Pendekar-pendekar Komik Tionghua

Medio 1960 – Medio 1980
   SALAH satu bentuk kesenian moderen adalah komik alias cergam (cerita bergambar). Sayang sekali sekarang komik Indonesia mengalami ‘mati suri’, belum lahir lagi komikus-komikus seperti pada 25 tahun silam. Lihat di toko buku-toko buku, rak-rak dipenuhi manga (komik Jepang), terjemahan komik Mandarin (Hong Kong-Singapura) serta alihbasa komik superhero Amerika.
   Aku sendiri adalah penikmat komik sejak usia tiga tahun. Sempat mengenyam masa keemasan komik Indonesia pada era medio tahun 1960-an sampai dengan medio 1980-an.

7 Pedang dari Gunung Thian

   Pada tahun 1960-an dulu terbit serial cersil “Thian San Tjit Kiam” (”Tujuh Pedang dari Gunung Thian”). Gunung Thian atau Mahameru adalah gunung tertinggi di Daratan China, hingga disebut Gunung Langit, yang terletak di Provinsi Sinkiang.
   Diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia oleh Gan KL dari Semarang. Cersil tersebut mendapat sambutan luar biasa, melebihi prequelnya, serial “Tjauw Guan Eng Hiong” (”Pendekar dari Padang Rumput”), yang bukunya diterjemahkan oleh OKT dari Jakarta.
Aslinya merupakan karya Liang Yu-shen (baca: Liang Ie-shen), sastrawan cerita silat yang diakui lebih berbobot sastra (dalam bahasa Mandarin) tulisan-tulisannya ketimbang karya Chin Yung (Louis Cha) yang lebih ngepop.

A Short History of Chinese Opera

In 1790, theater companies from all over China arrived in Beijing, to perform for the Qing Emperor Qianlong’s birthday. Here begins the history of the various opera forms as we know them today in China…

Four theater companies from Anhui arrived in Beijing, and their fresh styles of music and theater electrified the capital and eventually came to replace the Kunqu Opera style that had been pre-eminent in the capital for the past two hundred years. Characteristics from other forms of opera, such as Hopeh, Wuhan, and Shansi, were incorporated into the Anhui style.

China Paper Cutting Art

One of China’s most popular folkarts is papercutting. Archaeological finds trace the tradition back to the 6th century; it is supposed that the beginnings of papercutting were even a few centuries earlier. Papercuttings are used for religious purposes, for decoration and as patterns.

Chinese Music

Chinese Music, a combination of vocal and instrumental music composed and played by the Chinese people. For several thousand years Chinese culture han been dominated by the teachings of the philosopher Confucius, who conceived music in the highest sense as a means of calming the passions and of dispelling unrest and lust, rather than as a form of amusement.
The ancient Chinese belief that music is meant not to amuse but to purify one’s thoughts finds particular expression in the cult of the qin (ch’in), a long zither possessing a repertory calling for great subtlety and refinement in performance and still popular among a small circle of scholar-musicians. A famous qin scholar once said, “Though the qin player’s body be in a gallery or in a hall, his mind should dwell with the forests and streams.“

Chinese Orchestra (Instruments)

The classic Chinese Orchestra has four sections: the bowed strings, plucked strings, winds, and percussion.

BOWED STRING INSTRUMENTS
ERHU
The erhu is a two-stringed fiddle which has a small body and a long neck . There are two strings, with the bow inserted between them. With a range of around three octaves, it’s sound is rather like the violin, but with a thinner tone due to the smaller resonating chamber. In the orchestra they are usually divided into 1st and 20th century. Although said to be introduced by foreigners, It has a long history in Chinese music. It has historically been associated with the lower classes. But in the 20th century it has attained a more universal status in china.