Chinese opera, or xiqu,1 is an all-encompassing term that refers to several hundred regional forms of theatrical entertainment, the earliest of which evolved from the music-dramas of the Sung (960–1279) and Yuan (1279–1368) dynasties. The genre represents a synthesis of art forms whose distinguishing characteristics vary according to regional preferences of performance practice, dialect, instrumentation, literary sources, and folksongs. Stylization of regional forms has produced two main categories of opera: wen (civilian) and wu (military), the former placing emphasis on love stories and the latter on heroic tales, replete with humorous pantomime and acrobatic displays. Operas associated with the regions of Sichuan, Fukien, Shanghai, Canton, and Beijing were particularly influential in establishing within China an important national tradition, the impact of which was felt in Western countries as early as the mid-nineteenth century.2
Regional opera advanced to a dominating position by eclipsing its chief competitor, kunqu, a form of music-drama in vogue among the educated elite during the late Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Court poets and musicians were responsible for creating the kunqu repertoire; they relied heavily on preexisting literature and music for their source materials. Well-known examples of kunqu include Changsheng dian (The Palace of Eternal Youth, 1689) composed by Hong Sheng (1645–1704); Taohua shan (The Peach Blossom Fan, 1699) by Kong Shangren (1648–1718); and Leifeng ta (Leifeng Pagoda) by an anonymous eighteenth-century writer.3 Contemporary accounts of kunqu performances describe the vocal style as “delicate,” supported instrumentally by dizi (side-blown flutes) and traditional string instruments of the period.
In sharp contrast to kunqu works with their written-out librettos and notated musical scores, regional opera developed from an improvised form of rural entertainment, produced for the masses by amateurs or professionals whose stature in society was of the lowest rank. Stock characters and a standardized scenario provided the theatrical participants with a skeletal structure (reminiscent of the commedia dell’arte) around which text and music were improvised according to stated rules of performance.4 Heightened speech and songs paired with instrumental music and choreographed movements (ranging from a gesture code to acrobatics) produced a stylized expression of daily life.
The particular form of Chinese opera known as the Peking or Beijing style represents a comparatively late development in the history of the genre. It originated in the final decade of the eighteenth century as a composite of two regional melodic styles, erhuang and xipi, which actors from the southern provinces had been staging in the capital city beginning in 1790. The style, which retained erhuang and xipi as its two main categories of melodies, blossomed into an honored national tradition that has continued in various guises for more than one hundred years.
Peking opera was originally staged in banquet halls, courtyards, private homes, and especially in teahouse-theaters. It has four distinct role categories: dan (female), sheng (male), jing (warrior), and chou (comic actor).5 Prior to the twentieth century, all roles were played by male actors who specialized in one of the four categories.6 Costumes were ornate and colorful, more than compensating for the otherwise stark stage, usually devoid of scenery and elaborate props. Spoken dialogue (sometimes deliberately aligned with the continuous steady beats of the clappers) alternated with highly organized aria-types—interjective narrative, declamatory, dramatic, lyric, and animated—differentiated primarily by their rhythmic patterns. A repeated rhymed couplet provided the basic poetical structure for the arias. The initial four lines of this pattern, consisting of seven or ten syllables each, cadenced according to predetermined textural and melodic formulas.7 Audiences were so conditioned in their expectation of multiple repetitions of these cadential formulae that any deviation from the pattern within the course of an aria served to heighten dramatic tension. The nature of the word tones in the Chinese language presented special problems for achieving a satisfactory union of text and music. Priority was given to the word tone or stressed word within the couplet before segments of preexisting melodies were superimposed on the text. Adjustments to either the text or the melody were freely made to insure a satisfactory piece of entertainment.
The singing in Peking opera is also highly stylized. Its peculiar nasal quality, coupled with a shrill falsetto used for the dan roles, produces a harshness that is disturbing to those unaccustomed to this art form. The high-pitched vocal timbre is duplicated by an ensemble of traditional Chinese string instruments (huqin, erhu, yueqin),8 reinforcing and embellishing the vocal melodies at the unison or octave. Articulation of the dramatic action is regulated by percussion instruments (gongs, cymbals, clappers, drums). The entrance and exit of characters, the delineation of musical and dramatic sections, the mime activities (dance, acrobatics)—in short, the pacing of the opera—are marked by the percussionists, whose leader is also the director of the entire production.
