China News Service, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, September 30th. Title: China's "Romeo and Juliet" and the legend of Butterfly Lovers has been sung for thousands of years.
Author Xiang Jing
In Zhujiazhuang Village, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in autumn, the Yushui River passes through the village, butterfly installations are scattered on both sides of the bank, and the rice fields are glowing golden. "It is said that Zhu Yingtai boarded a boat from the Yushui River to study and met his classmate Liang Shanbo." Ni Xiangwei, secretary of the Party Committee of Zhujiazhuang Village, who grew up in the village, said that the story of Liang Zhu has been passed down from generation to generation in the village.
The Legend of the Butterfly Lovers was formed in the Jin Dynasty and is one of the four major folk legends in China. It tells the poignant love story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, who read together as classmates, got to know and cherish each other, and finally broke through the shackles of feudal ethics and transformed into butterflies. The legend was selected into the list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
On July 29, the scenery of Zhujiazhuang Village in Shangyu, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Photo by Xiang Jing
Chen Qiuqiang, the national representative inheritor of the Legend of the Butterfly Lovers and director of the China Anglo-Taiwan Cultural Research Center, said that for more than 1,700 years, the legend has become a well-known love story among Chinese folk through oral transmission, and has also spread to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and other countries and regions. People from all over the world continue to enrich the connotation of the story, and relevant relics of the legend of the Butterfly Lovers still remain in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places.
In Zhujiazhuang Village, the "Hometown of Yingtai" stone square stands quietly. The Zhu family's ancestral hall is "renovated as before" and regains its ancient charm. The wax figure of Liang Zhu in the Yingtai Building of Zhu Mansion solidifies the farewell moment of "meeting on the balcony". "We also built the Yingtai Academy, restored the classic scene of 'Eighteen Farewells', and arranged live-action dramas about the Butterfly Lovers to make the story of Butterfly Lovers tactile and tangible," said Ni Xiangwei.
Gaoqiao Town, Haishu District, Ningbo City is the burial place of the legendary Liang Shanbo and houses the Ningbo Liangzhu Cultural Park. Among the five major landscapes in the garden, including "Caoqiao Worship" and "Butterfly Forever Companion", grass bridges, academies, and balconies are scattered at random, replicating the scenes of Liang and Zhu from acquaintance and love to parting and turning into butterflies.
Yue Opera is the key communication carrier for the story of Butterfly Lovers to this day. Zheng Yaping, former head of the Shangyu Yue Opera Troupe and president of the Shangyu District Theater Arts Association, said that in 1954, New China's first color Yue opera film "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" was screened during the Geneva Conference. Premier Zhou Enlai introduced it as China's "Romeo and Juliet." Since then, the film has been distributed to more than 10 countries and regions.
On September 17, at the "Opera Fans Park" in Shangyu, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Yue Opera actors rehearsed the classic aria "Eighteen Farewell" from "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai". Photo by Xiang Jing
Zheng Yaping, who has been an artist for more than 40 years, has created many niche images on the stage, and Liang Shanbo is one of the classic roles. She said that in the 1990s, she performed with the group for the first time in Finland. The two-hour performance was packed with people. When Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai "turned into butterflies", many audience members silently wiped away tears. "They may not understand the lyrics, but they will definitely understand the love in the story."
Zheng Yaping believes that although the story of Butterfly Lovers has a tragic ending, it is both evocative and emblematic of the pursuit of freedom and loyal love. Yue Opera's arias are melodious and long-lasting, and are good at portraying the delicate and complex emotions between talented people and beauties, which is in line with the spiritual background of the story of Butterfly Lovers.
The spread of the Butterfly Lovers story all over the world is inseparable from the perseverance and deep cultivation of generations of people. Chen Qiuqiang, 83 years old, has devoted himself to the study of Liangzhu culture for decades. He went to the fields to collect folk customs, compiled fragments of folklore into documents, and promoted "intangible cultural heritage into campus"; he also actively built a platform to promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
Today, Butterfly Lovers culture is integrated with diverse media such as opera, film and television, animation, short videos, and games. In Shangyu, special cultural creations such as the "Zhu Yingtai IP" blind box are out of the circle, and immersive dramas such as the modern Yue Opera drama "The Young People in Zhujiazhuang" have become popular. The Millennium Butterfly Lovers has become a favorite cultural symbol of contemporary people with its youthful and trendy new expression. (over)
