation and reform are discouraged, Peking Opera actually developed gradually from Kunqu Opera. No matter how you reform and innovate, only if your reform is justified. What do you think about this issue?