Ancient China Flashcards
2300 BCE-256
-ancient scholars describe poetry / dance/ music
- hunting dances (1766-1066)
- court shamanic rituals
- 8th century temples are known for theri performers
- Jester Meng (impersonator) court entertainment (1065BCE-256) satirizes power
- performance conections with religion, power, and civic institutions.
206 bce- 220 Ce
Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty, detatching from religion
- records of acrobatics / rope walking, sword swallowing
- horn butting (wrestling with a story)
- shadow plays also develop
618-907
Tang Dynasty
- Tang Dynasty
- dance storytelling, puppets, satirical plays about court officials, circus
“age of 1000 entertainments”
Buddhist influence (from India)
more performance than literature focused
Pear Garden Conservatory
Emperror Xuanzong opens school in 714 CE
- trains approx 300 men & women ever year as musicians and performers
960 -1279
SONG dynasty
- developed poetry and novel writing
- literatureeeeee
- storytellers travel around tea houses
—- narrative rather than mimetic - earliest examples of playwriting
- temporary stages
- theatre is not very highly valued by government
Mongols Invade
YUAN dynasty
Golden Age of theatre
- intellectuals from mongol court start writing plays
- theatre makers not highly regarded so not attacked
- Playwriting develops quickly
- Confucian values like duty and family
- passive resistance
- both men and women performing take roles of any gender
- performers had small feet (women playing male characters)
NORTH regional style
Zaju
- 700 plays / 163 survive
- 550 playwrights
- four acts 10-20 songs
quantity but also sophistication (shakesperes reineisance)
ONLY protagonist sings
everyone else speaks in prose
- crime, history, romance, etc.
Zaju is popular during ming dynasty
SOUTH Nanxi
Popular in Chuanqi
30-50 acts (or songs)
- duets
-choral numbers (anyone can sing)
Snow In Midsummer (north)
- only protagonist sings (Dou E)
- 88 recorded versions between 1958 and 2013)
(decided student friendly)
Parallel to antigone??
understanding justice values
why different forms of language
others speak in verse, dou e spoke in poetry?
Guan Hanqing (snow playwright)
- pioneer of Zaju
- time of kublai khan the first mongol ruler of china
- playboy of grand capital
True Crime Drama
- kung -an or Gong-an
reinforces confucian values - reversal judgement
- u had to understand confucianism to write political stuff and other stuff
Filial Piety:
- duty to parents / children / trusted adults??
real life confucian values = complicated
