On the Construction of the Aesthetic Community in Yan'an Drama Production

Yan'an literature and art was an important turning point in the development of Chinese literature and art. It was closely related to politics, history, and geography, and was of great significance for constructing a completely new form of Chinese literature and art. Yan'an literature and art covered many artistic categories, including prose, poetry, fiction, woodcut, fine arts, and dance. Among these, theatrical activities during the Yan'an period deserve special attention: "Theatre was not only the most accomplished of Yan'an literature and art; it was also the main activity of the Yan'an literary and art circles." [1]1 This quote is from an unspecified Yan'an-era source; the authors attribute it to the high status of theatre among the arts at that time. During the Yan'an period, theatre, as one of the most popular, most widespread, and fastest-spreading forms of literature and art, was closely related to the masses in terms of emotion, destiny, and education. It produced a number of outstanding dramatic works, formed a new paradigm of dramatic production, powerfully promoted the development of the national drama movement and revolutionary movement, made great contributions to the liberation cause of the Chinese nation, and helped usher in the "golden age" of the development of modern Chinese drama.

延安文艺是中国文艺发展过程中的一个重要转折点，其与政治、历史、地缘之间有着密切的关联，对建构全新的中国文艺形态意义重大。延安文艺涵盖了众多的艺术门类，包括散文、诗歌、小说、木刻、美术、舞蹈等，其中尤其需要关注的是延安时期的戏剧活动，“戏剧不独是延安文艺之中最有成就的，它并且是延安文艺界的主要活动”。延安时期，戏剧作为最受欢迎、普及率最高、传播速度最快的文艺形式之一，与广大人民群众从情感、命运、教育等方面密切相关，产出了一批优秀的戏剧作品，形成了全新的戏剧生产范式,有力地推动了全国戏剧运动与革命运动的发展，为中华民族的解放事业做出了巨大贡献，助推中国现代戏剧发展迎来了它的“黄金年代”。

Yan'an dramatic production activities constructed a completely new aesthetic community that took national liberation and universal equality as its ideal, aimed at realizing the unity of the two concepts of politics and aesthetics, and took the participation of the entire people in the process of artistic production as its main path. As the subjects and objects of aesthetic activity, drama workers and the masses actively entered the united front of artistic production for the great cause of national liberation, realizing the deep integration of intellectuals and the worker-peasant-soldier masses in art, opening up a new mode of dramatic art production, and playing a positive role in uniting the broad masses, advancing China's new-democratic revolution, and realizing the cause of national liberation.

延安戏剧生产活动建构了一个以民族解放和全民平等为理想、以实现政治与审美这两个概念的统一为目标，以全民参与到艺术生产过程中为主要路径的全新审美共同体。作为审美活动的主客体，戏剧工作者和人民群众为了民族解放的伟大事业主动投入艺术生产统一战线中，实现了知识分子与工农兵大众在艺术上的深度结合，开辟了戏剧艺术生产的新模式，对团结广大人民群众、推进我国新民主主义革命、实现民族解放事业起到了积极的作用。

I. Aesthetic Equality Is the Foundation of the Construction of the Aesthetic Community

一、审美平等是审美共同体建构的基础

During the Yan'an period, literary and art workers, mainly intellectuals, rushed from all over the country to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Revolutionary Base Area. Liberation Daily once boasted: "With the successive fall of cultural centers since the beginning of the War of Resistance and the rise of the political backlash in the rear, the cultural front in the rear has become desolate. Only Yan'an, as a mainstay, is the active heart of the country not only politically but also culturally." [2]2 Liberation Daily was the official newspaper of the CPC in Yan'an. However, differences in life experience and knowledge levels meant that literary and art workers and the masses in the revolutionary base area had great differences in artistic aesthetics, leading to an unequal aesthetic relationship between them.

延安时期，以知识分子为主体的文艺工作者从全国各地奔赴陕甘宁革命根据地，《解放日报》曾以骄傲的口吻写道：“随着抗战以来文化中心城市的相继失守，以及国内政治倒退逆流的高涨，大后方的文化阵地已显得一片荒凉，只有延安不但在政治而且文化上作中流砥柱，成为全国文化的活跃的心脏。”但是生活经历的差异和知识水平的差距，使文艺工作者和革命根据地的人民群众在艺术审美方面存在很大的不同，导致他们之间形成了不平等的审美关系。

The unequal aesthetic relationship was mainly reflected in the estrangement between elite culture, represented by intellectuals, and folk culture, represented by the masses. In Chinese history, elite culture had always had a class superiority over folk culture. Influenced by the May Fourth Movement, Yan'an drama workers consciously shouldered the historical responsibility of enlightenment and national salvation. They eagerly hoped to change the people's cognitive concepts through individual efforts, thereby awakening and educating the people. This required them to set aside their previous lofty sense of superiority in artistic production and bend down to meet the aesthetic needs of the masses. In order to integrate with the local people and achieve deep integration, drama workers took the initiative to live in cave dwellings and eat millet. However, this external "integration" did not achieve obvious results. Most of their early creations were still confined to the circle of intellectuals. In 1942, at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao Zedong pointed out that some literary and art workers tended to study the psychology of the petty-bourgeois intellectuals and lacked the ability to approach and depict the worker-peasant-soldier masses. "There are many comrades who, because they themselves come from the petty-bourgeoisie and are intellectuals, only seek friends among intellectuals and focus their attention on studying and portraying intellectuals." [3]3 This quotation is from Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" (1942).

不平等的审美关系主要体现在以知识分子为代表的精英文化和以人民群众为代表的民间文化之间的隔阂上。在中国历史上，精英文化相对民间文化一直有一种阶级上的优越性，受五四运动的影响，延安时期的戏剧工作者自觉地承担了启蒙和救国的历史责任，他们迫切地希望通过个体的努力，改变国民的认知观念，从而唤醒人民、教育人民，这要求他们在艺术生产中要放下既往高高在上的优越感，俯下身来贴合人民群众的审美需求。为了和当地老百姓打成一片，实现深度结合，戏剧工作者主动住进了土窑洞、吃上了小米饭，但是这种外在形式上的“结合”并没有起到明显的效果，他们的早期创作大多数仍然局限于知识分子的圈子里面。1942年，在延安文艺座谈会上，毛泽东指出文艺工作者中存在偏重研究小资产阶级知识分子心理，缺乏接近工农兵群众、表现工农兵群众的问题。“有许多同志，因为他们自己是从小资产阶级出身，自己是知识分子，于是就只在知识分子的队伍中找朋友，把自己的注意力放在研究和描写知识分子上面。”

On the other hand, due to the historical reverence for the cultural class in China and the extremely backward cultural level in northern Shaanxi, the masses had a natural respect for the literary and art workers who came from outside. However, respect did not mean recognition. Due to differences in aesthetic levels, the relationship between the masses and drama workers was initially one of estrangement and rejection. This estrangement and rejection directly led to the fact that artistic production activities were not recognized by artistic consumption, resulting in the phenomenon that dramatic productions were not loved by the masses, and ultimately formed an unequal aesthetic relationship in early Yan'an dramatic production. In a revolutionary base area that advocated "independence, freedom, and happiness," this aesthetic relationship directly affected the development of new-democratic revolutionary literature and art.

另一方面，由于中国历史上对文化阶层的尊崇以及陕北地区极度落后的文化水平，人民群众对外来的文艺工作者带有一种天然的尊重，但是尊重并不代表认可，由于各自审美水平的差异，人民群众和戏剧工作者在早期更多的是一种疏离、排斥的审美关系，这种疏离、排斥直接导致了艺术生产活动不被艺术消费认可，出现了戏剧生产不受人民群众喜爱的现象，最终形成了早期延安戏剧生产中不平等的审美关系。在提倡“独立、自由、幸福”的革命根据地，这种审美关系直接影响了新民主主义革命文艺的发展。

To solve the problem of aesthetic inequality, it was first necessary to change the drama workers' understanding of the masses. Mao Zedong, in his speech "Literary and Art Workers Must Integrate with the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers," repeatedly emphasized the importance of the workers, peasants and soldiers as the foundation of literary and artistic creation. To resolve the estrangement between literary and art workers and the masses, it was first necessary to establish an equal aesthetic relationship. Literary and art workers could not confine themselves to the petty-bourgeois aesthetic taste; instead, they had to learn from the broad masses, proceed from the actual life and real demands of the masses, establish an equal aesthetic relationship with them on this basis, and create artistic works that truly conformed to their survival logic and ideal vision. Under the influence of the literary and art policy of "serving the people," the identity positions and discursive power between drama producers and the masses also underwent a tremendous transformation. Drama production took on strong popular and national characteristics, and there was a tendency for elite aesthetics to cater to popular aesthetics. Elite culture and folk culture began to establish a completely new, equal aesthetic relationship.

要解决审美不平等问题，首先要转变戏剧工作者对人民群众的认识。毛泽东在《文艺工作者要同工农兵相结合》一文中反复强调工农兵作为文艺创作基础的重要性。要解决文艺工作者和人民群众之间的隔阂，就必须首先建立平等的审美关系。文艺工作者不能局限在小资产阶级的审美趣味中，而是要向广大人民群众学习，从人民群众的实际生活和现实诉求出发，与他们建立平等的审美关系基础上，创作出真正符合他们生存逻辑和理想愿景的艺术作品。在“为人民服务”的文艺方针影响下，戏剧生产者与人民群众之间的身份位置、话语权力等也发生了巨大的转变，戏剧生产出现了强烈的大众化和民族化特征，开始出现精英审美迎合民众审美的倾向，精英文化和民间文化开始建立一种全新的、平等的审美关系。

The establishment of an equal aesthetic relationship was reflected in the process of re-establishing the subject of dramatic production. Early Yan'an dramatic production was mainly based on art troupes, among which the representative ones were the Chinese Literary Association and the Northwest Battlefield Service Troupe. The plays "The Miner" and "The Secret" performed by the Drama Group of the Chinese Literary Association became the beginning of Yan'an theatrical activities. Ding Ling, as director of the Northwest Battlefield Service Troupe, created the spoken dramas "Reunion" and "Ichiro Kawamura," which were important achievements of the troupe's dramatic creation at that time. These art troupes were mostly composed of intellectuals, and in the aesthetic relationship at this stage, intellectuals held a clear advantage. On May 12, 1938, in his speech at the Lu Xun Academy of Art, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our two literary and art contingents—the contingent from the Shanghai garret and the contingent from the mountains—have come together." [4]4 The "Shanghai garret" refers to left-wing intellectuals who came from urban, often bourgeois backgrounds; the "contingent from the mountains" refers to veteran revolutionaries and local cadres in the base areas. The "coming together" of the "Shanghai garret" and the "contingent from the mountains" marked the beginning of the construction of an equal aesthetic relationship between drama workers and the masses. After this, more and more masses joined the dramatic production activities, gradually forming a new aesthetic relationship based on the equal mutual reciprocity of drama workers and the masses, and giving rise to literary and art groups represented by the "Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Mass Troupe," [5]5 The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Mass Troupe was a key theatrical group formed under the leadership of the CPC, known for its use of local folk forms. and distilling a collective creation model in which drama workers and the masses jointly carried out artistic production activities.

