Early China Flashcards
What was generally Chinese theatre focused on?
Performance over literary persuits
doing > writing
What does the Chinese word for “play” also mean?
Xi
GAME
*Describes everything from drama to sports
2300 BCE theatre typologies
poetry
dance
music
hunting dances
Shamanic rituals
Court Entertainment, e.g. Jester Meng (a satirical figure who can make fun of people in power)
HAN Dynasty
More Widespread
Secular (not as religious)
Acrobatics
tight-rope walking
sword swallowing
Horn Butting (wrestling animal)
Shadow Plays
Tang Dynasty
Age of 1000 Entertainments
Dance
Storytelling
Puppets
Satirical plays about court officials
Circus
Buddhist influence - India, Korea, Japan
Performance > Literature
Pear Garden Conservatory
Li Yuan
- Emperor Xuanzong aka Minghuang
- trains 300 men and women every year as musicians/ performers
Song Dynasty
960 - 1279 Ce
Poetry
Novel Writing
Storytellers travel around teahouses reciting stories
Narrative > Mimetic
Playwriting develops
- temp stages
*Theatre not highly regarded by the government
Mongols Invade YUAN DYNASTY
GOLDEN AGE OF THEATRE
Why?
- Intellectuals excluded from Mongol Court
- Theatremakers are not super highly regarded so not attacked
Playwriting develops rapidly
- variety of characters and situations, Confucian values like duty and family
- Passive resistence
- both men and women perform both roles of gender
NORTH ZAJU plays
700 plays - 163 survive
550 playwrights
BOTH QUANTITY AND QUALITY
4 Acts, includes 10-20 songs
ONLY PROTAGONIST SINGS
Other characters speak in pros
- History, society, romance, war, drama, crime, judiciary
SOUTH Nanxis
Nanxi -> Chuanqi
30 to 50 acts
ANYONE CAN SING - duets - chorals
Snow In Midsummer
Prominent place in Chinese culture
- 88 recorded versions between 1958 and 2013 that teacher found as eng speaker
- Guan Hanqinq
- pioneer of zaju
- playboy of the grand capital (YES KING SLAY)
Time of Kublai Khan. first Mongol ruler of China
Snow In Midsummer - True Crime
Reversal Judgement
- the first judge messes up, so reversal liberates her
Confucian Values
- Confucian principles written into plays. Loyalty, observance of ritual, duty, justice, benevolence.
Dou E not just filial piety, but also individual
Justice is served but only after ghost
