History Of The Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe

The Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe was established as early as in 1952 and disbanded in 2012(merged as an integral part of the local cultural center).Over the sixty years,this troupe had witnessed its ups and downs and been through three main stages.The first stage: the period of establishment and prosperity(1952-1966).During this period,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe was established within the framework of China's collective ownership economy and operated with a self-financing business model.In particular,this period overlapped with the so-called "seventeen-year" drama reform in the Chinese opera industry.Above all,more and more traditional opera repertoires have been banned due to constraints imposed by the reform and the ideology of the time.Additionally,this trope was frequently dispatched to the countryside(mostly rural areas)for public performance(free of charge).Therefore,this trope that once had a large surplus annually was crippled by the economical predicament.In the second stage(1966-1976),the period of “Cultural Revolution” movement.During this period,almost all traditional opera repertoires was banned and there were few alternatives for domestic opera tropes.At the beginning of this stage,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe didn't sell tickets for performances,and some of the cast members gave up their regular performances in the trope and instead took an active part in the combat against performers pertaining to other opera factions.During this period,the troupe basically had no income but huge expenses(salaries and expenses of participating in performances in the mountains and the countryside).The troupe's economy continued to be severely hit and it had to turn to the government.In the third stage(1976-present),after the Cultural Revolution,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe,under the leadership of the government,changed its operating model from the collective ownership to the national ownership,which was funded by the national balance appropriation.The troupe gradually resumed the performance ofhistorical dramas,and the cultural fault brought about by the "Ten Years of Cultural Revolution" made the troupe's business performance quickly wither after a short spring.After the implementation of the parallel policy of the planned economy and the market economy,entertainment activities such as movies,televisions,dance halls,have gradually become popular,and thus market competition has become fierce.After 1981,although the local government allocated a large amount of money to the troupe,the troupe was still in a state of loss,and the operation was in trouble.Since then,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe has made many internal reforms,but has not fundamentally changed the system.Therefore,it is difficult to face market competition on its own.After losing government financial support,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe was disbanded and merged into the local cultural center and became a cultural institution in 2012.As a miniature of the development of Sichuan opera in the second half of the 20 th century,the Guang'an Chuan Opera Troupe experienced a process from prosperity to decline.The author explores the reasons for Sichuan opera's sudden survival difficulties in the second half of the 20 th century by combing the history of the Guang'an Sichuan Opera Troupe,and the influence of governmental ideology and socio-economics on the internal operating model of such opera groups.