The prominent position accorded to Peking opera in the twentieth century has tended to obscure the historical importance and great popularity of many other regional styles, with Cantonese opera and the “clapper operas” of the northern (Shanzi) and southwestern (Sichuan) provinces providing but two interesting examples. Clapper operas, as the name suggests, place special emphasis on percussion instruments, sometimes even excluding all other instruments, as is the case with one particular type of Sichuan opera. An early clapper opera popular in the northern provinces was Mai yanzhi (Selling Cosmetics), later adapted for the Peking opera repertoire. Differences among regional styles are subtle and not easily discerned by Western audiences. In Cantonese opera, there is at least one aspect of the style that does not escape notice. It is the emphasis on middle (alto-tenor) registers rather than on the extremely high tessitura of the Peking style; this produces a more pleasing, mellower quality in the musical material. A further extension of this quality is made possible by the inclusion of a violin in the relatively small instrumental ensemble.9
Cantonese opera was flourishing in the mid-nineteenth century, but its continuation as a regional form of entertainment was jeopardized during the Taiping Rebellion (1851–64). Adverse social and political conditions had forced suspension of theatrical activities and prompted many Chinese men to seek their livelihood overseas. Wealthy merchants who had been financially supporting resident opera companies turned their attention to sponsoring traveling troupes in Europe and the United States. In October 1852 a Cantonese opera, The Eight Genii, was presented at San Francisco’s American Theater by a traveling troupe numbering more than one hundred performers.10 With more than twenty thousand Chinese immigrants already settled in California by that date, it is understandable that eager audiences were at these productions night after night. As the number of Chinese immigrants increased, so did the number of visiting troupes and performances. Cantonese opera was by far the most popular style being presented, primarily because the greatest emigration had occurred in the Canton region of China, but other styles of Chinese opera were also being performed.
A select number of the traveling troupe that initiated Chinese opera productions in San Francisco did the same for New York City in 1854. The popularity of this form of entertainment was such that within a very short time both southern (Cantonese) and northern (Peking) styles of opera were being performed in theaters not only in the Chinatown section of New York City but also on Broadway.
Cantonese opera was banned in the People’s Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, reinstated with modifications in the early 1970s, and restored to its previous provincial domain after 1977. Through all the turmoil affecting regional opera styles in the course of the twentieth century, Cantonese opera preserved itself without compromise in Hong Kong, where it continues to be a popular form of entertainment.11
With the demise of the Qing dynasty in 1911, China embarked on a new political course, one that initiated important changes in its cultural environment. Some of these changes came from within the society; others came directly from the West. For example, a significant addition to the realm of entertainment was the spoken drama (huaju), an art form unknown to Chinese audiences prior to the twentieth century. Other Western forms staged in China were the sung drama (geju), which combined traditional Chinese theater with Western opera styles, and the dance-drama (wuju), with styles as diverse as Western ballet and Chinese folk dancing. Not only were Western forms of classical music, along with Western instruments, permitted in performances, but after 1949 they gradually dominated the educational curriculum of the music schools.
Foreign pressure on the lifestyle of China provoked a strong nationalistic reaction, which manifested itself most effectively in the traditional art forms. In 1937 the All-China Theater World Association was founded to present Peking and other regional opera styles along with various forms of traditional entertainment as a means of promoting resistance to foreign domination. Seven years later, Mao Tse-Tung (Zedong), leader of the Chinese Communist Party, delivered his famous “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art.”12 He argued that literature and art can be used to unify and educate a nation, to disseminate information to the masses, and to serve as a propaganda weapon against the foreign invasion of China’s culture. The advent of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 brought into sharp focus the power that could be channeled through the theater arts to create an unprecedented degree of nationalistic fervor.13
Tracing the development of Peking opera in the second half of the twentieth century is complicated by the waxing and waning of various ideological theories. Since drama productions were supposed to reflect the current theories, the operas were constantly being revised to keep pace with the changing political and cultural doctrines set forth by leaders of both the party and state. Hongdeng ji (The Story of the Red Lantern) provides an interesting example of this situation. The opera was originally created as a regional work for the Shanghai repertoire. It was later adapted for Beijing and then was included among the revolutionary works presented at the First Festival of Beijing Operas on Contemporary Themes, organized in 1964 by Jiang Qing, wife of Mao Tse-Tung and leader of what later came to be called the “gang of four.” The opera underwent further revisions to strengthen the “class struggle” image and to add emphasis to the role of the hero. By 1970 Red Lantern was declared a “model revolutionary opera,” one of approximately eight that had earned Jiang Qing’s stamp of approval.14 When pressure mounted to restore the regional styles, banned in 1964, Jiang Qing responded with a Cantonese-style version of Red Lantern, which was prepared for production in 1972.
