The Seven-Character Guiding Principle

On April 5, 1981, Chen Yun was listening to a program of Pingtan theathre (storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhu dialect) from the radio, slowly lost in thought.

Despite five years had passed from the end of the Cultural Revolution, the impact of this havoc still lingered on the Pingtan community. Resultantly, Pingtan tended to become a profit-seeking, and vulgar form of art. The thought of its degeneration made his brows knitted into a deep frown. Suddenly, the door opened and Wu Zongxi, the then president of Shanghai Pingtan Troupe, walked in, which brought him back to reality. These two had been close friends since 1959. They often got together to talk about the development of Pingtan when they had time. However, their contact was cut off during the Cultural Revolution and they could only resume ties till 1977 because of Pingtan again. Since then, every time Chen Yun came to Shanghai, he would invite Wu over to tell him more about the development of Pingtan.

Chen smiled and seated Wu. After several small talks, the room suddenly got quiet, only the sound of the walnuts spinning in Chen’s hand. After a while, “how should we reform the current mechanism of Pingtan troupes?” asked Chen, with a serious look on his face. And this was the true purpose of that day’s meeting.

In early 1980s, as the reform and opening up deepened, economic growth and prices were soaring. Against this backdrop, cultural market where some intellectual and artistic products entered gradually emerged. Thus the mechanism of artistic troupes needed to be reformed to keep up with pace. Pingtan had not recovered from the destruction of the Cultural Revolution. The audience of Pingtan was distracted by other entertainments, a slew of Pingtan theaters closed down, and the performers of Pingtan shrank gradually. What's worse was some performers of folk arts including Pingtan, under the influence of “money-driven” wave, degenerated themselves into juggling and bizarre dress as in the case of some female performers, in order to solicit audience. This kind of wrong mind-set and vulgar performances exerted extremely bad impact on the public. Chen was deeply distressed by the updates of Pingtan delivered by Wu.

How to change the status quo of Pingtan? “The answer is training artists, writing plays, and following a correct path”, Chen emphasized. Then he added, “Training artists, writing plays, following a correct path and preserving and developing Pingtan theatre—these should be our primary goals. Making money should be secondary. Pingtan art cannot be preserved and developed unless we follow a correct path. We should utilize healthy Pingtan art to combat unhealthy trends in art. We should also train Pingtan artists so we can produce more Pingtan plays. We do not necessarily require that a dozen artists be trained all at once. It will be good if we can have three to five. Then we can gradually increase the number of artists. In the past, artists tried every means to study their art. If one wants to be an artist, one must concentrate on studying the art form. Talent is derived from one’s diligence. At the same time, there should also be competition. Pingtan plays can be adapted from novels, films and dramas. I quite agree with Qiu Xiaopeng. In adapting Pingtan plays, we must not only stress the story plots. We should also create guanzi (a reference to suspense in Pingtan plays). To this end, the plots of the original works can be rearranged if necessary. Only plays with suspense hold the interest of the audience. We should depend on artists who are experienced in performance to write new Pingtan plays. Pingtan art should be acceptable to our youth. This does not mean that Pingtan artists should try to accommodate themselves to young people. Instead, they should attempt to enhance young people’s sense of appreciation. Through their effort to meet the needs of the youth, artists can refine their artistic skills, train young artists and raise the quality of Pingtan art. In writing new plays and giving performances, we need to improve Pingtan art through making changes in outmoded methods. But in doing this, we should discard regressive practices and take a correct path. Of course, if there are some things in those practices which can be utilized, we can adopt these selectively. We should healthy art to combat unhealthy art; the art form should provide guidance for the audience and enhance their sense of appreciation. We should retain the top performers in order to preserve and raise the level of Pingtan art. If we train artists, write good plays and follow a correct path, Pingtan art can be rejuvenated.

In the spring of 1984, Chen Yun called in professionals who specialize in Quyi (Chinese fork art forms) in Beijing. At the meeting, he further elaborated the idea of “training artists, writing plays, and following a correct path”. “Training artists means actively nurture outstanding young and budding creative staff and performers, and enable them to catch up with or even overtake their predecessors. Writing plays means to write new books that reflect the new era, new society and new trends while sorting out traditional programs. Following a correct path requires programs and performances not to pander to vulgar tastes, but to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.”

At a moment when Pingtan practitioners were in bewilderment about what and how they should be trying to achieve, Chen Yun put forward the all-important guideline in explicit terms, shedding a light on a brand-new road for the development of Pingtan. By following the guiding principles, large numbers of young up-and-comers burgeoned in Quyi circles and created a slew of cultural and artistic works.

The conversation between ChenYun and Wu Zongxi reverberated in the whole literary and art circles. It was believed that the guiding principles set forth by Chen Yun are not only applicable to the art of Pingtan, but also to the entire literary and art circles. Some other art forms also came up with similar principles to guide the development of socialist literature and art, which received unanimous acknowledgment and support of the circles.

As of today, Pingtan, a gem originated in Jiangnan (lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River), has been experiencing constant development. Its current popularity and splendidness cannot be achieved without Chen’s long-term attention to the art form and his guiding principles. “Training artists, writing plays, and following a correct path”, as if a light in the mist, has been leading the literary and art circles to move forward in the right and healthy direction.