Ⅱ.Pu’er Tea and Opera
(I)Contemporary Pu’er Tea Opera
The long-standing Chinese tea culture has fostered an independent drama derived from tea culture—tea drama, which is an art closely associated with tea in China.As the saying goes, local opera is based on local culture.In modern times, Yunnan Pu’er tea opera mostly existed in the form of Huadeng opera with a variety of artistic forms, and was richly presented.It was branded with the local mark of Yunnan tea culture and especially Pu’er tea culture.In the Qing Dynasty,in Lufeng, western Yunnan, there was a record of“people and children pretending to pick tea”.In Chengjiang, Central Yunnan, Xie Yan’s“Chengjiang Spring Outing”puts“the tea song in the West Lane has not stopped, and the Yangko is sung in the east”.In the poem“Dali”written by He Weiwen of Eryuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there is a sentence“tea trees are full of blossom in the mountain, and Bo tones are heard on paths”.
In the early 20th century, the old Huadeng opera in Yunnan Province were promoted from the rural group singing and dancing to the stage drama, and officially became a drama, which was then popularized throughout the province, so that Yuxi Huadeng opera became the representative of Yunnan dramas.In around 1938, Wang Dandong and others created modern dramas such as“killing the enemy in the tea mountain”to publicize the Anti-Japanese deeds and national salvation.The Huadeng opera troupe, mainly composed of Yuxi artists, toured Kunming, western Yunnan and southern Yunnan, expanding the influence of Yuxi Huadeng opera in the province.
In the 1940s, Huadeng opera has been deeply rooted in Kunming.From 1944 to 1949, there were seven Huadeng rehearsal teahouses in Kunming, including Taihe Teahouse (Tangzi Lane),Kunming Teahouse (Nanping Street), Huafeng Teahouse (Zhengyi Road), Taihuachun (Jinbi Road),Jusheng Teahouse (Changchun Road), Daguan Teahouse (Nanping Street), Qingyun Teahouse(Qingyun Street)and so on, putting on Huadeng operas day and night.The teahouses have attracted many Yunnan opera artists to join the Huadeng opera, so there was a“mixed drama”.That’s to say, Huadeng performers sang the Huadeng Opera, and the Dian opera artists sang the Yunnan opera tune.It seemed peculiar.However, this direct blending has played an inestimable role in the development of Huadeng Opera, which was not“engulfed”by Yunnan opera, but continued to learn a lot from other operas, further enrich its own performances, programs, skills and plays, and therefore developed by leaps and bounds.
20世纪40年代，花灯已在整个昆明深深地扎稳了根。从1944年到1949年，昆明共有太和茶室（塘子巷）、昆明茶室（南屏街）、华丰茶室（正义路）、太华春（金碧路）、聚盛茶室（长春路）、大观茶室（南屏街）、庆云茶室（庆云街）等七家花灯彩排茶室日夜演唱花灯。茶室的兴盛，使得不少滇剧艺人被吸引投身到花灯队伍中来，于是出现了“灯夹戏”的现象，就是在一出大戏中，花灯演员唱的是灯腔，滇戏艺人唱的是滇戏腔调。这种奇特的形式不伦不类，然而从这种直接交融中，对花灯的戏曲化却起到了不可估量的作用，交融的结果是花灯没有被滇剧“吃掉”，反而继续大量吸收着兄弟剧种的滋补，更进一步丰富了自己的表演、程式、技巧以及剧目，突飞猛进地成长壮大。
因茶戏流行的地区不同，地方特色浓郁，故而被人们冠以各地的地名来加以区别：如流传于云南澄江市传统地方剧种“关索戏”，广东的“粤北采茶戏”，湖北的“阳新采茶戏”“黄梅采茶戏”“蕲春采茶戏”等。流传在澄江市阳宗小屯村的关索剧《茶香室丛钞》，为玉溪地区一个古老傩戏范畴的剧种。关索剧的表演特点是不设舞台，不化妆，也不受时间地点的限制，戴上面具（脸壳），穿上服装，带上兵器即可出场表演。行当有生、旦、净三行，而且多以净行为主，角色以面具和服饰区别。演出时无弦索伴奏，全用鼓点指点起落。由小军或马童先上场，道说情况以后，即开始各种各样的翻滚动作以吸引观众，继而生角上，在表演中说说唱唱，唱唱打打，没有固定程式。关索剧的声腔比较复杂，为无弦伴奏，伴唱掺杂其间。有说此剧源于高腔，但从某些曲调分析，又杂合当地民歌小调，诵佛唱经的旋律，更为明显的是吸收了滇剧腔调。即便同一曲调，演唱者不受音域节奏的限制，各人所唱均有。关索戏曲于年节演出，至今仍在地方戏剧舞台上焕发着独有的光芒，依稀散发着悠远而淡雅的茶香。
（二）当代普洱茶戏
云南的普洱茶和当地戏曲相互依存，看客们边看戏剧边品茶。72岁的普洱茶乐团团长温源勇现在最大的愿望是让舞台戏剧《普洱茶乐》被更多的年轻人看到，并得以传承下去。
2004年，为了更好地弘扬普洱茶文化，普洱茶乐团诞生。起初团队主要是收集普洱茶故事，融入民族小调、滇剧、花灯等戏曲元素演奏茶乐。2012年开始引入滇剧和花灯的经典选段，逐渐扩充茶乐团演出曲目，后来便着手整理创作独具普洱特色的《普洱茶乐》。2021年6月12日，舞台戏剧《普洱茶乐》的第四个乐章终于整理创作完成，并进行了首演。历经17个岁月轮转的《普洱茶乐》终得圆满。
Because tea plays are popular in different regions and have strong local characteristics, they are distinguished by local names, for example, the traditional local opera“Guansuo opera”spread in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province,“North Guangdong Tea Picking Opera”in Guangdong Province,“Yangxin Tea Picking Opera”,“Huangmei Tea Picking Opera”and“Qichun Tea Picking Opera”in Hubei Province.The Guansuo opera“Reading Notes in Chaxiangshi”, which is popular in Xiaotun village of Yangzong, Chengjiang County, is an ancient Nuo opera in Yuxi area.The performance of Guansuo opera is characterized by no stage, no makeup, and no restrictions on time and place.People just wear masks (face