审美平等关系的建立表现在戏剧生产主体重新确立的过程中。延安早期戏剧生产主要以艺术团体为主，其中具有代表性的有中国文艺协会和西战团，中国文艺协会戏剧组演出的《矿工》《秘密》等剧，成为延安戏剧活动的开端。丁玲作为西战团主任，创作的话剧《重逢》《河内一郎》等是当时西战团戏剧创作的重要成果。这些艺术团体大多由知识分子组成，在该阶段的审美关系中知识分子居于明显的优势地位。1938年5月12日，毛泽东在鲁迅艺术学院的讲话中指出：“我们的两支文艺队伍，上海亭子间的队伍和山上的队伍，汇合到一起来了。”“上海亭子间”和“山上的队伍”的“汇合”标示戏剧工作者和人民群众之间平等审美关系建构的开始。在此之后，越来越多的人民群众加入戏剧生产活动中，逐渐形成了以戏剧工作者和人民群众平等互酬为基础的新的审美关系，出现了以“陕甘宁民众剧团”为代表的文艺社团，并凝练出了戏剧工作者和人民群众共同进行艺术生产活动的集体创作模式。

The establishment of an equal aesthetic relationship was also reflected in the continuous enrichment and adjustment of dramatic forms. In an equal aesthetic relationship, the aesthetic needs of each side should be fully respected. The "grand play" wave in Yan'an from 1940 to 1941 was originally intended to raise the overall level of Yan'an theatre. At the time, it did play a positive role in improving the artistic literacy of drama workers and the aesthetic ability of the masses. However, the "grand plays," with spoken drama as the main artistic form, implicitly raised the requirements for the audience's cultural cultivation, ignoring the actual knowledge level and aesthetic needs of the local masses in Yan'an, and even made the common people keep away from some "grand plays." After the "grand play" craze, a wave of new yangge opera swept Yan'an. This art form, beloved by the masses, quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys, giving rise to a large number of works such as "Brother and Sister Reclaiming Wasteland" and "Husband and Wife Learn to Read." At the same time, the reform of old operas in Yan'an was in full swing. Drama workers created a large number of new plays reflecting the revolutionary life of the Border Region army and civilians, including the newly compiled historical plays "Driven to Liangshan," "Three Attacks on the Zhu Family Fort," and "Qu Yuan," the modern Qinqiang operas "Checking the Road Pass," "Blood and Tears of Hatred," and "The People Are Forced to Revolt," and the Meihu operas "Everyone Likes It" and "Twelve Sickles." Whether it was the new yangge opera movement or the reform of old operas, these were typical examples of drama workers drawing close to the masses, actively respecting their aesthetic needs, and establishing an equal aesthetic relationship with them.

审美平等关系的建立还表现在戏剧形式的不断丰富和调整中。在平等的审美关系中，每一方的审美需求都应该得到充分的尊重。1940—1941年延安的“大戏”浪潮，本意是为了提高延安戏剧的整体水平，当时确实对提高戏剧工作者的艺术素养和人民群众的艺术审美能力起到了积极作用，但是以话剧为主要艺术形式的“大戏”无形中调高了对观众文化修养的要求，忽视了延安当地人民群众实际的知识水平和审美需求，甚至让老百姓对部分“大戏”敬而远之。在“大戏”热之后，延安掀起了新秧歌运动的高潮，这种为老百姓喜闻乐见的艺术形式一时之间传遍了大街小巷，涌现了《兄妹开荒》《夫妻识字》等一大批作品。与此同时，延安的旧剧改革运动如火如荼，广大戏剧工作者创作了以新编历史剧《逼上梁山》《三打祝家庄》《屈原》，秦腔现代戏《查路条》《血泪仇》《官逼民反》，眉户剧《大家喜欢》《十二把镰刀》等为代表的反映边区军民革命生活的新剧目。不管是新秧歌运动还是旧剧改革，都是戏剧工作者向人民群众靠拢，主动尊重人民群众的审美需求，与他们建立平等审美关系的典型例证。

In the process of establishing a new aesthetic relationship, the drama workers of the Border Region shed their petty-bourgeois aesthetic taste through the art of theatre and became genuine "spokespersons" for the masses. The masses, in the upsurge of watching and discussing theatre, discovered the contradictions and struggles in daily life; their thinking was awakened and educated, and they gradually improved their aesthetic abilities in theatrical activities. Each theatrical performance was an artistic scene that promoted the deep integration of drama workers and the masses, becoming an important opportunity to establish "aesthetic equality" between the two, thereby laying the foundation for the formation of a new dramatic aesthetic community.

在建立新审美关系的过程中，边区戏剧工作者借戏剧艺术摆脱了小资产阶级审美趣味，成为人民群众真正的“代言人”；人民群众则在观剧议剧的热潮中发现日常生活中的矛盾和斗争，他们的思想认识得到警醒、受到教育，并在戏剧活动中逐渐提高自己的审美能力。每一场戏剧表演都是促成戏剧工作者和人民群众深度结合的艺术现场，成为建立二者之间“审美平等”的重要契机，从而为形成新的戏剧审美共同体奠定基础。

Only with the establishment of "equality" among the members of the aesthetic community could they form a common aesthetic focus, manifested as common emotional expressions, destiny appeals, and educational aspirations. These elements distilled into different facets of the Yan'an dramatic aesthetic community. Through theatrical performances, drama workers transmitted this aesthetic focus to the masses watching the plays in a more vivid and concrete way. Theatre became a powerful weapon to change the masses' understanding of the world and raise their real-life aesthetic level, ultimately affecting the overall face of revolutionary production in the Yan'an period.

审美共同体成员之间有了“平等”的关系设定，才能够形成相同的审美聚焦，表现为共同的情感表达、命运诉求和教育志趣等，以上元素凝练成了延安戏剧审美共同体的不同向面。戏剧工作者通过戏剧展演将这种审美聚焦以更加生动形象的方式传递给看戏的人民群众，戏剧成为改变人民群众对世界的认识、提高他们现实审美水平的有力武器，并最终影响到延安时期革命生产的整体面貌。

II. Construction of an Emotional Community between Drama Workers and the Masses

二、戏剧工作者和人民群众的情感共同体构建

For Yan'an drama workers to establish an aesthetic community with the masses, they first had to establish an emotional community. In aesthetic activities, each participant was not isolated. Through aesthetic activities, individuals generated a common emotional experience. This common emotional experience prompted individuals to care for each other, leading them to form a unified understanding of certain things and concepts, thus forming an emotional community.

延安戏剧工作者要和人民群众之间建立审美共同体，首先要建立情感共同体。在审美活动中，每个参与者都是不孤独的，个体通过审美活动产生一种共同的情感体验，这种共同的情感体验促成个体之间互相关照，进而形成他们对某种事物和概念的同一理解，从而形成一个情感共同体。

Traditional Chinese opera originated among the people and was performed among the people. Why could it flourish for eight hundred years without decline? Because opera was the product of the writer's integration with the times and with the people. Playwrights expressed the joys, angers, sorrows, and happiness of the masses in their works, reflected the emotional pursuits of the masses through theatrical performance, and built a solid emotional community with the masses.

中国传统戏曲源自民间、演在民间，为什么能盛行八百年而不衰，是因为戏曲是作家与时代相结合、与人民相结合的产物。戏剧家在作品中表达人民群众的喜怒哀乐，以戏演的方式反映人民群众的情感追求，与人民群众搭建了牢固的情感共同体。

(1) Drama Workers Shared Emotions with the Masses

（一）戏剧工作者与人民群众同感共情

During the Yan'an period, for drama workers to establish an emotional community with the masses, it was necessary for them to undergo emotional conflict and fusion with the broad masses through joint production and labor. Only when they truly stood on the people's side to feel their lives and empathized with them on the basis of shared life could they better guide their artistic creation and truly serve the masses with their artistic activities.

延安时期，戏剧工作者要和人民群众建立一个情感共同体，要求戏剧工作者要与广大人民群众通过共同生产劳动经历情感上的对冲和融合。当他们真正站在人民的立场上感受人民群众的生活，在共同生活的基础上与人民同感共情，才能更好地指导他们的艺术创作，让艺术活动真正为人民群众服务。

"We literary and art workers of intellectual background must undergo a change, a remolding of our thoughts and feelings if we want our works to be welcomed by the masses. Without this change, without this remolding, nothing can be done well and everything will be at odds." [6]6 This quotation is from Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" (1942). During the Yan'an period, literary and art workers stepped out of their "garrets" and into the vast world of the masses' lives. They used the waves of the masses' feelings to inspire their literary and artistic creation, shaping a large number of dramatic images full of the literary and art workers' feelings and passion for life.

