Gao Wen Jyu of southern opera has been disappeared and present versions include Zhen Zhu Ji (Yi Yang tune), Gao Wen Jyu of Southern Pipes (Quan tune), Gao Wen Jyu of Pu Xian (Hsin Hua tune) and Revival After Death of Shui Yun Pavilion (Qing Yang tune). Among others, Zhen Zhu Ji is the most influential one. The plots such as “Window Meeting” and “Zhen Zhu Mi Lan” are not only the selected Zhe Zi operas for the later generations, but also the adapted texts of local operas. Main plots of “story of Gao Wen Jyu” are below: “Zhen Zhu Mi Lan”, “Revival After Death to Appeal for Justice” and “Master Pao’s Judgment”. Zhen Zhu Ji and “version of Pu Xian” include “Zhen Zhu Mi Lan” and “Master Pag’s Judgment”. “Version of revival after death” includes “Revival After Death of Yu Chen” and “Master Pao’s Judgment”. “Version of Southern Pipes” does not include the above. Hence, it shows the uniqueness of “version of Southern Pipes” in the evolution of “story of Gao Wen Jyu”. Varieties of plots result in the richness of “story of Gao Wen Jyu”. The process of spread reveals flexibility and regionality of local common systematic tunes and varieties of operas.
This study will treat four versions of Gao Wen Jyu as the subjects to significantly compare and analyze the original stories and difference and similarity of related work. First, it explores present versions to recognize the evolution of the story “Gao Wen Jyu”; secondly, it precisely compares “plots” and “singing and talking” of the versions to analyze the inheritance and innovation of “story of Gao Wen Jyu” in different common systematic tunes and varieties of Chinese operas. It, on the one hand, clarifies the relationship and origin of different versions of “Gao Wen Jyu” and, on the other hand, probes into cultural characteristics of “time” and “region” of operas; finally, it attmpets to reconstruct the positions and values of common systematic tunes in different regions in the evolution process of “Gao Wen Jyu”.