shells), clothes, and weapons to perform.The roles are male roles, females, and roles are with painted faces, and the last one is the main role.The roles are distinguished by masks and costumes.During the performance, there was no string accompaniment, and drums are used to guide the performance.The young military man or the horseboy will come to the stage first.After telling the background, they will start with various tumbling movements to attract the audience, and then the male role makes appears once.There is no fixed procedure in a Guansuo opera, and the performers just rap, sing and make movements.The tune of Guansuo opera is relatively complex, with no string accompaniment and mixed accompaniment.It is said that this play originated from Gaoqiang opera, but from the analysis of some tunes, it is also mixed with the melody of local folk songs, chanting Buddhism and chanting scriptures.Furthermore, it has absorbed the tune of Yunnan opera.Even if in the same tune, the singer is not limited by the range and rhythm, and everyone can sing it.Guansuo opera is performed in the Spring Festival, and it still glows with a unique light on the local drama stage.
(II)Contemporary Pu’er Tea Opera
Yunnan Pu’er tea and local operas are interdependent.Spectators drink tea while watching operas.Wen Yuanyong, the 72-year-old head of Pu’er Tea Orchestra, now has the greatest wish es to make the stage drama“Pu’er Tea Music”seen by more young people and pass it on.
In 2004, in order to better carry forward Pu’er tea culture, Pu’er tea orchestra was organized.At first, the team mainly collected Pu’er tea stories and played tea music by integrating traditional opera elements such as ethnic minor, Yunnan opera and Huadeng opera.In 2012, the classic excerpts of Yunnan opera and Huadeng opera were introduced, and the repertoire of the tea orchestra was gradually expanded.Later, the orchestra began to organize and create“Pu’er Tea Music”with unique Pu’er characteristics.On June 12, 2021, the fourth movement of the stage drama“Pu’er Tea Music”was finally finished and premiered.After 17 years of development,“Pu’er tea music”finally made a big success.
舞台戏剧《普洱茶乐》共分为四个乐章，第一乐章：孔明兴茶。取自传说孔明举兵南征，将士染疾，丞相令服茶而得以痊愈，便命军民大片种植，造福后代的故事。第二乐章：民安奉茶。取自《红楼梦》中对普洱茶诸多记述及明代《滇略》所载：“士庶所用，皆普茶也，蒸而成团”来演绎普洱茶的一度盛行。第三乐章：古道贡茶。演绎了清朝马帮贡茶的故事。第四乐章：九州觅茶。溯源了普洱茶，从镇沅千家寨2700年的茶王树讲到澜沧邦崴千年过渡型古茶树，以此说明云南作为“世界茶源”具有得天独厚的资源优势。
图3-7 普洱日报（来源于网络）
现代普洱茶戏剧，离不开诗、词、歌、舞等生活和艺术形态，融合滇戏、花灯、民族小调等多种形式的《普洱茶乐》是普洱茶历史与文化的综合呈现，彰显普洱茶深厚又独特的艺术韵味，让文化有传承，让创新有观众，让这些被人们忽略的传统文化再次回归大众视野，并悄悄浸润每个人的内心。
图3-8 普洱日报（来源于网络）
The stage drama“Pu’er tea music”is consisted of four movements, the first movement:Kongming spreading tea.It comes from the legend that when Kongming headed the army in the southern expedition, the soldiers got sick, the Prime Minister Kongming ordered the soldiers to drink tea, and the soldiers got recovered.Then Kongming ordered the soldiers and civilians to plant a large area of tea trees for the benefit of future generations.The second movement: people drinking tea in a prosperous era.It is derived from the many descriptions of Pu’er tea in A Dream in Red Mansions and the“Brief History of Yunnan”of the Ming Dynasty:“all the tea drunk by scholars and civilians is Pu’er tea, which is steamed into balls”, interpreting the popular scene of drinking Pu’er tea.The third movement: tribute tea on the ancient road.It tells the story of tribute tea in the caravan of the Qing Dynasty.The Fourth Movement: looking for tea in the main land.The origin of Pu’er tea is traced from the 2,700 year old tea king tree in Qianjiazhai, Zhenyuan to the millennium transitional ancient tea tree in Bangwei, Lancang, which shows that Yunnan has unique resource advantages as the“the origin of tea in the world”.
Fig.3-7 Pu’er Daily(online source )
Modern Pu’er tea drama is inseparable from poems, songs, dances and other life and art forms.“Pu’er Tea Music”, which integrates various forms of Yunnan opera, Huadeng opera, folk ditties and so on, is a comprehensive presentation of the history and culture of Pu’er tea, highlighting the deep and unique artistic charm of Pu’er tea.In this way, culture is inherited, innovation is seen, and these traditional cultures, once neglected, attract the attention of the public again.
Fig.3-8 Pu’er Daily (online source)