“我们知识分子出身的文艺工作者，要使自己的作品为群众所欢迎，就得把自己的思想感情来一个变化，来一番改造。没有这个变化，没有这个改造，什么事情都是做不好的，都是格格不入的。”延安时期，文艺工作者走出自我的“亭子间”，走向人民群众生活的广阔天地，他们用群众感情的浪潮带动文艺创作的灵感，塑造了一大批饱含文艺工作者对生活的感触和激情的戏剧形象。

Take the artistic production process of China's first new opera, "The White-Haired Girl," as an example. The prototype of this story came from the folk "Legend of the Hairy Maiden" in the Hebei region. The earliest extant record of the "Hairy Maiden" is in "The Biographies of Immortals" by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty: "The Hairy Maiden, in the Huayin Mountains, was seen generation after generation by mountain visitors and hunters. Her body was covered with hair. She claimed to be a palace maid of the First Emperor of Qin. When Qin fell, she entered the mountains, ate pine needles, and thus could do without hunger or cold, and her body was as light as if flying." [7]7 Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE) was a Han dynasty scholar-official; his "Biographies of Immortals" collects tales of Daoist transcendents. In the "Extensive Records of the Taiping Era" of the Tang Dynasty, it is recorded: "At the Cloud Terrace Temple on Huashan Mountain, there was a maid named Jade Maiden, forty-five years old, seriously ill, her whole body festering and stinking. The temple people, fearing contamination, sent her together to a secluded place in the mountain stream." [8]8 "Extensive Records of the Taiping Era" is a Song dynasty encyclopedia compiled under imperial order. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, legends of the "Hairy Maiden" appeared in Chen Shangsheng's "Miscellaneous Talks from the Zanshui Lou" and Zhang Chao's "Sequel to the New Accounts of Yu Chu." [9]9 Chen Shangsheng and Zhang Chao were Qing dynasty writers; the works cited are collections of miscellaneous tales. The "Hairy Maiden" became a typical folk artistic image of a mysterious and tragic figure forced to leave real life after suffering hardship. Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" repeatedly emphasized that literary and art works must merge with the masses in thought and feeling, and the issue of taking the people's side was prominently reflected in the creative process of the opera "The White-Haired Girl." After hearing the legend of the "Hairy Maiden" circulating in the Jin-Cha-Ji region, drama workers delved into the process of the folk story's emergence and dissemination. Through this, they experienced the tragic fate of the masses in the old society, generated strong emotional resonance, and were inspired by a strong will to create for the masses and cry out for them. The play's main creator, He Jingzhi, recalled in his article "The Red Flag on My Shoulder, the Book in My Hand": "The love and hate, sorrow and joy of the creators must be consistent with those of the oppressed masses in the work, in the audience, and in life." [10]10 He Jingzhi (1924–) was a poet and playwright, one of the main creators of "The White-Haired Girl." They went deep into the lives of the masses, empathized with them, transformed this emotion into the driving force for dramatic production, expressed the masses' sorrows, joys, and suffering through dramatic production, and on the basis of the "Hairy Maiden" legend, extracted the great revolutionary theme of "the old society turned people into ghosts, the new society turns ghosts back into people," creating China's first new opera, "The White-Haired Girl." From its premiere, the opera was widely welcomed by the masses and remained popular for many years, becoming a classic work of red drama in China. The prerequisite for its success was the formation of an emotional community between the artistic creators and the masses.

以中国首部新歌剧《白毛女》的艺术生产过程为例，这个故事原型来河北地区民间的“毛女传说”。西汉刘向所著的《列仙传》是目前可考的关于“毛女”的最早记录：“毛女,在华阴山中，山客猎师世世见之。形体生毛，自言秦始皇宫人，秦亡入山，食松叶，遂不饥寒，身轻如飞。”唐代《太平广志》中记载：“华山云台观有婢玉女，年四十五，大疾，遍身溃烂臭秽。观中人惧其污染，即共送于山涧幽僻之处。”明清时期陈尚生的《簪雪楼杂说》、张潮辑录的《虞初新志》中都有关于“毛女”的传说。“毛女”成为遭遇苦难后被迫脱离现实生活，富有神秘悲情色彩的典型民间艺术形象。毛泽东《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》反复强调文艺作品要和人民群众在思想感情上打成一片，立足点在人民这一边的问题在歌剧《白毛女》的创作过程中得到突出体现。戏剧工作者听到晋察冀地区流传的“毛女”传说后，深入了解了这个民间故事的产生和传播过程，他们借此体验到了旧社会人民群众的悲惨命运，产生了强烈的情感共鸣，激发了他们为人民群众创作、为他们呐喊的强烈意愿。该剧主创贺敬之在《肩膀上的红旗手中的书》一文中回忆道：“创作人员的爱与恨、悲与欢要与作品中、观众中和生活中广大被压迫人民的相一致。”他们深入人民群众的生活，与人民群众同感共情，将这种感情转化为戏剧生产的动力，通过戏剧生产表现人民群众的悲喜苦乐，在“毛女”传说的基础上提炼出“旧社会把人变成鬼、新社会把鬼变成人”的宏大革命主题，创作了中国首部新歌剧《白毛女》。该剧首演后就受到人民群众的广泛欢迎，历经多年常演不衰，成为我国红色戏剧的经典作品，其成功的先决条件就是艺术创作者和人民群众情感共同体的形成。

During the Yan'an period, the cultural level of the masses in northern Shaanxi was relatively backward. Many people could not understand novels, poetry, and the like at all. By comparison, they preferred traditional folk art forms. Northern Shaanxi yangge opera evolved from ancient rituals of entertaining gods and offering sacrifices. From its historical development, it is not difficult to find that it not only had the literary and artistic function of entertaining gods and the people but also continuously sedimented through repeated performances in the fields and villages, eventually becoming a public, sacred ritual symbol and an important part of northern Shaanxi's regional culture. The people's love for yangge made it one of the most important art forms at the time. The Party Central Committee called on literary and art workers to go deep among the masses and seek new forms and new sources of creation in the people's lives. With the deepening of the work of sending literature and art to the countryside, yangge became an important form of Yan'an dramatic production. According to statistics, in six years in Yan'an, about 302 yangge operas were performed, covering most areas of northern Shaanxi. From the Spring Festival of 1943 to the first half of 1944 alone, more than 300 yangge operas were created and performed in the Yan'an area, with an audience of eight million person-times. [11]11 These statistics are drawn from historical records of Yan'an cultural activities.

延安时期，陕北地区的群众文化水平较为落后，很多人根本无法理解小说、诗歌等，相比而言，他们更喜欢传统的民间文艺形式。陕北秧歌是由古代的娱神祭祀活动发展演变而来，从历史发展中不难发现，它不仅具有祭神娱民的文艺功用，而且在田野乡间反复上演的过程中不断沉淀，最终形成公共的、神圣化的仪式象征体，成为陕北地域文化中重要的组成部分。老百姓对秧歌的喜爱使其成为当时最重要的艺术形式之一。党中央号召广大文艺工作者深入人民群众中去，到人民生活中寻找文艺的新形式和创作的新源泉，随着文艺下乡工作的深入开展，秧歌成为延安戏剧生产的重要形式之一。据统计，在延安六年的时间里共表演秧歌剧302部左右，覆盖陕北绝大部分地区，仅1943年春节到1944年上半年，延安地区就创作并演出了三百多部秧歌剧，观众达八百万人次。

The yangge opera "Brother and Sister Reclaiming Wasteland" was created in the early period of the Yan'an "Great Production Movement." [12]12 The Great Production Movement was a self-sufficiency campaign launched by the CPC in the base areas during the war to overcome economic hardship. The play depicts a scene where a brother pretends to be lazy during labor, causing his sister to get angry and criticize him, reproducing the fiery labor scenes of the revolutionary base area and eulogizing the new laboring people of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, greatly inspiring the masses' enthusiasm for production and labor. Once performed, the play was warmly welcomed by the masses. The root of the success of "Brother and Sister Reclaiming Wasteland" lay in the fact that drama workers truly achieved emotional communion with the masses in the process of artistic production. "Starting from emotion, communicating through emotion" was the internal production mechanism of the play. Yangge was a folk art form beloved by the people of northern Shaanxi, but the advocacy of love and the explicit descriptions of eroticism displayed in old yangge were incompatible with the construction of a new culture. Drama workers started from the masses' love for the yangge form, transforming the original "licentiousness" [13]13 "Licentiousness" (骚情) here refers to the risqué content of traditional yangge, which the reform movement aimed to eliminate. of flirtation between men and women into the optimistic and positive relationship between brother and sister. While preserving the folk atmosphere of humor and wit, it also presented a healthy and lively image of the new peasant, becoming a key element in breaking through the aesthetic estrangement between creators and audiences, and truly achieving "communication through emotion." The grand mission of labor production and the simple, open folk narrative were organically integrated, giving this yangge opera a moving aesthetic quality.

秧歌剧《兄妹开荒》创作于延安“大生产运动”的早期，该剧讲述了兄妹两个在劳动过程中哥哥假装偷懒，逗得妹妹生气批评他的场景，再现了革命根据地热火朝天的劳动场面，讴歌了陕甘宁边区的劳动新人，极大地鼓舞了人民群众的生产劳动热情。该剧一经演出就受到人民群众的热烈欢迎。《兄妹开荒》成功的根源就在于戏剧工作者在艺术生产过程中真正做到了和人民群众情感共通，“以情入手、以情相通”是该剧内在的生产机制。秧歌是陕北地区老百姓喜闻乐见的一种民间艺术形式，但是旧秧歌中所展现出来的那些爱情的鼓吹，色情的露骨的描写却是与新文化建设格格不入的。戏剧工作者从民众对秧歌的喜爱之情入手，将原本男女之间打情骂俏的“骚情”改造为乐观积极的兄妹之情，既保留了诙谐幽默的民间气氛，又展现了健康活泼的新农民形象，成为打通创作者和观众审美隔阂的关键要素，真正实现了“以情相通”。劳动生产的宏大使命和朴素开朗的民间叙事有机融合在一起，使这部秧歌剧具有了动人的审美品质。

(2) Emotional Interaction between the Masses and Drama Workers

（二）人民群众与戏剧工作者的情感互动

The emotional communion between theatre and the people was not a one-way path, but an interactive process of artistic production and consumption. During the Yan'an period, under the guidance of the policy to "inherit all the excellent literary and artistic legacies and critically absorb all beneficial elements from them as material for creating literary and artistic works from the life of the people here and now," [14]14 This is a paraphrase of the policy on inheriting literary legacies as articulated in Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art." dramatic production absorbed and drew on the creative tradition in which opera was bound up with the fate of the masses, expanded it to all dramatic creation, and began a new era of dramatic production with historical accumulation and the sense of mission of the new era. Drama workers used their works to express their emotional experiences and submitted to the people's appreciation and criticism. The masses, in turn, gave positive responses to this emotional expression and injected their own emotions into dramatic production, becoming an inexhaustible source of inspiration for drama workers.

