Kunqu secrets

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  The map of the ancient city of Suzhou shows a Drama Museum located close to the city jail. Dedicated to Kunqu Opera, this is a genre of Chinese drama that originated in Suzhou and has spread to many parts of the country.

Kunqu (pronounced as kwin chu) is an ancient, yet an extremely refined style of traditional Chinese theatre performed today. A fusion of drama, opera, ballet, poetry and musical recitals, it also borrows it muse from earlier forms of Chinese theatrical performances like mime, acrobatics and ballad, which go back as far as the third century BC, or even earlier.

Kunqu is not to be confused with Kung Fu, which refers to the martial arts of China. Kung Fu originated in a Shaolin Temple, a Buddhist monastery built in the Henan province in 527 AD, where a Buddhist prince, Bodhidharma (Da Mo) found the monks weak and in poor health. To discover a way to give them strength and vitality, Da Mo locked himself in a room for “nine years of meditation, resulting in a series of exercises which developed strength, vitality, and internal energy…”

However, keen to visit the Kunqu Opera Museum in Suzhou, I set out after getting the address written in Chinese for the taxi driver.

On entering the museum which is built in the traditional style of a villa, I saw a sculpture of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius, carved out of a tree trunk.

As I moved from room to room, corridors leading to more rooms and ‘secret’ passages, someone sang full-throatily in the style of the opera. That soulful voice, which sounded like a mature woman’s, resonated in the entire museum, and will remain with anyone who has heard it, for a long time even if there is no understanding of the language or the tradition of the Chinese opera. It was truly ‘music to the ears.’

But when I sauntered into an inner courtyard, I spotted a young man sitting on the steps of one of the buildings. It was then that I realised that he was singing the song! He stopped singing as I stood gaping, or perhaps the song was over. I requested him to continue but he gestured that he did not understand and disappeared. He might have been an accomplished actor of the Kunqu Opera, or perhaps a student who was practicing.

A plaque in the museum reads: “In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, Kunqu reached a very high level of literature and performing arts, including music, singing and stage arts. As an example of the high standard of performing principles, measures, manners, skills and technique of drama, it has become a typical model. In May 2001, Unesco proclaimed the Classic Kunqu Opera as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”

The traditional Kunqu troupe generally comprised of twelve actors enacting different roles in various plays. Among them, seven actors played male roles, four played the female roles, and one played whatever minor role, as required. Most performances for family banquets were done by smaller troupes of eight actors. Of course, there were larger troupes as well, comprising of as many as twenty-four actors.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, mighty officials and wealthy merchants began to organise family troupes. These troupes often gave wonderful performances as a result of the high cultural cultivation of their masters. The art of Kunqu uses minimum props and scenery. The performers appeal to the audience's imagination and conjure up a scene or a setting with words, gestures, and music. The actors wear costumes that are elaborate and exaggerated versions of the dresses adorned during the Ming Dynasty. Often, performers wear robes with extremely long white sleeves call ‘water sleeves,’ and an accomplished Kunqu performer is skilled in manipulating their water sleeves and fans to enhance the movements.

Since Suzhou is the cradle of embroidery, Kunqu costumes made of silk, cotton or flax are fine works of art. The embroidery designs include the serpent, phoenix, bird, insect, flower, cloud, treasures and immortals. Throughout the museum, large posters, photographs, costumes, models and props are on display. So are texts of the recitals.

Taking photos in Kunqu costumes is in vogue for both foreigners and the young urban Chinese. One of the signs advertising the makeovers and photo sessions extol this in the following manner:

Give us a day and we will give you a thousand years!

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