The commercial performance context of Chinese drama in the Song period = Song dai xi ju de shang ye yan chu huan jing

Abstract

China entered its revolutionary stage of commercial development in the 10th to 13th centuries. Provided with its relatively stable political and economical environment, its rapid development in commercialization, urbanization and population was obviously recorded in history. Commercial performing spaces of the Chinese drama and opera, also known as the “Goulan theatres”, were vastly developed in a number of cities and towns in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties (960-1279). This paper would study the influence of this kind of commercial performance on the development of the Chinese Opera.

Adopting the methodology by Alan P. Merriam (1923-1980) on ethnomusicology, the work of this paper was divided into three stages. First, the relevant data, including a large amount of notes written by Song scholars, and the unearthed historical relics were collected. Then the collected data was put into contextual analysis. Finally, the conclusion obtained was applied on explain another relevant phenomenon, how the mature Chinese Classical opera became so well developed in the late Song Period and early Yuen Period(1271-1368).

The first chapter is the introduction, which had been divided into three parts, the significance of the study, the past studies, and the research method.

The second and third chapters tried to define the terms: Chinese drama, Chinese Opera and the conception of commercial performing areas in Song Period.

The fourth chapter tried to explain why the commercial theatres could be well developed in the Song Period.

The fifth chapter studied the development of the commercial theatres in the cities in the Song Period.

The sixth and seventh chapters studied the architectural environment and the inter-personal relationships of the commercial theatres.

The eighth and ninth chapters studied the ecology of different dramatic and non-dramatic genres of classical performing arts in the commercial theatres.

The last chapter emphasized the entertaining and competitive properties of the commercial theatre, in where different cultural exchanges are processed. Therefore, the mature Chinese Opera was well developed in the Goulan theatres in the late Song and early Yuen Period.