戏剧与人民情感互通不是一个单向路径，而是一个互动的艺术生产和消费过程。延安时期戏剧生产在“继承一切优秀的文学艺术遗产，批判地吸收其中一切有益的东西，作为我们从此时此地的人民生活中的文学艺术原料创作作品时候的借鉴”方针指引下，吸收并借鉴了戏曲与人民群众休戚与共的创作传统，将其扩大到整个戏剧创作中去，带着历史的积淀和新时代的使命感开始了新时期的戏剧生产。戏剧工作者用戏剧作品表达他们的情感体验、接受人民的赏鉴批评，人民群众则会对这种情感表达给予积极的回应，并将自己的情感注入戏剧生产中，成为戏剧工作者生产涌动不息的创作源泉。

After the performance of the new opera "The White-Haired Girl," the masses expressed their feelings and opinions after watching the play through on-site exchanges with the main creators and letters. Even the peasants of Qiaozhen Township in Yan'an and the cooks at the Lu Xun Academy of Art actively offered suggestions for revising the play. The Lu Xun Academy even put up a special wall newspaper specifically for criticizing and offering opinions on "The White-Haired Girl." Driven by the great emotional wave after watching the play, the broad masses joined in dramatic production. They reciprocated the drama workers' artistic production by exchanging their feelings about the play and participating in dramatic creation activities, transforming from being purely aesthetic consumers into having the dual identity of aesthetic producer and consumer. "The White-Haired Girl" was widely acclaimed, and the script quickly spread from Yan'an to all parts of the country, undergoing multiple revisions in different periods and regions. Among these, the three revisions of the Yan'an edition, the Northeast edition, and the Beijing edition were the most notable. These three drafts contained the simple emotions of the masses. Through the play, they touched the love, hate, pain, and suffering buried in the complexity of daily life and sublimated them into revolutionary feelings. The common people, watching the performance of "The White-Haired Girl," said: "This is all true! We all came from the old society. Seeing the girl's miserable plight, who couldn't help but shed tears?" [15]15 This quote is from recollections of audience reactions to "The White-Haired Girl." The feelings suppressed in their life of suffering were recognized and released, and their revolutionary enthusiasm was ignited: "Even the children in the streets knew the name of Huang Shirren. After you capture them (prisoners of war), you don't need to give them political lessons or force them. Just let them watch 'The White-Haired Girl' once, and they will consciously follow our old Eighth Route Army soldiers to fight the enemy, and they will fight fearlessly and unflinchingly." [16]16 This quote illustrates the political effect of the play on captive enemy soldiers.

新歌剧《白毛女》演出之后，群众用与主创人员现场交流、写信等方式表达他们观剧后的感情和意见，连延安桥镇乡的农民甚至是鲁艺的炊事员都积极地为该剧的修改提供意见。鲁艺甚至专门出了一个墙报，用来给《白毛女》挑刺、提意见。广大人民群众在观剧后巨大的情感浪潮推动下加入戏剧生产中，他们用交流观剧感受、参与戏剧创作活动等方式回馈戏剧工作者的艺术生产，从既往单纯的审美消费者转变为审美生产者和消费者的双重身份。《白毛女》演出广受好评，剧本迅速从延安走向全国，在不同时期和地区经过多次修订，其中延安版、东北版、北京版三版的修改较为明显，这三稿修改蕴含着人民群众朴素的情感。他们通过戏剧触发掩盖在繁杂生活中的爱恨苦痛，并将其升华为革命感情。老百姓看到《白毛女》的表演：“这一满都是实情啊，咱们都是从旧社会上经过来的。看了那女子的凄惶光景，谁不是眼泪珠子不拉拉价！”他们在受苦受难的生活中被压抑的感情得到了认可和释放，他们的革命热情被点燃：“连街上的小孩都知道黄世仁的名字，你把他们（战俘）俘虏过来后，不用给他们上政治课，不用勉强他们，只要让他们看一遍《白毛女》，他们就会很自觉地跟着我们的老八路战士去打击敌人，而且奋不顾身、不怕牺牲。”

The masses actively participated in dramatic production, and drama workers sincerely listened to the masses' opinions and revised the scripts accordingly, forming a positive emotional cycle between drama workers and the masses. "Valuing theatre and criticizing it enthusiastically—this was a major characteristic of Yan'an cultural life. This was true for both cadres and the masses." [17]17 This is a description of Yan'an theatre culture from a contemporary source. Drama workers sat among the audience to watch the plays together, experiencing the sincere emotions the audience felt during the performances and listening to their evaluations. After the shows, drama workers widely collected the masses' opinions through visits and letters, truly empathizing and communicating with them heart to heart. This flow of emotions greatly stimulated the masses' enthusiasm for dramatic production activities and bridged the gap between traditional dramatic production and the aesthetic demands of the masses.

人民群众积极参与到戏剧生产中来，戏剧工作者则诚恳听取人民群众的意见，再根据群众意见对剧本进行修改，形成了戏剧工作者和人民群众之间情感的正向循环。“重视戏剧,热烈批评，这在延安文化生活上是一大特点。无论干部群众都是如此。”戏剧工作者坐在观众中间和他们一起看戏，现场感受他们观剧时候产生的真挚情感、听取他们的评价，散戏后戏剧工作者通过访问和信件等方式广泛收集群众意见，真正做到与人民群众共情交心。这种情感的流动极大地激发了人民群众对戏剧生产活动的热情，弥合了传统戏剧生产和人民群众审美诉求之间的裂隙。

III. Construction of a Community of National Destiny between Drama Workers and the Masses

三、戏剧工作者和人民群众的民族命运共同体构建

Dramatic art cannot stir and educate the people by emotional resonance alone. The construction of an aesthetic community during the Yan'an period required not only a political reconfiguration of the social hierarchy and distribution order but also an aesthetic recasting of the immediately perceptible experience. In these two recastings, an inner identity between the “political” and the “aesthetic” took shape, providing a basis for the dissolution of the boundary between them, and making it practically feasible to construct an aesthetic community in the activities of literary-artistic production and political activity.

戏剧艺术要触发人民、教育人民，仅仅依靠情感的共通是不够的。延安时期的审美共同体建构需要从政治的角度重构整个社会的阶层和分配秩序，也需要从美学角度对当下可感的经验进行重构，在这两种重构中，形成了“政治”与“美学”的内在同一性，为“政治”与“美学”之间的边界消解提供了基础，在文艺生产活动和政治活动中建构一个审美共同体就具有了现实可行性。

The concept of “the nation” is an “imagined political community.” At a historical moment of existential crisis, the community of “the nation” played a tremendous role in stimulating political mobilization and arousing the masses. Through “the nation,” a trans-local universal identity could be forged: people living in different regions transcended their native places to form a universal sense of identification, and these identifications could be achieved through the activities of a small number of specific groups. When national destiny was linked to individual destiny, forming a national community of shared destiny, it became possible to call on all members of this community to struggle and fight for a common fate. “Politics” and “aesthetics” were fused through the epochal theme of “national liberation.” “Politics” was endowed with aesthetic meaning through dramatic aesthetic activities, while “aesthetic” activities became a powerful weapon for political resistance against aggression and oppression and for the struggle for freedom and liberation.

“民族”这个概念是一个“想象的政治共同体”。在面临生死存亡的历史时刻，“民族”这个共同体在激发政治动员、唤起人民群众中发挥着巨大的作用。通过“民族”能够连接起超地域的普遍认同，居住在不同地区的人超越自己的世居地形成了一种普遍的认同感，这些认同感可以借由少数的特定团体的活动而达成。当民族命运与个人命运关联起来，形成一个民族命运共同体，就可以号召这个共同体中的所有人为了共同的命运而抗争和奋斗。“政治”与“审美”通过“民族解放”的时代命题实现了二者之间的融合。“政治”通过戏剧审美活动被赋予了美学意义，“审美”活动则成为政治上对抗侵略压迫、争取自由解放的有力武器。

In his speech at the opening ceremony of Yan'an University, Mao Zedong pointed out: “All our work has only one goal, which is to overthrow Japanese imperialism and drive Japanese imperialism out of China.”[18]18 Mao Zedong, “Speech at the Opening Ceremony of Yan'an University” (1944), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*. The anti-Japanese movement needed to unite the broadest masses of the people; literature and art had to “ally” with the masses, and through this “alliance” form a national community of shared destiny, so that everyone could join the anti-imperialist and anti-aggression struggle as a member of that community. This was the process of sinicizing the construction of an imagined national community. The convening of the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art and the clarification of the guidelines for the drama movement enabled drama workers, in the course of bringing culture to the countryside, to deeply appreciate the bitter fate of the masses and to develop a spiritual aspiration to share their suffering and destiny, thereby helping them more profoundly understand the important historical mission they bore of using drama to unite hearts and minds and construct a national community of shared destiny.

毛泽东在延安大学开学典礼上的讲话中指出：“我们的一切工作，只有一个目标，就是打倒日本帝国主义，驱逐日本帝国主义出中国。”抗日运动需要团结最广大的人民群众，文艺要和人民群众进行“联合”，通过“联合”形成一个民族命运共同体，让所有人都以民族命运共同体一分子的角色投入反帝反侵略的斗争中去，这是民族想象共同体构建的中国化进程。延安文艺座谈会的召开和戏剧运动方针的明确，使戏剧工作者在文化下乡过程中深切体会到人民群众悲苦的命运，产生与人民同悲苦、共命运的精神诉求，从而帮助他们更加深刻地认识到所肩负的以戏剧凝聚人心、建构民族命运共同体的重要历史使命。

Specifically in drama production, dramatic works themselves possess a characteristic that points toward communal life: they can bring people aesthetic pleasure while also bearing the mission of making our political life healthier. Drama workers used their works to express the present bitter fate of the masses and to excavate the grand theme of the people's struggle to change their fate; the masses, through dramatic works, sensed the tides of epochal change and generated revolutionary aspirations to transform heaven and earth, thus forming a national community of shared destiny between drama workers and the masses.

具体到戏剧生产中，戏剧作品本身就带有一种指向共同体生活的特征，它既能带给人们审美的愉悦感，同时也承担着让我们的政治生活变得更加健康的使命。戏剧工作者用作品表达人民群众当下的苦难命运，挖掘人民为改变命运而奋斗的宏大主题；人民群众则通过戏剧作品感受到时代变革的浪潮，产生改天换地的革命愿望，从而形成戏剧工作者和人民群众之间的民族命运共同体。

Take the production of modern Qinqiang opera during the Yan'an period as an example. Northern Shaanxi belonged to the Qin region, and Qinqiang was very popular locally. The culture of the Qin region nurtured a tradition of storytelling about history; by the Tang and Song dynasties, a custom of “popular lectures on official history” gradually took shape. Qinqiang took shape in the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi around the Zhengde reign of the Ming dynasty.[19]19 Zhengde reign of the Ming dynasty (1506-1521); Qinqiang is a traditional opera originating in the Qin region (present-day Shaanxi and Gansu). In the late Ming, Qinqiang spread to northern Shaanxi along with the movements of troops; the rebel army of Li Zicheng, the “Daring King,” once used Qinqiang as military music.[20]20 Li Zicheng (1606-1645), leader of the peasant rebellion that overthrew the Ming dynasty; his forces used Qinqiang as military music. Besides military transmission, merchants from Shaanxi and Shanxi were also the main agents of Qinqiang's spread: trade routes were opera routes, and opera spread through the migration of merchants; in the late Ming and early Qing, the rise of Shaanxi merchants allowed Qinqiang to spread even better in northern Shaanxi, where it was widely welcomed by the local populace. “The Qinqiang of the Northwest is the folk opera of the Northwest that is relatively complete and capable of expressing complex content.” Qinqiang excels at expressing simple emotions in a rough and uninhibited manner. Grief, pathos, sorrow, and solemnity became the most prominent features of Qinqiang vocal art. Influenced by the culture of the Qin region, especially the Guanxue school,[21]21 Guanxue, a Neo-Confucian school originating in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi during the Song dynasty, emphasizing practical statecraft and moral cultivation. Qinqiang differs from the entertainment-oriented operas of the south; it focuses more on unsentimental and weighty historical concerns, eulogizing passionate patriotic sentiments and the personal destinies of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness. A series of traditional plays such as “Offering Sacrifices at the Tomb,” “Weeping at the Ancestral Temple,” and “Madam Wang Teaches Her Son” had a broad mass base in northern Shaanxi.[22]22 Traditional Qinqiang plays: “Offering Sacrifices at the Tomb” (Ji Ling), “Weeping at the Ancestral Temple” (Ku Zumiao), and “Madam Wang Teaches Her Son” (Sanniang Jiaoxi).