The period since the establishment of the Communist regime can be divided into three phases. The first phase, from 1949 to 1964, was that of the “liberation” movement, when traditional theater was viewed as a “utilitarian and practical” medium for the education and entertainment of the masses. The government assumed ownership of private theater companies in 1954 and established new troupes, such as the Beijing Opera Company of China. The primary objective was to control the content of presentations and to bring professional theater to rural audiences. Throughout this phase, regional styles of traditional opera flourished.15
The second phase, from 1964 to 1977, embraced the era of the Cultural Revolution, beginning around the time of the Festival of Beijing Operas and drawing to a close shortly after the death of Mao Tse-Tung and the silencing of the “gang of four.” It was dominated by the radical cultural policies set forth by Jiang Qing. Expressed in simplest terms, “modern” attitudes were to replace “traditional” ones. Theater works staged between 1949 and 1966 were condemned as valueless. This included the traditional regional operas as well as the foreign varieties of music-dramas. In their place were staged a few “model revolutionary operas,” which, in reality, were little more than revisions of existing Peking operas. Among those that qualified as “models” were Lung-chiang sung (Ode to Dragon River), Hai-kang (On the Docks), Red Lantern, and Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy. Modernization of the operas involved, among other things, the introduction of elaborate scenery and a reshaping of the musical material. A more natural speaking and singing style was adopted by the performers, which permitted them to express emotions realistically, and the orchestral ensemble was greatly expanded to include Western instruments, which sometimes dominated the scoring.16
During the third phase, which began in 1977, many policies imposed during the Cultural Revolution were reversed.17 Traditional regional operas of the pre-1966 era were once again performed, and operas that had undergone extensive revisions between 1966 and 1976 were restored to their original status. New operas were composed using historical settings and themes, along with traditional patterns of performance; others were created with contemporary themes and modern staging, combining Chinese and Western aspects of music and acting techniques.18 Topics ranged from love stories (which had been banned in the second phase) to patriotic missions, from mythology to fairy tales, from historical biography to comedy. Back in vogue were the various forms of spoken, sung, and dance-dramas. Also revived were ritual operas traditionally performed by lay clergy or Buddhist and Taoist priests on the occasion of festivals or funerals, and the nuo style of opera, which makes considerable use of masks instead of painted faces.
A representative sample of operas that comprised the performing repertoire in Beijing at the end of the twentieth century would include Shuiku zhuan (The Water Margin) and Baishe zhuan (The White Snake), based on an ancient fairy tale about a white snake that was turned into a beautiful young lady.19 The story was popularized by an anonymous writer in the eighteenth century in the famous kunqu entitled Leifeng Pagoda (mentioned above); it was adapted to the Peking opera repertoire, reworked into a ballet, and then once again appeared as a traditional opera. In the numerous comic and military operas, long sections of dialogue and fancy feats of acrobatics greatly minimize the need for sung arias. Both the new wave of creativity and the restoration of traditional works have sought to preserve xiqu as a truly national phenomenon.
1. The pinyin system of romanization, adopted in China in 1979 for foreign-language publications, is used here whenever possible instead of the Wade-Giles system. An important exception, however, is the retention of the word Peking to designate a style of opera associated with the city of Beijing.
2. General studies of Chinese opera include: Alley, Peking Opera; Schö nfelder, Die Musik der Peking-Oper; Crump and Malm, eds., Chinese and Japanese Music-Dramas; Mackerras, The Rise of the Peking Opera (1770–1870); idem, The Performing Arts in Contemporary China; idem, “Chinese Opera after the Cultural Revolution (1970–1972)”; idem, Peking Opera; idem, ed., Chinese Theater from Its Origins to the Present Day; Yang, “The Reform of Peking Opera Under the Communists”;Wichmann, Listening to Theatre: The Aural Dimension of Beijing Opera.
