Volume One: Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe Volume. Great Compendium of Selected Kunqu Opera Play Scripts from China

Author: Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Kunqu Opera has a history of over 600 years and is an outstanding national cultural heritage of China. It is known as one of the world's three oldest theatrical forms, alongside ancient Greek tragedy and Indian Sanskrit drama. Originally known as Kunqu, it originated in the late Yuan Dynasty in Kunshan and Suzhou areas of Jiangsu. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the theatrical music master Wei Liangfu absorbed the essence of the three major vocal styles—Haiyan, Yuyao, and Yiyang—as well as the highlights of Southern and Northern tunes, and reformed Kunqu. Simultaneously, the dramatist Liang Bolong created The Ballad of the Washing Silk, composing it with the reformed Kunqu vocal style, which rapidly spread the influence of Kunqu across the land. Kunqu is the oldest theatrical form with a long-standing tradition in China and even the world, and almost all regional opera styles in the country have been nurtured to varying degrees by it, earning it the reputation of "the ancestor of all theater." Kunqu condenses various artistic elements of Chinese classical literature, dance, drama, as well as painting, acrobatics, and more. It can be regarded as a concentrated and vivid carrier of traditional Chinese culture, making it a truly world-class cultural classic. To protect world cultural heritage, the Jingshuang Office of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has listed the compilation, editing, and publication of Kunqu opera scripts and scores as a key special project. In July 2003, a national Kunqu opera script and score publishing symposium was held in Nanjing, and the "Kunqu Script Publishing Editorial Committee" was established. In September of the same year, a national editorial committee meeting was held in Beijing to primarily study the specific publishing plan for Kunqu scripts. By November of that year, a business meeting for script publishing was also held in Kunshan, Jiangsu. As a result, the collection and organization of scripts by Kunqu opera troupes across the country gradually began. The Comprehensive Collection of Selected Kunqu Opera Scripts and Scores compiled, edited, and published under the leadership of the Jingshuang Office of the CPPCC aims to preserve this "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" in written form for future generations.