以延安时期的秦腔现代戏生产为例，陕北隶属秦地，秦腔在延安当地很受欢迎，秦地文化孕育了讲史的传统，到唐宋以后逐渐形成了“正史俗讲”的风气，秦腔形成于明正德前后的陕西关中地区，明代后期秦腔随着军队的活动传播到了陕北地区，闯王李自成的义军就曾经把秦腔作为军乐。除了军队传播之外，山陕商人也是秦腔传播的主力，商路即戏路，戏曲依靠商人的迁徙而传播，明末清初，陕商崛起使秦腔更好地在陕北地区传播开来，并受到当地老百姓的普遍欢迎。“西北的秦腔，是西北民间比较完整而且能够表现复杂内容的歌剧。”秦腔擅长以粗犷豪放的方式表达朴素的情感，悲情、悲怆、悲切、悲壮成为秦腔声腔艺术中最为突出的特征；受秦地文化尤其是关学的浸染影响，秦腔与南方偏重于娱乐的戏曲不同，它更偏重于关注朴实厚重的历史忧患、歌颂慷慨激昂的家国情怀和忠孝节义的个人命运。《祭灵》《哭祖庙》《三娘教子》等一系列传统剧目在陕北地区有广泛的群众基础。

During the Yan'an period, drama troupes represented by the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region Troupe[23]23 The Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region was one of the main Communist base areas during the War of Resistance against Japan, with its capital at Yan'an. deeply explored Qinqiang's rich artistic heritage, attempting to infuse it with modern spirit and revolutionary ideas, and modern Qinqiang opera was born. In 2022, the author conducted an exclusive interview with Miao Baoping, a national first-class actor, council member of the Shaanxi Provincial Dramatists Association, chairman of the Yan'an Dramatists Association, and head of the Yan'an People's Troupe. According to him: “Before Liberation, the common people in northern Shaanxi really liked Qinqiang. Before 1938, every county and every village had many small Qinqiang troupes performing. Thirteen counties and districts, including Huangling, Yijun, Luochuan, Fuxian, Yanchang, Zichang, Yanchuan, and others, all mainly sang Qinqiang. At festivals, weddings, and funerals, these troupes would take the stage to perform. The common people loved to watch, listen to and sing Qinqiang. Chairman Mao told Ke Zhongping of the People's Troupe to organize these village troupes to serve our propaganda for the Communist Party – not just to sing old plays, but to sing modern plays and perform modern history. Only then did Ke Zhongping organize these troupes and found the Shaan-Gan-Ning People's Troupe, which began large-scale Qinqiang creation and performance.”[24]24 Ke Zhongping (1902-1964), poet and revolutionary, served as the first head of the Shaan-Gan-Ning People’s Troupe; Miao Baoping is a contemporary actor quoted by the authors. Under Mao Zedong's guidance, Qinqiang was transformed from a traditional folk opera into an important literary and artistic force advancing the proletarian revolutionary cause.

延安时期，以陕甘宁边区剧团为代表的戏剧社团深入挖掘秦腔深厚的艺术底蕴，尝试将现代精神和革命思想注入其中，秦腔现代戏应运而生。2022年笔者专访了国家一级演员、陕西省戏剧家协会理事、延安戏剧协会主席、延安民众剧团团长苗宝平，据他介绍：“秦腔在解放前的陕北地区是很受老百姓喜欢了，1938年以前各县各村都有很多演出秦腔的小戏班，黄陵、宜君、洛川、富县、延长、子长、延川等十三个县区都以唱秦腔为主，逢年过节婚丧嫁娶时这些戏班就会登台展演，老百姓爱看爱听也爱唱。毛主席当时对民众剧团的柯仲平说让把活跃在农村的这些戏班班组织起来，为咱们宣传共产党服务，不要光唱古戏、要唱现代的戏、演现在的历史，之后才由柯仲平将这些戏班组织起来，成立了陕甘宁民众剧团，开始大规模的秦腔创作和表演。”在毛泽东的指导下，秦腔由传统的民间戏曲变成了推动无产阶级革命事业的重要文艺力量。

According to statistics, from 1938 to 1947, nearly twenty modern Qinqiang operas were staged in the Yan'an area. The Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region People's Troupe fully tapped the local dramatic resources of northern Shaanxi and successively produced outstanding works such as “Little Cowherd,” “Twelve Sickles,” “Blood Debt,” “Everybody's Happy,” “The Poor's Hatred,” and “Soul of China.”[25]25 Modern Qinqiang and Meihu plays produced in the Yan'an period. “Blood Debt” (Xuelei Chou) and “The Poor’s Hatred” (Qiongren Hen) are well-known examples of class-struggle themes. These new plays borrowed the old forms of Qinqiang, Meihu opera[26]26 Meihu opera, a local opera form of Shaanxi, closely related to Qinqiang but more melodic and focused on everyday life. and others to propagate the rationale of anti-Japanese national salvation to the masses and were warmly welcomed by the common people. The troupe's Ma Jianling, for his outstanding contributions to modern Qinqiang creation, was awarded the glorious title of “Artist of the Masses” in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region.[27]27 Ma Jianling (1909-1965), a playwright and director known for modernizing Qinqiang and creating many influential works for the People’s Troupe. “Blood Debt” is his representative modern Qinqiang work from the Yan'an period. The play was produced in the later period of the Anti-Japanese War, when the Guomindang, in order to seize the fruits of victory, regarded the Liberated Areas as the primary enemy to deal with next. They increased levies and grain requisitions in the Guomindang-ruled areas and forcibly conscripted able-bodied men, making life unbearable for the common people there. Against this historical backdrop, the “Blood Debt” written by Ma Jianling tells the bitter fate of Wang Renhou, a Henan peasant. After suffering a series of blows in the Guomindang area – his son taken as a conscript, his daughter-in-law and wife humiliated and driven to suicide – Wang Renhou takes his daughter and grandson and flees to the Border Region, where he begins a new life of brightness. Later, Wang Renhou's son Wang Dongcai, under enemy enticement and threats, infiltrates the Liberated Area to poison people, but nearly poisons his own son, Gouwa. After learning the truth, Wang Dongcai confesses his crime, and with the help of the Border Region government, the family is finally reunited. Through the different living conditions of Wang Renhou's family in the Guomindang area and the Liberated Area, the play “vividly and profoundly expresses the historical choice of the Chinese people between two kinds of destiny and two prospects – to abandon darkness, move toward light, and go to the Border Region,” depicting the choice between two destinies facing the Chinese people at a critical historical moment, and calling on the people of the Guomindang areas to abandon darkness and move toward light. Ma Jianling moved the broad masses through the bitter experiences of Wang Renhou's family in the Guomindang area, and inspired the people through the happy life of the people in the Liberated Area. Zhou Yang once praised this script together with “The White-Haired Girl” for “raising the theme of class struggle and endowing it with a strong romantic coloring.”[28]28 Zhou Yang (1908-1989), a leading Marxist literary theorist and cultural official of the Chinese Communist Party. “The White-Haired Girl” (Bai Mao Nü) is a famous revolutionary opera from the Yan'an period. By shaping a typical artistic image that gathered the common fate of the vast number of sufferers, the protagonist of the drama became a model for the audience to struggle against fate. Wang Renhou's experiences in the Guomindang area mobilized thousands upon thousands of “Wang Renhous.” They spontaneously connected themselves with Wang Renhou, projecting their own fates onto him. The individual was no longer a solitary individual but a member of a group fighting against fate, a member of the revolutionaries striving for the nation's destiny. In the national community of shared destiny, the value of the individual was realized as never before; everyone's struggle was endowed with a new meaning of driving history and transforming heaven and earth. The simple individual resistance of the masses turned toward the great mission of national rejuvenation, thus forming an entirely new national community of shared destiny.

据统计，1938年到1947年期间，延安地区共上演秦腔现代戏近20部，陕甘宁边区民众剧团充分挖掘陕北当地的戏剧资源，先后生产了《小放牛》《十二把镰刀》《血泪仇》《大家喜欢》《穷人恨》《中国魂》等优秀剧目，这些新剧借用秦腔、眉户等旧剧形式，向人民群众宣传抗日救亡的道理，受到老百姓的热烈欢迎。该剧团的马健翎因为在秦腔现代戏创作方面的杰出贡献，荣获陕甘宁边区“人民群众的艺术家”光荣称号，《血泪仇》是他延安时期的秦腔现代戏代表作，该剧生产于抗日战争后期，国民党为了抢夺胜利果实，将解放区当作他们下一步要对付的首要敌人，他们增加国统区的派粮派款，强征壮丁入伍，使国统区老百姓的日子苦不堪言。在这个时代背景下，马健翎生产的《血泪仇》讲述了河南农民王仁厚的悲苦命运，王仁厚在国统区遭受儿子被抓壮丁、儿媳和老伴遭凌辱自戕等一连串的打击后，携带女儿、孙子投奔边区，开启了光明的新生活。后来王仁厚的儿子王东才在敌人诱逼下潜入解放区投毒，谁料差点毒死自己的儿子狗娃，得知真相的王东才坦白了自己的罪恶，在边区政府的帮助下一家人最终得以团圆。该剧通过王仁厚一家在国统区和解放区不同的生存现状，“生动而又深刻地表现了中国人民在两种命运、两种前途面前的历史性选择——抛弃黑暗，走向光明，走向边区。”表现了中国人民在重大历史时刻面临的两种命运的选择，呼吁广大国统区人民抛弃黑暗，走向光明。马健翎通过王仁厚一家在国统区的悲苦遭遇感动广大群众，在解放区人民的幸福生活中激励人民。周扬曾盛赞这个剧本和《白毛女》一起“提出了阶级斗争主题，赋予了这个主题以强烈的浪漫色彩”。通过塑造一个汇聚广大受苦受难者共同命运的典型艺术形象，戏剧故事中的主人公成为观剧者命运抗争的榜样，王仁厚在国统区的遭遇动员了千千万万个“王仁厚”，他们自发地将自己和王仁厚连接在一起，在他身上投影自己的命运，个人不再是孤独的个体，而是反抗命运的群体中的一员、为民族命运奋斗的革命者中的一分子。在民族命运共同体这个群体中，个体的价值得到前所未有的体现，每个人的奋斗都被赋予了推动历史、改天换地的全新意义，人民群众朴素的个体抗争转向了民族复兴的伟大使命，从而形成了一个全新的民族命运共同体。

After “Blood Debt” was staged, it was very popular among the common people. After seeing “Blood Debt,” Wang Zhen wrote a special letter to Ma Jianling:[29]29 Wang Zhen (1908-1993), a general of the People’s Liberation Army and later a senior Party leader. “The audience was stirred by the plot, filled with intense hatred for the enemies of the people and deep sympathy for the people suffering under multiple oppressions.” “A Chiang Kai-shek soldier who had just laid down his weapons cried for two full days after watching ‘Blood Debt’ and ‘Defend Peace,’ neither eating nor drinking, just digging trenches and swearing to fight Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan to the death.”[30]30 Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Zongnan, the supreme leader and a key general of the Nationalist Guomindang government. Through the production and dissemination of “Blood Debt,” it can be seen that the community of shared destiny established between drama workers and the masses played a positive role in actual struggle. Through drama, the masses closely linked their own fate with that of the characters and the times, and every individual became an important force driving the great cause of class struggle.