3. Mackerras, ed., Chinese Theater, chap. 4. During the past three decades, kunqu operas have been revived by such celebrated troupes as that of the Jinagsu Province Kunqu Institute, which exhibited this style to great acclaim at the West Berlin Arts Festival in the summer of 1985. For more recent productions of kunqu operas, see chapter twenty-nine for a discussion of The Peony Pavilion.
4. Traditional regional operas tend to be fairly short (lasting one hour or less), with dramatic expositions limited to a single incident or to one chapter of a novel. The names of the librettists and composers are rarely mentioned. Until recently, operas composed or revised for performance after 1949 were considered to be the “collective” creations of anonymous professionals.
5. Sheng roles include the distinguished statesman, scholar, or general; jing roles (nicknamed “painted face” roles because of the make-up that defines the characters) represent men of action and supernatural beings. One of the most famous dan actors was Mei Lanfang (1894–1961).
6. In some provinces, all-female casts were active in opera productions. Casts with both male and female actors appeared in the early years of this century, but they were not used on a regular basis until after 1949. See Mackerras, The Rise of the Peking Opera.
7. Pian, “Aria Structural Patterns in the Peking Opera.”
8. For concise descriptions and illustrations of the instruments used in Chinese opera orchestras, s.v. “China” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.
9. The instrumental ensemble varies in size from six to twelve members. It is positioned at the rear of the stage facing the audience, though more recent practice has the ensemble placed stage right behind a screen or slightly offstage. In addition to the violin, Cantonese ensembles sometimes included a saxophone or clarinet, but since the 1960s, most productions have been performed solely with Chinese instruments.
10. Riddle, Flying Dragons, Flowing Streams, 18. Riddle quotes eyewitness accounts of other San Francisco productions in the 1850s. For an excellent photographic record of these staged events from 1852 to 1983, see Renouf, Pear Garden in the West, with photographs by Wyle Wong and commentary by Jack Chen. See also Yung, “The Music of Cantonese Opera.”
11. For an informative article about two of the Chinese traveling troupes that performed in New York City, see Rao, “Racial Essences and Historical Invisibility: Chinese Opera in New York, 1930.”
12. Zedong, “Talks at the Yenan Forum.”
13. A campaign to preserve native folk music was begun in the 1950s and included the collecting, cataloging, and recording of folksongs from all the provinces.
14. The story concerns a railway switchman who is charged with the task of relaying a secret code to guerrillas engaged in the war of resistance against Japan (1937–45). The hero is tortured by the Japanese general but the code is not revealed. The adopted grandmother of the hero and her daughter are similarly interrogated. As punishment for their resistance, the hero and grandmother are executed; the daughter is freed and she succeeds in delivering the code. For a comparison of the 1964 and 1970 versions, see Mackerras, “Chinese Opera after the Cultural Revolution (1970–1972).”
15. Zhiqu Weihu shan (Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, 1958) is representative of operas staged in the late 1950s.
16. According to Chou Wen-Chung, “To Create a New Chinese Musical Idiom,” the scoring for operas staged after 1966 continued to use a combination of Chinese and Western instruments, but the functions of these instruments was clearly differentiated: Chinese instruments accompanied the singers; Western instruments, located in the orchestra pit, played for the instrumental interludes. Mackerras, “Chinese Opera after the Cultural Revolution,” 436, presents a different interpretation of how the Chinese and Western elements were utilized. The reader can investigate this further by comparing opera recordings made before and after 1966.
17. See, in particular, Mackerras, The Performing Arts in Contemporary China and Mackerras, ed., Chinese Theater.
18. The texts of these new works were written in Chinese characters and projected on a screen located to one side of the stage, thereby allowing the “message” of the operas to be comprehended by audiences speaking various regional dialects.
19. Videos of the Chinese opera repertoire and live productions by Chinese troupes in cities around the world have made this art form accessible to many people, often influencing the works of Chinese composers living abroad, as discussed in chapter twenty-nine.