Tao'an is a villa situated beside the Taoguang Temple in Hangzhou. Built in the early years of the 20th century, with a donation from Mu Ouchu, an industrialist, it used to be a summer resort for amateur performers of Kunqu opera. Unfortunately, since the old building has fallen into disrepair over the years, this important site in the history of Kunqu opera is confronted with the possibility of being demolished. An open letter signed by Mu Jiaxiu, son of Mu Ouchu, calling for competent authorities' attention to the issue, has recently aroused people's memory of an almost forgotten person who had made outstanding contributions towards the development of Kunqu opera in modern times.

Mu Ouchu

Mu Ouchu (1876-1943) was born and brought up in a cotton businessman's family in Shanghai. Between 1909 and 1914, with financial help from friends, Mu studied in the United States. Returning from abroad, he set up three large-scale cotton mills in Shanghai and Zhengzhou, capital of today's Henan Province, and became a self-made tycoon in China's business circles.

At the height of his career, Mu never changed his original ideal, i.e., revitalizing the nation through industrial development. While living a simple and frugal life, he made huge sums of donation to education. In 1920, Mu gave 50,000 taels of silver to Cai Yuanpei, then president of Peking University, to select brilliant students for overseas training. Those who directly or indirectly benefited from Mu's financial assistance included such famous scholars as Luo Jialun, Wang Jingxi, Kang Baiqing, Fang Xianting, and the 1957 Nobel Prize winner Chen Ning Yang.

Due to his ardent love for drama and music, Mu, an established industrialist, made stupendous efforts in reviving and promoting the performing art of Kunqu.

In 1919 or 1920, Mu became acquainted with Yu Sulu, the legendary master singer of Kunqu opera. Influenced by Yu’s spellbinding performance, Mu had since forged an indissoluble bond with the ancient art of Kunqu.

Mu provided fund for the making of Yu Sulu's gramophone records. Thus it became possible for Yu's singing to be preserved and handed down to this very day.

Once when watching a Kunqu performance in Shanghai, Mu found most of the actors on stage were getting on in years, indicating the lack of successors. In the beginning of 1921, Mu, together with Yu, established the Kunqu Preservation Society in Shanghai.

Then Mu went all out to set up a Kunqu school. At the age of 45, Mu took roles and participated in the performances for fund-raising. This was the first and only time for Mu to sing Kunqu on the stage.

Finally, in 1921, the Kunqu Teaching and Learning Institute was opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Although its operation lasted for only three years, this school trained a large number of young Kunqu singers, including Zhou Chuanying, Zhang Chuanfang, Zheng Chuanjian and Wang Chuansong, who became nationwide famous after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

"If not Mr. Mu's efforts, Kunqu might have died out long ago," said Yu Zhenfei, son of Yu Sulu, also a renowned Kunqu actor.

In September 1995, the Peking University Publishing House published Collected Works of Mu Ouchu, compiled by his son Mu Jiaxiu, in commemoration of Mu's 120th birthday.

The Tao'an Villa

In 1920, Mu Ouchu sponsored the building of a villa beside Taoguang Temple, an age-old Buddhist establishment located halfway up the beautiful Mount Lingyin in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He named it "Tao'an," after Yu Sulu's another name, and turned it to a summer resort for Kunqu fans. Mu often invited his friends to Tao'an to rehearse and enjoy their beloved Kunqu opera.

Over 80 years have passed. Although still appearing in fairly good shape, the villa Tao'an has become rotten inside. It currently serves as a temporary abode for monks in the Taoguang Temple, but will soon be demolished by the local government because of its dilapidated situation. 

"Since Taoguang Temple has become one of Hangzhou's six major Buddhist temples open to the public, all buildings around here, including Tao'an, have to be renovated," said Monk Yuezhen from the Taoguang Temple. "If not to be demolished, for safety's sake, Tao'an needs a renovation on the basis of keeping its original setup."

Monk Yuezhen hopes that, after refurbishment, Tao'an can again become an entertaining place for amateur Kunqu performers.

In May 2001, Kunqu opera was listed in the first proclamation of masterpieces of oral and non-material culture and humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Naturally it has become an onerous task to collect historical relics relating to this traditional opera. Mu Jiaxiu, author of the aforementioned open letter, appealed to authorities concerned to take immediate measures to salvage Tao'an -- the endangered historic site -- rather than simply demolishing it.

Kunqu Opera

Based on Kunqiang melodies, Kunqu is among China's most ancient traditional operas.

In the beginning, the spread of Kunqiang melodies -- which originated in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) -- was limited to Suzhou and the surrounding area. During the reign (1573-1620) of Wanli, the 14th emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Kunqiang melodies became popular in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Henan, Hebei and Beijing, and evolved into Kunqu opera in the ensuing Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Accompanied by qudi (a kind of bamboo flute) as well as sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument), xiao (vertical bamboo flute), suona (a woodwind instrument), sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and pipa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard), Kunqu performance underscores a harmonious combination of singing and dancing. Kunqu's strong lyric appeal exerted an influence upon not only the Peking Opera, but many local operas, such as Shaoxing opera.

The repertoire of Kunqu includes famous pieces such as The Peony Pavilion, Purple Hairpin, Nanke, Handan, -- all written by Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) of the Ming Dynasty, and Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren (1648-1718) and The Palace of Eternal Youth by Hong Sheng (1645-1704) of the Qing Dynasty.

(China.org.cn translated by Shao Da, August 6, 2003)