《血泪仇》上演之后很受老百姓喜爱，王震在看过《血泪仇》后专门致信马健翎：“观众都在为剧情激动着，对于人民的敌人高度的仇恨，对于深受重重压迫的人民高度的同情。”“一个刚放下武器的蒋军士兵，看了《血泪仇》《保卫和平》后哭了整整两天，不吃不喝，光是埋头挖战壕，发誓要和蒋介石胡宗南拼命。”通过《血泪仇》的生产和传播可以看出，戏剧工作者与人民群众之间建立的命运共同体在现实斗争中起到了积极的作用，人民群众通过戏剧将自己的命运与角色的命运、时代的命运紧密地关联起来，每个个体都成为推动阶级斗争伟大事业的重要力量。

IV. Construction of an Educational Community of Yan'an Drama Workers and the Masses

四、延安戏剧工作者和人民群众的教育共同体构建

In Chinese history, drama has served the dual functions of entertainment and enlightenment. Dramatic activities had a broad popular base in the countryside. Because of China's history of centralized rule, all administrative and social organization structures mostly ended at the county magistrate level: “the top-down single track was built only up to the county yamen, and did not reach every household gate or inside the gate itself.”[31]31 Fei Xiaotong, *From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society*, describing the limited reach of formal administration in traditional China. Over the course of history, drama in a certain sense assumed the responsibility of organizing public spaces and public life for the population below the county level. This organizational form gave it the social function of “moral instruction from the stage.”[32]32 “高台教化” (gaotai jiaohua), literally “enlightenment from the high stage,” a traditional Chinese concept referring to the moral and didactic function of drama and other public performances. On the folk drama stage, drama producers used narrative and performance to attract the audience to the front of the stage; the audience, by watching the drama, entered another life, felt the vicissitudes of fate together with the characters, and established a shared cognitive system with them. Therefore, watching drama was not only a rare moment of leisure and relaxation in the busy life of peasants, but also an important opportunity for peasants to understand the world and establish values.

在中国历史上，戏剧兼具娱乐和教化的双重作用。戏剧活动在乡村拥有广泛的民众基础，中国由于有中央集权统治的历史，因此所有的行政管理和社会组织结构大多只到知县就终结了，“自上而下的单轨只筑到县衙门就停了，并不到每家人家大门前或大门之内的。”在历史沿革中，戏剧在某种意义上承担了组织县衙以下人群公共空间、公共生活的职责。这种组织形式使其具有“高台教化”的社会功能。在民间戏剧舞台上，戏剧生产者通过叙事和表演将观众吸引到舞台前面，观众通过看戏进入另一种生活，和戏剧人物一起感受命运无常，同他们建立相通的认知体系，因此看戏不仅是农民繁忙的生活之中难得的闲暇安逸，更成为农民认识世界、树立价值观的重要契机。

Luo Dunrong wrote in “Remnants of the Boxer Rebellion”: “The palace performers indiscriminately took novels such as ‘Creation of the Gods’ and ‘Journey to the West,’ embellished them with divine power to gain splendor and avoid disaster; after a hundred years of seepage, they became popular customs. The ignorant people received the education of drama, which gradually led them up to the year 1900.”[33]33 Luo Dunrong (1859-1928), a scholar-official; his “Remnants of the Boxer Rebellion” (Quanbian Yuwen) records events leading to the 1900 Boxer Uprising. In September 1904, Chen Duxiu published an article “On Drama” in the “Anhui Vernacular Paper,” opening with: “There is one thing that no one in the world dislikes; whether men or women, old or young, everyone heartily accepts its lessons. It can be regarded as the world's greatest educator. But when I say it, some of you may not believe it. What thing is it? It is the matter of performing opera... The theater is the masses' university, and the actor is the masses' great teacher.”[34]34 Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), a co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party and a leading intellectual of the New Culture Movement. This can be considered a rehabilitation of drama, which had been marginalized from orthodox culture since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and formally pushed this traditional literary-artistic form to the forefront of the enlightenment movement.

罗惇曧在《拳变馀闻》中写道：“供奉者乃杂取封神传、西游记诸小说，点缀神权，以求灿烂而免祸也，浸淫百年，蒸为民俗，愚民受戏剧之教育，驯至庚子。”1904年九月，陈独秀在《安徽俗话报》发表的文章《论戏曲》开篇写道：“有一件事，世界上人没有一个不喜欢，无论男男女女老老少少，个个都诚心悦意，受他的教训，他可算得是世界上第一大教育家。却是说出来，列位有些不相信，你道是一件什么事呢？就是唱戏的事啊……戏馆子是众人的大学堂，戏子是众人大教师。”，这算是对明清以来被排挤在正统文化之外的戏剧的一次平反，也正式地将戏剧这种传统的文艺形式推向了启蒙运动的前台。

In 1926, Mao Zedong pointed out in his article “The National Revolution and the Peasant Movement” that “the peasant question is the central question of the national revolution.”[35]35 Mao Zedong, “The National Revolution and the Peasant Movement” (1926), in *Selected Works of Mao Zedong*. In October 1935, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi after the 25,000-li Long March.[36]36 The Long March (1934-1935), the epic retreat of the Red Army from the Jiangxi Soviet to Yan'an, covering about 12,500 km. In the Yan'an base area and even the northern Shaanxi region, mobilizing the broad masses of the people to join the revolutionary ranks was an urgent historical task. In May 1942, at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, Mao Zedong clearly stated that a cultural united front should be established; literary and artistic works serving the workers, peasants, and soldiers should be created; and the broad masses of literary and art workers should be mobilized to go among the masses, to inherit and learn from excellent traditional culture, and to use new literature and art to educate the masses and raise their level: “Literature and art should become an integral part of the whole revolutionary machine, as a powerful weapon for uniting the people, educating the people, striking at the enemy, and annihilating the enemy, helping the people fight the enemy with one heart and one mind.”[37]37 From Mao Zedong’s “Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art” (1942), which became the guiding policy for revolutionary culture.

1926年毛泽东在《国民革命与农民运动》一文中指出“农民问题是国民革命的中心问题”。1935年10月中国工农红军经过二万五千里长征到达陕北，在延安根据地乃至陕北地区调动广大人民群众参与到革命队伍中来是亟待解决的历史任务。1942年5月，毛泽东在文艺座谈会上明确指出，要建立文化的统一战线，要创作为工农兵服务的文艺作品、并动员广大文艺工作者到人民群众中去，继承和借鉴优秀的传统文化，以新文艺教育人民群众、提高人民群众，“文艺要成为整个革命机器的一个组成部分，作为团结人民、教育人民、打击敌人、消灭敌人的有力的武器，帮助人民同心同德的地和敌人作斗争”。

Under the guidance of the “Talks,” drama workers utilized the powerful folk resources and propaganda function of dramatic art to forge an educational community of drama that was both popular with the masses and capable of raising their awareness. At that time in Yan'an, there were many idlers. According to 1943 statistics, among the approximately 1.5 million people in ten counties under the Border Region, there were 9,500 idlers.[38]38 “二流子” (erliuzi): term for loafers, idlers, or vagrants; in Yan'an they were targeted for re-education into productive labor. These “idlers” had a very negative impact on the development of the Yan'an region at the time, but they too were members of the masses living on that barren land of Yan'an; they also had aspirations and longings for life and were laborers who could be reformed.

在《讲话》的指导下，戏剧工作者利用戏剧艺术强大的民间资源和宣传作用，淬炼出了既让人民群众喜闻乐见又能够带领他们提高认知的戏剧教育共同体。延安当时有很多的二流子，据1943年的统计，边区属下10个县约150万人口中，有二流子9500人。这些“二流子”对当时的延安地区发展带来了很不好的影响，但是他们也是生活在延安这片贫瘠土地上的群众中的一员，他们也有对生活的憧憬和向往，是可以改造的工农群众。

To educate idlers to transform into working people, drama workers produced a large number of dramatic works on this theme. Among the most influential were the modern Meihu opera “Everybody's Happy,” the Military Law Office Yangge Troupe's “Zhong Wancai Builds a Family,” and the Northwest Party School Yangge Troupe's “Liu Shenghai's Transformation,” among others.[39]39 Yangge is a Chinese folk dance-drama widely used for propaganda in the Yan'an period. The Military Law Office (Junguachu) was a judicial organ of the Red Army. Ma Jianling's Meihu opera “Everybody's Happy” tells of the idler Wang Sanbao, who is lazy and gluttonous, smokes opium and gambles. The village head and Aunt Feng Er repeatedly urge him to reform, but the lazybones Wang Sanbao does not mend his ways. To reform him, the village head and Aunt Feng Er have his wife take the children to stay with her parents' family to join in production and labor, while the village head takes Wang Sanbao up the mountain to open up wasteland. With everyone's help, Wang gradually kicks his opium habit and becomes a new person who loves labor, to everyone's delight. During its performances, “Everybody's Happy” motivated a large number of idlers; they voluntarily accepted re-education from the masses and became positive new-style peasants. The success of the play lies in the creation of a new dramatic character type, the idler. The audience could see Wang Sanbao's discomfort at home when his opium craving struck; they could see him stealing and beating his wife and children for money to smoke; they could see his lonely and dejected look when he resolved to quit but couldn't even lift a hoe to open up wasteland; and finally, with everyone's help, Wang Sanbao successfully quits his habit and becomes a true working person. “Zhong Wancai Builds a Family” was adapted from a real person and real events. Zhong Wancai was a local idler who took opium and didn't work; with the help of the village head and others, he eventually transformed into a self-supporting laborer. When the scene of Zhong Wancai's transformation was performed, idlers in the audience were pointed at and told: “Look at him, and what about you?” The masses saw the protagonist on stage and also saw the idlers in reality; drama truly played the role of uniting and educating the people.

