江青谈京剧革命（中英文）

We must have unshakable confidence in the staging of Peking operas on revolutionary contemporary themes. It is inconceivable that, in our socialist country led by the Chinese Communist Party, the dominant position on the stage is not occupied by the workers, peasants and soldiers, who are the real creators of history and the true masters of our country. We should create literature and art which protect our socialist economic base. When we are not clear about our orientation, we should try our best to be so. Here I would like to give two groups of figures for your reference. These figures strike me as shocking.

第一个数字是：全国的剧团，根据不精确的统计，是三千个（不包括业余剧团，更不算黑剧团），其中有九十个左右是职业话剧团，八十多个是文工团，其余两千八百多个是戏曲剧团。在戏曲舞台上，都是帝王将相、才子佳人，还有牛鬼蛇神。那九十几个话剧团，也不一定都是表现工农兵的，也是“一大、二洋、三古”，可以说话剧舞台也被中外古人占据了。剧场本是教育人民的场所，如今舞台上都是帝王将相、才子佳人，是封建主义的一套，是资产阶级的一套。这种情况，不能保护我们的经济基础，而会对我们的经济基础起破坏作用。

Here is the first group: according to a rough estimate, there are 3,000 theatrical companies in the country (not including amateur troupes and unlicensed companies). Among these, around 90 are professional modern drama companies, 80 odd are cultural troupes, and the rest, over 2,800, are companies staging various kinds of operas and balladry. Our operatic stage is occupied by emperors and kings, generals and ministers, scholars and beauties, and, on top of these, ghosts and monsters. As for those 90 modern drama companies, they don't necessarily all depict the workers, peasants and soldiers either. They, too, lay stress on staging full-length plays, foreign plays and plays on ancient themes. So we can say that the modern drama stage is also occupied by ancient Chinese and foreign figures. Theatres are places to educate the people, but now the stage is dominated by emperors and kings, generals and ministers, scholars and beauties -- by feudal and bourgeois stuff. This state of affairs cannot serve to protect but will undermine our economic base.

第二个数字是：我们全国工农兵有六亿几千万，另外一小撮人是地、富、反、坏、右和资产阶级分子。是为这一小撮人服务，还是为六亿几千万人服务呢？这问题不仅是共产党员要考虑，而且凡有爱国主义思想的文艺工作者都要考虑。吃着农民种的粮食，穿着工人织造的衣服，住着工人盖的房子，人民解放军为我们警卫着国防前线，但是却不去表现他们，试问，艺术家站在什么阶级立场，你们常说的艺术家的“良心”何在？

And here is the second group of figures: there are well over 600 million workers, peasants and soldiers in our country, whereas there is only a handful of landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, Rightists and bourgeois elements. Shall we serve this handful, or the well over 600 million? This question calls for consideration not only by Communists but also by all those literary and art workers who are patriotic. The grain we eat is grown by the peasants, the clothes we wear and the houses we live in are woven and built by the workers, and the People's Liberation Army stands guard at the fronts of national defence for us and yet we do not portray them on the stage. May I ask which class stand you artists take? And where is the artists' "conscience" you always talk about?

京剧演革命的现代戏这件事还会有反复，但要好好想想我在上面说的两个数字，就有可能不反复，或者少反复。即使反复也不要紧，历史总是曲曲折折前进的，但是，历史的车轮绝不能拉回来。我们提倡革命的现代戏，要反映建国十五年来的现实生活，要在我们的戏曲舞台上塑造出当代的革命英雄形象来。这是首要的任务。我们也不是不要历史剧，在这次观摩演出中，革命历史剧占的比重就不小。描写我们党成立以前人民的生活和斗争的历史剧也还是要的，而且也要树立标兵，要搞出真正用历史唯物主义观点写的、能够古为今用的历史剧来。当然，要在不妨碍主要任务（表现现代生活、塑造工农兵形象）的前提下来搞历史剧。传统戏也不是都不要，除了鬼戏和歌颂投降变节的戏以外，好的传统戏都尽可上演。但是，这些传统戏如果不认真整理加工，是没有什么人看的。我曾系统地下剧场两年多，观察了演员、观众，可以得出结论，传统戏如果不认真进行加工，是不会有人看的。今后传统戏的整理、加工工作还是要的，但是，所有这些都不能代替第一个任务。

