Discovery of Opera Relics

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Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: Drama originates from human imitation of natural objects and their own behavioral or symbolic mimicry, meaning that drama originates from mimetic and symbolic performance. In this imitation behavior, the imitator becomes or partially becomes a role and is no longer entirely themselves, their actions constrained and restricted by the behavior of what they are imitating. This leads us to trace our gaze back to the mimicry of primitive humans. The initial imitation was naturally driven by human playfulness and the instinct to imitate. Figure 1: Bird-shaped attire depicted in the rock paintings of Cangyuan, Yunnan, during the late Paleolithic Age. Around 50,000 years ago, sympathetic magic beliefs emerged, bringing with them human consciousness and a wealth of imitation behaviors—primitive people believed that by imitating the "spirit" of things, they could control them, and thus the imitation process—the process of manipulating "spirits"—could determine the outcomes of actual life. For example, primitive people often imitated hunting and warfare behaviors to achieve success in hunting and warfare, with the imitation process involving behavioral simulation and rhythmic dance performances. Such frequent and purposeful costuming activities can be considered the precursors of primitive drama. Today, we can see many examples of these early mimetic and symbolic performances in prehistoric rock paintings across various regions. The attempts to control nature through sympathetic magic, of course, ultimately failed, leading primitive humans to shift from attempting to manipulate "spirits" to revering and pleading for them. Thus, gods emerged to rule the earth, giving rise to primitive religion, which led to a series of beliefs and ritual practices, including nature god worship, totem worship, and ancestor worship. Accompanying these practices were hymns and performances to praise and appease the gods. In this stage, primitive drama was intertwined with religious rituals for praying to and entertaining the gods, appearing as an appendage to religious ceremonies. Its typical visual features included costumes mimicking the forms of birds and animals. Historical records are filled with mythological accounts, such as the Lüshi Chunqiu·Gu Yue (Ancient Music), which states: "Emperor Kù ordered people to clap, some beating drums and cymbals, others blowing reeds and playing flutes. He then instructed the Feng Bird and the Tian to dance." The "Feng Bird" was, of course, a human in costume. The text also says: "When Emperor Yao ascended the throne, he appointed Zhi as the master of music. Zhi imitated the sounds of mountains, forests, streams, and valleys in his singing, placed a deer on a jar and beat it, and struck stones together to mimic the sound of jade chimes, thereby summoning dances of all beasts." This is a legend about the origins of music and musical instruments, but can we not sense the submission of numerous tribes with different totemic animals and birds to Emperor Yao in this narrative? And this reality was expressed through costumes mimicking animal and bird totems. A similar legend exists about Yao's successor, Shun. The Shangshu·Yushu·Shun Dian states: "The Emperor said: Ku, you are appointed as the master of music. Ku replied: Oh, I will strike stones together to summon dances of all beasts." The Shangshu·Yushu·Yiji also mentions Ku saying at this time: "With pipes and bells interwoven, birds and beasts dance gracefully. The nine songs of Xiao Shao bring the phoenix to its ritual." We can similarly interpret this as a totemic animal and bird performance during Shun's reign. Today, bird and animal costumes accompanied by rhythmic human movements depicted in ancient rock paintings, pottery, and bronze drums likely reflect such performances. The frequently seen beast-like Taotie motifs on bronze wares and some animal masks may have been used in these totemic ritual costumes. Figure 2: Bird-shaped attire on a bronze drum from Shizhai Mountain, Jinning, Yunnan. Figure 3: Bronze mask from the Western Zhou period in Yuxian, Henan. Figure 4: Oracle bone script tablet depicting the character for "Nuo."
During the long-standing worship of nature gods, totems, and ancestors, specialized organizers and performers gradually emerged—this was the shaman. They fulfilled the role of bridging the gap between heaven and earth. The earliest documented stage of shamanic rituals dates back to the Shang Dynasty, where shamans primarily served as messengers of divine will but also widely performed functions for blessing and warding off misfortune. During rituals, shamans conducted performances to welcome, summon, pray to, and entertain deities. These performances were mimetic and song-like, and in the process, the shaman could no longer be themselves but instead become the person or deity they were imitating. At this point, they had "taken on the role," and their performances were deeply theatrical. Thus, later generations often regarded the summoning performances of shamans as the origin of drama. From the Jiu Ge (Nine Songs) of the Chuci (Songs of Chu), a collection of Shang Dynasty hymns to gods from the Chu region during the Warring States period, we can glimpse the appearance of the god-worshiping songs and costumes of that time.
After the Zhou Dynasty established its capital, based on traditional shamanic rituals and in line with the needs of royal power, three main ritual practices primarily formed: the Lac ritual for praying for agricultural prosperity, the Nuo ritual for driving away evil spirits and plagues, and the Yu ritual for praying for rain. Among these, the Nuo ritual's process of driving away evil spirits (Nuo) was highly theatrical. The Nuo ritual emerged from the psychological need of primitive humans to expel spirits of disasters and plagues, inspired by the realities of intertribal warfare. The concept of driving away evil spirits or chasing away demons was the foundation for the development of primitive humans' awareness of exorcism. The exact origins of the Nuo ritual are uncertain. In Shang Dynasty oracle bone script, there is a character that Yu Shengyou believed depicted a person striking a pestle inside a house to drive away ghosts (see Collected Interpretations of Oracle Bone Script). Another character, explained by Guo Moruo as (Nuo), was originally the character for driving away evil spirits. The original character was , which was explained by Xu Shen in the Shuowen Jiezi (Dictionary of Characters) as "a term of alarm when seeing a ghost, composed of the radical for 'ghost' and the sound of nan." In the Shuowen Tongjun Dingsheng by Zhu Junsheng, it was described as "the correct character for driving away evil spirits. By striking drums and shouting as if chasing a ghost, it was called Nuo." Later, the character was replaced by . Thus, activities similar to driving away evil spirits already existed during the Shang Dynasty.
After the Zhou Dynasty, historical records began to include formal accounts of the Nuo ritual.