为了教育二流子转变成劳动人民，戏剧工作者生产了一大批此类主题的戏剧作品。其中影响较大的有眉户现代戏《大家喜欢》、军法处秧歌队的《钟万财起家》和西北党校秧歌队的《刘生海转变》等。马健翎创作的眉户剧《大家喜欢》写二流子王三宝好吃懒做，抽烟赌钱，乡长、冯二婶多次劝他学好，但是懒汉王三宝不知悔改。乡长和冯二婶为了改造王三宝，让他媳妇带着孩子暂去娘家参加生产劳动，乡长则带着王三宝上山开荒，在大家的带动下，他逐渐戒了烟瘾，变成一个热爱劳动的新人，皆大欢喜。《大家欢喜》在演出中带动了一大批二流子，他们自觉接受人民改造，成为积极向上的新式农民。该剧的成功之处在于塑造了二流子这个新的戏剧人物形象，观众可以看到王三宝烟瘾犯了后在家浑身难受的样子，也可以看到他为了吃烟偷窃物品、打骂妻儿的样子，还可以看到他决心戒掉烟瘾后上山开荒又拿不动镢头失落孤独的样子，最后王三宝终于在大家的帮助下成功戒掉烟瘾，成为一个真正的劳动人民。《钟万财起家》根据真人真事改编而成，钟万财本是一个当地的二流子，吃洋烟不劳动，在村主任等人的帮助下，最终转变为一个自食其力的劳动者。当演到钟万财从二流子转变的过程的时候，观众中的二流子就被人用指头指着说：“看人家，你怎办?”群众看着剧中的主人公，也看到了现实中的二流子，戏剧真正起到了团结人民、教育人民的作用。

Besides educating idlers to reform, drama workers also produced works with themes such as resisting Japan to defend the nation (representative works: “Soul of China,” “Take a Longer View”), class struggle (representative work: “Zhou Zishan”), and women's liberation (representative work: “The Virtuous Sister-in-Law”). It can be said that Yan'an-period dramatic works were fundamentally all endowed with a certain educational significance. This was the inevitable result of combining the theory of popularization and elevation, as mentioned in the “Talks,” with artistic production, and also an effective measure to give play to drama's artistic mission of “moral instruction from the stage” in a special period, awakening and educating the people. The common people warmly welcomed these new dramatic works. Local cadres also said: “You coming to perform plays for three days is more effective than us doing three to five months of propaganda and education work.”

除了教育二流子改造之外，戏剧工作者还生产了以抗日卫国（代表作《中国魂》《把眼光放长远一点》）、阶级斗争（代表作《周子山》）、女性解放（代表作《小姑贤》）等为主旨的戏剧作品。可以说，延安时期的戏剧作品从根本上说都是带有一定的教育意义的，这是《讲话》中所提到的普及与提高理论与艺术生产相结合的必然结果，也是在特殊时期发挥戏剧“高台教化”的艺术使命，唤醒民众、教育民众的有效举措。老百姓热烈欢迎这些新的戏剧作品，当地干部也说：“你们来唱三天戏，比过我们做三五个月的宣传教育工作。”

Mao Zedong attached great importance to folk literature and art, regarding it as a cultural heritage created by the people that should be protected and promoted. He emphasized that folk literature and art was the spiritual wealth of a new society dedicated to the nation's survival and the people's freedom and happiness. In the process of constructing an educational community of drama, folk artists well versed in folk literature and art formed a unique group. On the one hand, they had a natural close relationship with the people and were part of the broad masses urgently in need of education; on the other hand, they possessed rich experience in artistic production, their long careers in folk drama performance having accumulated abundant experience in dramatic performance. They were also important members of the drama worker community, with irreplaceable advantages.

毛泽东非常重视民间文艺，认为它是人民创造的文化遗产，应该得到保护和发扬。他强调民间文艺是民族生存、为人民的自由和幸福而奋斗的新社会的精神财富。在建构戏剧教育共同体的过程中，谙熟民间文艺的艺人是一个独特的群体，一方面他们与人民群众有着天然的密切关系，是迫切需要教育的广大人民中的一分子，另一方面，他们有丰富的艺术生产的经验，长期的民间戏剧表演生涯帮助他们积累了丰富的戏剧表演经验，他们也是戏剧工作者中的重要成员，具有不可替代的优势。

During the Yan'an period, tens of thousands of intellectuals brought in a wide variety of new modes of drama production and dramatic works. Folk artists were both unfamiliar with and afraid of the new methods of creating and performing drama; they consciously distanced themselves from the drama stage of the time, standing on the margins of literary and artistic activities and watching from afar. After the “Talks,” intellectuals took the initiative to invite folk artists to join the ranks of new drama creation, affirming their artistic achievements and learning from them the folk modes of dramatic expression. Folk artists accepted the invitations of intellectuals, changed their previous attitudes to life and creative mindsets, actively participated in drama creation, and became an important force in Yan'an drama production, thus forming an educational community between intellectuals and folk artists.

延安时期，数以万计的知识分子带入了多种多样全新的戏剧生产方式和戏剧作品，民间艺人对全新的戏剧创演方式既陌生又畏惧，他们有意识地远离了当时的戏剧舞台，站在文艺活动的边缘位置观望。《讲话》之后知识分子主动邀请民间艺人加入新戏剧创作的队伍中，肯定他们的艺术成就，向他们学习民间的戏剧艺术表达方式，民间艺人们接受了知识分子的邀请，改变以往的生活态度和创作心态，主动参与到戏剧创作中，成为延安戏剧生产的重要力量，从而形成一个知识分子和民间艺人之间的教育共同体。

The society's purpose of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region People's Troupe was “to adopt the method of old forms with new content, to improve the various folk arts, in order to enhance the anti-war strength and promote wholesome entertainment.” In terms of personnel composition, the famous poet Ke Zhongping served as troupe head, Liu Keli as deputy head, Zhang Jichun and Ma Jianling as drama directors, Mo Yiping as educational director, and the teaching staff included Liu Baiyu, Yang Jie, Fang Ji, Liu Qing, Li Lilian, and others. To make better use of local folk resources and produce dramatic works that the masses loved and were familiar with, in 1940 Ke Zhongping and Ma Jianling of the People's Troupe took the initiative to absorb the folk artist Li Bu and appointed him as the troupe's vocal coach and stage director; later, folk singers such as Yu Lian, Wang Shoushan, and Liao Chunhua were also recruited.[40]40 Li Bu and others were folk artists from the Shaanxi region known for their mastery of local opera and folk songs. In 1943, “the Northwest Bureau instructed the Shaanxi underground Party to mobilize a Qinqiang troupe from Guanzhong – the Yumin Dramatic Society – whose members were mainly young actors, to reinforce the People's Troupe.”[41]41 The Northwest Bureau (Xibeiju) was the Party Central Committee’s regional organization for the northwestern base areas. The Yumin Dramatic Society (Yumin Jushe) was a Qinqiang troupe from the Guanzhong area. Through the joint efforts of drama workers and folk artists like Li Bu, the People's Troupe became a model for the construction of an educational community of drama during the Yan'an period.

陕甘宁边区民众剧团的社团宗旨是“采取旧形式新内容之手法，改进各项民众艺术，以发扬抗战力量，提倡正常娱乐”。在人员构成上，著名诗人柯仲平担任团长，刘克礼担任副团长，张季纯和马健翎担任剧务主任，教务主任由墨遗萍担任，教员则包括了刘白羽、杨洁、方纪、柳青、李丽莲等。为了更好地利用当地民间资源，生产人民群众喜爱熟悉的戏剧作品，1940年民众剧团柯仲平和马健翎主动吸收了民间艺人李卜并聘其为民众剧团的声乐教练和舞台导演，后来又吸收了于连、王寿山、廖春华等民间歌手加入剧团。1943年“西北局指示陕西地下党，动员来关中一个以青少年演员为主体的秦腔戏班子――裕民剧社，充实民众剧团的力量”。在戏剧工作者和李卜等民间艺人的共同努力下，民众剧团成为延安时期戏剧教育共同体建构的典范。

Take Li Bu of the Masses' Drama Troupe as an example. He was born into a poor peasant family. He was once a carpenter's apprentice, but he loved folk opera, especially Meihu opera[42]42 Meihu opera, also known as Meihu or Mizhi opera, is a local folk opera popular in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Shanxi provinces., and later became a famous comic actor of Meihu opera active in southern Shanxi and northern Shaanxi. In 1940, the Masses' Drama Troupe of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region performed in Fu County, and Li Bu watched from the audience. He felt that the troupe's performances were good plays but that their singing and acting skills were inadequate. So Ke Zhongping[43]43 Ke Zhongping (1902–1964), Chinese poet and revolutionary, a key figure in Yan'an literary and art circles and director of the Masses' Drama Troupe. invited him to the troupe, asking him to be a vocal coach and stage director. This folk artist, who had been forced by life in the old society to abandon his love for folk opera, received revolutionary education through his interactions with the troupe's comrades and resolved to devote all his skills to the drama work of the new period. He created the Meihu opera "Peach Blossom Village" and later staged "Twelve Sickles," "Everybody Likes It," and other plays. With his help, the ancient Meihu opera form gained new life. In 1944, Li Bu attended the Yan'an Cultural and Educational Conference[44]44 The Yan'an Cultural and Educational Conference, held in October 1944, was a meeting to promote cultural and educational work in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region. and won the border region's first-class model worker award. At the conference, he said, "Old actors are conservative about art, but I am only afraid of not being able to teach others. I teach others, and they go on to educate the common people. My 'old goods' become new and useful through them. This is weeding through the old to bring forth the new[45]45 "Weeding through the old to bring forth the new," a principle advocated by Mao Zedong for cultural development, meaning to discard the outmoded and develop the new.; this is the inheritance and development of art." With his own experience, he proved the process of building an educational community between drama workers and folk artists and demonstrated the advanced nature of the new society. "It should be said to be a great miracle that folk artists, abandoned by the old society and cherished in the new society, have gained a conscious understanding of their own artistic skills and the meaning of being a person … The one who discovered and cherished Li Bu could only be the new society fighting for the survival of the nation and for the freedom and happiness of the people." On the other hand, drama workers represented by intellectuals also received education from folk artists. "Inviting Li Bu was like inviting Zhuge Liang. We slaughtered the sheep the masses had given us, held a feast for him, treated him extremely well, revered him as our teacher. Bringing in Li Bu was like an army gaining a great general; our enthusiasm burned him up." Ke Zhongping's attitude toward Li Bu was a concrete action by intellectuals to "look downward" and learn from the masses. They learned folk art from Li Bu and then used that art to educate the common people, thereby building a broader educational community with drama workers and folk artists as the main creators and the broad masses as the main consumers of art.