Theatrical items for adaptation must be carefully chosen. First, we must see whether or not they are good politically and secondly whether or not they suit the conditions of the company concerned. Serious analysis of the original must be made when adapting it, its good points must be affirmed without unnecessary changes, while its weak points must be compensated. In adapting for Peking opera attention must be paid to two main questions: on the one hand the adaptations must ensure that they are in keeping with the characteristics of Peking opera, with singing and acrobatics, and the words must fit in with the rhymes in Peking opera singing. The language characteristic of Peking opera must be adopted. Otherwise the performers will not be able to sing. On the other hand, excessive concessions should not be made to the performers. An opera must have a clear-cut theme with a tightly knit structure and striking characters. It must never arise that, in order for a few principal performers to have star parts, the whole opera is made diffuse and flat.

Peking opera is an art that portrays things larger than life. At the same time, it has always depicted ancient times and people belonging to those times. Therefore, it is comparatively easy for Peking opera to portray negative characters and this is what some people like about it so much. On the other hand, it is very difficult to create positive characters, and yet we must build up characters of advanced revolutionary heroes. In the original version of the opera Taking the Bandits' Stronghold produced by Shanghai the negative characters stood out sharply, while the positive characters were quite colourless. Since the leadership attended to this question personally, this opera has been positively improved. Now, the scene about the Taoist Ting Ho has been deleted. The part of Tso Shan Tiao (the "Hawk"--nickname of the bandit leader) basically has not been altered (the actor who plays the part acts very well), but since the roles of Yang Tzu-jung and Shao Chien-po have been made more prominent, the images of those nagative characters have by comparison retreated into the background. It has been said that there are different views on this opera. Debates can be conducted on this subject. You must consider which side you stand on. Should you stand on the side of the positive characters or on the side of the negative characters? It has been said that there are still people who oppose writing about positive characters. This is wrong. Good people always account for the majority. This is true not only in our socialist countries, but even in imperialist countries, where the majority are labouring people. In revisionist countries, the revisionists are only a minority. We should place the emphasis on creating artistic images of advanced revolutionaries so as to educate and inspire the people and lead them forward. Our purpose in producing operas on contemporary revolutionary themes is mainly to extol the positive characters. The opera Littte Heroic Sisters on the Grassland performed by the Peking Opera Troupe of the Inner Mongolian Art Theatre is very good. The librettist wrote the script for this opera with his revolutionary feeling excited by the outstanding deeds of the two little heroines. The middle section of the opera is very moving. but because the librettist still lacks experience of real life, worked on it in haste and had no time to give it careful polishing, the beginning and the end of the opera are not so good. As it is now, it looks like a fine painting placed in a crude old frame. With regard to this opera, there is one point more to which importance should be attached, and that is that a Peking opera has been composed for our children. In short, this opera has a firm foundation and is good. I hope that you writers for the theatre will go back to experience the life of the people and try your best to perfect your scripts. In my opinion, we should treasure the fruits of our labour, and shouldn't scrap them lightly. Some comrades are unwilling to revise their completed works, but this prevents them from making bigger achievements. In this respect, Shanghai has set us a good example. Because the Shanghai artists have been willing to polish their scripts over and over again, they have succeeded in improving Taking the Bandits' Stronghold to what it is today. All the items in the repertory of the present festival should be given further polishing when you return home. The items which have been acknowledged as successful should not be thrown aside lightly.

（本文由《红旗》杂志一九六七年第六期和五月十日的《人民日报》《解放军报》同时发表）