In the 12th year of the Republic of China (1923), Jingshi Theatrical Troupe, which founded this type of drama, performed in Tianjin. Because the dramas they performed contained new meanings of punishing evil-doers and praising good-doers, warning and converting people, discussing the past and now, Lu Haihuan advised changing the name into Pingju opera. In the 25th year of the Republic of China, the famous actress Bai Yushuang filmed the movie Haitang Red. The press recorded the name of Pingju opera in the Public Paper. From then on, the name of Pingju opera was widely spreaded in the country.
Pingju opera originates from folk song and dance-Yangge, which is one of the main forms of folk flower fair actions in the first month of the lunar year. In this activity, two people are dressed up, singing and dancing in antiphonal style, others act as singing and dancing partners. The gong and drum are beaten in rhythm; suona or other traditional stringed and woodwind instruments are dubbed in background music.
Its main content includes folk living stories, historical figures, and scenes of the four seasons. In Qing and Ming dynasties, many people took singing Yangge as profession, the tunes they sung took Lianhualao as the principle thing. By the end of Qing Dynasty, Yangge absorbed shadow show, versified story sung to accompaniment of a drum, both of which belonged to Laoting. Thus Yangge was changed into Bengbeng Opera, the old name of Pingju opera, which is rich in local features of east of Hebei Province.
In the early days of Bengbeng Opera, it was Xiaodan and Xiaochou Opera (Xiaodan, the role of a young woman in traditional opera; Xiaochou, the buffoon). They festively singing and dancing or speaking. The plays they performed reached more than hundred kinds, and there were certain plots and characters run from beginning to end. The narrative form and the third person were its main features. Besides, its music was transitive pattern of Ban Accent, form (accented beats in traditional Chinese music). Because the artists sung took Lianhualao as the main, and using bamboo clappers beat time, the Bengbeng Opera was mixed named with Lianhualao. The performance form started with merry songs, which sung by group, and then drew out the main content of the play.
After 1840, people who made living on practicing Bengbeng Opera increased day by day, numbers of artists who sung Bengbeng Opera appeared. Because of the differences of the artists’ dialects and regions, the eastern, western and northern Bengbeng Opera was formed.
During the period of 1880-1990, many semi-occupational and occupational theatrical troupes appeared. The outstanding artists exchanged their experiences in the competitions, and absorbed mutually, thus pushed the Bengbeng Opera developed forward constantly, the Xiaodan and Xiaochou Opera was developed into three Xiao opera.
The players of this kind of opera changed the third person to the first person, and dramas were changed from singing and speaking to speaking on behalf of another form, small-sized plays appeared, which were divided into scenes. The performance began to have division of type of role. Besides the preservation of traditional Yangge dance, some plays began to absorb authentic activities, which imitated the real life. At the same time, began to follow the stylized movements of large drama. But it wasn’t fettered by the serious stylized movements. Its movements were free, and its spoken parts took local language of Tangshan as the basis, its music voices have begun to take form of Ban accent. Its accompaniment took Banhu (a bowed stringed instrument with a thin wooden soundboard) as main, also used suona, bamboo flute. Beat time instruments used jujube-wood clappers instead of bamboo clappers and borrowed the gong scripture from Hebei Bangzi opera. When began to play, it took the Banhu player’s stamp as order to conduct the band’s accompaniment. The stage installations only included one table and two chairs and “Shoujiu”.
In order to firm Bengbeng opera’s position in urban, the artists were on rush to write and rehearse new plays. By the first year of the Republic of China, the large dramas they produced, rearranged, grafted have reached more than 30 pieces, at the same time, the performance was perfected, the music for voices and accompaniments were improved. From then on, Bengbeng opera possessed new artistes style and features. By that time, the folk opera, which was pregnant in the mother’s body of Yangge, talent showed itself in early of the Republic of China at long last. People at that time called it Tangshan Laozi, and named Pingju opera later.
Some Pingju plays, such as Yang Yu’e Sue Gao Zhanying for Murder, An Zhonggen Assassinated Yitengbowen, etc., these modern dramas faced the social real life, took the current news as subject matters. They made great influence at that time. On 1st, October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. Under the guide of the policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom, weeding through the old to bring forth the new, Pingju opera showed a flourishing appearance, and many Pingju art troupes were set up in provinces, cities and autonomous regions. Then, Pingju opera leaped to the national largest drama.