以民众剧团的李卜为例，他出生在一个贫苦的农民家庭。曾经是一个木匠学徒，但是他喜欢民间戏曲，尤其是眉户戏，后来成为活跃于晋南、陕北的眉户名丑。1940年，陕甘宁边区民众剧团到富县演出，李卜在台下看戏，他认为民众剧团的表演戏是好戏，但是唱腔和做功不行。于是柯仲平将他请到了剧团，邀请他做声乐教练和舞台导演。这个在旧社会被生活所迫放弃戏曲爱好的民间艺术家在和剧团同志的交往中得到革命教育，决心把自己的技艺全部奉献给新时期的戏剧工作，他创作了眉户剧《桃花村》，后又排演了《十二把镰刀》《大家喜欢》等戏。在他的帮助下眉户这个古老剧种获得了新生。1944年李卜出席了陕甘宁边区文教大会，荣获边区甲等模范工作者奖,在文教大会上，他说：“旧戏子对于艺术来说是保守的，可我只怕教不会别人，我教会了别人，别人再去教育老百姓，我的‘陈货’通过他们变成了新的、有用的东西，这就是推陈出新，这就是艺术的继承和发展。”他以自己的经历实证了戏剧工作者和民间艺人之间的教育共同体建构过程，证明了新社会的先进性。“被旧社会弃之不问而在新社会得到爱护的民间艺人对自己的艺术本领和做人的意义有了自觉的认识，这应该说是一个很大的奇迹……发现和爱护李卜的，只能是为民族生存、为人民的自由和幸福而奋斗的新社会。”另一方面，以知识分子为代表的戏剧工作者也接受民间艺人的教育，“为收李卜像请诸葛亮一样。我们把群众送来的羊杀了，摆宴请他吃，对他简直好的不得了，尊之为师，请李卜来，如军队得了大将，我们的热情把他烧焦了。”柯仲平对李卜的态度，是知识分子“眼睛向下”向人民群众学习的实际行动，他们向李卜学习民间艺术，再用这种艺术去教育老百姓，从而构建一个更加广泛的、以戏剧工作者和民间艺人为主要创作者、以广大人民群众为艺术消费主体的教育共同体。

V. Conclusion

五、结语

The Yan'an-period drama aesthetic community was based on the historical background of building a new-democratic revolutionary united front, adhered to the people-centered principle of literary and artistic creation, and relied on drama to place the broad masses in the same aesthetic situation, thereby forming identification and connection among the people of the border region and even the entire nation. History has proven that the construction of the Yan'an drama aesthetic community was successful. Through the combined efforts of drama workers and the masses, Yan'an drama production achieved brilliant results. The dramatic works produced were widely loved at the time and made tremendous contributions to the cause of national salvation and resistance against Japan and class liberation. Even today, classic plays represented by "The White-Haired Girl"[46]46 "The White-Haired Girl" (白毛女), a revolutionary ballet and opera that tells the story of a peasant girl, Xi'er, who suffers under a landlord and is later liberated, widely performed in Yan'an and throughout China. and "Blood and Tears of Hatred"[47]47 "Blood and Tears of Hatred" (血泪仇), a revolutionary Yangge opera about the oppression of peasants in the old society, written by Ma Jianling and popular in the Yan'an period. maintain vigorous artistic vitality.

延安时期的戏剧审美共同体是基于建构新民主主义革命统一战线的时代背景，秉承以人民为中心的文艺创作原则，依靠戏剧将广大人民群众放置在一个相同的审美情境中，从而形成边区乃至全国人民之间的认同和连接。历史证明延安戏剧的审美共同体建构是成功的，在广大戏剧工作者和人民群众的共同合力下，延安戏剧生产取得了辉煌的成就，所产出的戏剧作品在当时广受喜爱，对中华民族抗日救亡、阶级解放等事业的推进做出了巨大贡献，直至现在，以《白毛女》《血泪仇》等为代表的经典剧目仍然保持着旺盛的艺术生命力。

Based on the people-centered approach to creation, Yan'an drama production formed equal aesthetic relations, a fundamental difference between socialist literature and art and that of other historical periods. Yan'an drama production elevated the people to an aesthetic position equal to that of drama producers, ensured that the broad masses entered the same aesthetic community through dramatic activities, realized the identification and connection within the broadest ranks of the people, and laid the foundation for the formation of the Yan'an drama aesthetic community. Although members of this community might not know each other, they identified with the existence of other members because of the drama aesthetic relationship and gained belonging and value from this mutual connection.

基于以人民为中心的创作导向，延安戏剧生产中形成了平等的审美关系，这是社会主义文艺与历史上的其他文艺本质区别所在，延安戏剧生产将人民抬升到和戏剧生产者平等的审美位置，确保广大群众通过戏剧活动进入同一个审美共同体中，实现了最广泛的人民内部的认同和连接，奠定了延安戏剧生产审美共同体形成的基础，在这个共同体中的成员虽然可能互不相识，但是却因为戏剧审美的关系而认同除他之外其他成员的存在，并因为这种彼此的连接而得到归属和价值。

Aesthetics and emotion, aesthetics and conveying the Way, aesthetics and education—these defined the special connotations and forms of the Yan'an drama aesthetic community from different angles. When the masses stood before a stage completely equal to themselves, their past life experiences and worries were concretized through the drama. Xi'er's joys and sorrows became the common emotion of the audience; Wang Renhou's[48]48 Wang Renhou, the protagonist of "Blood and Tears of Hatred," a peasant who undergoes immense suffering and eventually finds liberation through the Communist Party. fate connected the people's political choices; Wang Sanbao's[49]49 Wang Sanbao, a character in the Yan'an-era Meihu opera "Everybody Likes It," whose story transforms the masses' attitudes toward labor. story transformed the masses' concept of labor. Only such drama truly possesses the artistic quality and social function of "winning people's hearts, rallying people's hearts, and forming alliances with people"[50]50 "Winning people's hearts, rallying people's hearts, and forming alliances with people," a slogan describing the social function of art in uniting the masses, often used in Marxist cultural theory., and only then does it become a living aesthetic community with strong vitality and appeal. History has proven that, precisely on the basis of constructing such an aesthetic community, Yan'an drama production truly became a powerful weapon for uniting and educating the people.

审美与情感、审美与载道、审美与教育从不同的角度界定了延安戏剧生产审美共同体的特殊内涵和形态。当人民群众站在一个和自己完全平等的戏剧舞台前面的时候，他们既往的人生经历和忧愁烦恼通过戏剧故事具象化，喜儿的悲欢成为观众的共同情感，王仁厚的命运连接起老百姓的政治选择，王三宝的故事转变了大众的劳动观念，这样的戏剧才真正具有“争取人心、笼络人心、与人结盟”的艺术品质和社会功能，才是一个活态的、具有强大生命力和感召力的审美共同体。历史证明，正是在这样的审美共同体建构基础上，延安戏剧生产才真正成为团结人民、教育人民的有力武器。

Since the 21st century, the digital age has opened up entirely new forms of entertainment and aesthetic paradigms for people. Under the pressure of these new technologies, the development of drama art faces major historical tests. The famous drama scholar Wei Minglun[51]51 Wei Minglun (born 1941), renowned Chinese playwright and drama theorist, known for his pessimistic views on the fate of traditional Chinese opera. even believes that the golden age of Chinese drama has passed and will never return. How to revive Chinese drama is a problem that every art worker must focus on. In 2014, in his "Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art," Xi Jinping emphasized adhering to the people-centered approach to artistic creation: "Whether we can produce excellent works depends ultimately on whether we can write for the people, express emotions for the people, and give voice to the people's sentiments." Under the new historical circumstances, literary and artistic works must still write about the common destiny of the people, express the genuine emotions of the people, and convey the ideals and beliefs of the people. The core remains to unite closely with the people and construct an aesthetic community that shares joys and sorrows. It is necessary to pay attention to the emotional and fateful needs of the masses. In this context, reviewing the logic of constructing the Yan'an drama aesthetic community, exploring its people-centered principles of artistic production and development trajectory, and excavating its aesthetic experience in uniting and rallying the broad masses are of significant value for reconsidering the trajectory of Yan'an drama production, have explicit enlightening significance for current mainstream drama creation, and provide positive reference for the future development of Chinese drama and the construction of a drama aesthetic community with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They will also provide valuable literary and artistic theoretical explanations and theoretical support for China's construction of "a community with a shared future for mankind."

21世纪以来，数字时代为人群开启了一个个全新的娱乐形态和审美范式，在这些新科技的压迫下，戏剧艺术发展面临重大的历史考验，著名戏剧学者魏明伦甚至认为中国戏剧的黄金时代已经一去不返了，如何让中国戏剧重新焕发生机是每一个艺术工作者需要重点关注的问题。2014年，习近平《在文艺座谈会上的讲话》中强调要坚持以人民为中心的创作导向，“能不能搞出优秀作品，最根本的决定在于是否能人民抒写、为人民抒情、为人民抒怀”。在新的时代背景下，文艺作品仍然要抒写人民的共同命运，要抒发人民的真挚情感，要抒怀人民的理想信念，其核心还是要与人民紧密团结起来，建构命运悲欢休戚相关的审美共同体,要重视人民群众的情感和命运需求。在这种背景下重新回顾延安戏剧生产审美共同体建构的理路，探讨其以人民为中心宗旨下的艺术生产和发展轨迹，挖掘其联合、团结广大人民群众过程中的美学经验，对复盘延安时期的戏剧生产轨迹具有重要的价值，对当下主流戏剧创作具有显性的启示作用，对未来中国戏剧发展以及建构新时代富有中国特色的戏剧审美共同体具有积极的借鉴意义，亦将为我国构建“人类命运共同体”提供有价值的文艺学阐释和理论支撑。

(Yang Funing, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Northwest University; Li Youjun, Ph.D., Professor and Ph.D. Supervisor, School of Liberal Arts, Northwest University)

（作者简介：杨馥宁，博士，西北大学文学院副教授；李有军，博士，西北大学文学院教授，博士生导师）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心