There are only eight model operas in the revolutionary model operas, which is misinformation.

"Model Opera" refers to the stage art works that Jiang Qing, who was in charge of literature and art during the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976), paid special attention to, including Peking Opera Taking the Tiger Mountain Abroad, The Story of the Red Lantern, Shajiabang, White Tiger Raiders, Harbor, Song of the Dragon, and Song of the Dragon. Ballet plays such as Red Female Soldier, White-haired Girl, Prairie Children, Ode to Yimeng, Peking Opera plays such as Kao Chair, War Waves, Jiang Jindu, revolutionary symphonic music (with symphony accompaniment or oratorio called drama, which is actually a vocal divertimento), Shajiabang and Jiang Jindu. Among them, there are six or seven operas that have the greatest influence, such as Beijing Opera "Taking Tiger Mountain Outward", Red Lantern, Shajiabang, Dufu Mountain, ballet "Red women soldiers", "White-haired Girl" or Beijing Opera "Song of the Dragon". In addition, there are many non-model operas in Beijing Opera (Liu Tie Xia, Luhuadian, Yaoshanchun, Miao Ling Lei Feng, Grassland Galaxy, Hong Haier, Sanjinfei, etc.). ), various local operas, dramas, etc.

1967 During May and June, there were eight model operas, including seven repertoires such as Peking Opera, Witchcraft Mountain, The Story of the Red Lantern, Shajiabang, White Tiger Raiders, Harbor, and ballet, Red Female Soldier, White Haired Girl and Symphony Music, Shajiabang. At this time, there was a famous comment in the newspaper, that is, the People's Daily editorial Excellent Model of Revolutionary Literature and Art, in which the words "(this) eight revolutionary model operas" appeared five times. This article, and perhaps other articles in the same period, let people know and remember that there are only eight model operas. After the "model opera" has new works, there have been newspaper articles that no longer mention "eight". But "only eight model operas" are preconceived, and these articles almost never mention numbers. Although there are words such as "further developing revolutionary model operas", many people turn a blind eye to the expanded list of "model operas" in the article.

Originally, most people who said that "there are only eight model operas" are just following the crowd, and they don't care which eight dramas are, nor whether there are more than eight such dramas. Moreover, after the Cultural Revolution, when the Gang of Four was exposed and criticized, people simply thought that Jiang Qing and others used eight flowers instead of a hundred flowers to resist the prosperity of literature and art, which was further circulated and understood.

"Model" is the mold for industrial production. As early as 1958, during the Great Leap Forward, with the development of "catching up" labor competition, the practice of "setting an example" and expressing "an example" became popular everywhere. 1965 March 16 Shanghai Liberation Daily published a short commentary "Learn Peking Opera Seriously", and this word began to be used in literary and artistic works. It is very common to set an example of learning, so the "example" of "model drama" has no mold or other special meaning. It is even more nonsense to say that since you are a "model", you can only be "eight".

There have always been three titles of "model opera": commonly known as "model opera", informally called "revolutionary model opera" and formally called "revolutionary modern Peking Opera" (at first there were two titles of "revolutionary modern Peking Opera" and "revolutionary modern Peking Opera model opera", but at the latest in 1970, the "revolutionary modern Peking Opera model opera" was stopped because of repetition and delay). Informal appellation is a general term for some plays, so "revolutionary model operas" are used in newspaper articles and general propaganda. However, the name of a single play is always accompanied by the prefix of the official address. Therefore, in radio drama programs, scripts, stills, movie titles, performance posters, repertoire lists and stage announcements of individual plays, only formal titles can be seen, and newspaper articles only use this prefix when commenting on or mentioning individual plays. Some people don't know the difference between these three titles, so the vigorous publicity in the early stage and the frequent use of common names by the masses, the radio broadcast in the later stage and the stills posted day and night, or the new dramas in the later stage appeared one after another, which caused some wrong memories. For example, from 197 1 Lin Biao's downfall to 1975' s crackdown on the right wing's conviction, there was no mention of "model operas" (there were some changes in words in those two years, but "model operas" were not involved). The (revolutionary) model opera was later renamed as "revolutionary modern Peking Opera" and "revolutionary modern dance drama". Later dramas were not "(revolutionary) model operas", but "revolutionary modern Peking Opera".

In the so-called "revolutionary model operas", besides the model operas, there are actually a few model operas. People often mistakenly think that symphonic music, Shajiabang and other works are not "model operas", so the understanding of non-professionals is correct. At first, Kang Sheng, the consultant of the Cultural Revolution Group, casually referred to the seven major dramas and the symphonic music Shajiabang as "the model dramas of the eight revolutions", and it was fair to make mistakes. After all, the symphonic music Shajiabang and the piano accompaniment The Red Lantern can be regarded as Beijing Opera oratorios. But later, a more heterogeneous piano concerto "Yellow River" appeared in the "revolutionary model opera". On the one hand, the name of "revolutionary model opera" is simple and popular, which has been generally accepted. For the sake of a Yellow River, it is inconvenient to change it into "revolutionary model opera art works". On the other hand, the media have to be vague so as not to make people laugh. /kloc-0 In the Ten Years of Peking Opera Revolution published in July, 974, "Chu Lan" said that "there are sixteen or seven revolutionary model operas cultivated by the proletariat". This literary criticism writing team under Jiang Qing's direct control seems unsure about the number of "plays" because the list shows the Yellow River. In the text of some newspaper articles, sometimes the Yellow River is hidden from the list by "and so on", which is collectively referred to as "revolutionary model operas", and sometimes it is not collectively referred to or collectively referred to as "revolutionary model operas" after the list of new dramas and the Yellow River are displayed. Anyway, I dare not say clearly that The Yellow River is a "play". This is why the new drama is mistaken for a "model work" rather than a "model drama".

From June 65438 to June 0967, People's Daily took the lead in calling for "popularizing revolutionary model operas and promoting the development of literary revolution", and the media continued to call for "further raising the upsurge of popularizing revolutionary model operas" until the late Cultural Revolution. In fact, the later "model operas", like the previous "Eighth National Congress", are all popular objects. It is precisely because they are all "model operas" that academic circles will compare them.

After the Cultural Revolution, some people thought that "there were only eight model operas" and called them "eight model operas" because they were the first eight operas, including Ode to the Long Jiang. Some people just regard the new drama as a "model drama" or an "informal" model drama, creating a "quasi-model drama" and a "sub-model drama" that did not exist originally.

In a word, it's a bit like "lemmings' collective suicide", and "there are only eight model operas" is just a legend.