History of Chinese Drama

Author: Tian Zhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: Series on Drama and Theatre Studies. It is generally believed that the essence of Chinese drama lies in the elegant songs created by educated scholars and performed by court or brothel entertainers; while rural dramas performed by farmers and urban performers are considered to have no literary value and are called "local operas," receiving disdain and being merely glanced over in the history of Chinese theatre. This book argues that the essence of rural drama is its integration with rural sacrificial rituals and its performance as part of them, known as "sacrificial drama." The book combines new field research data with existing literature to attempt to break through the limitations of traditional research methods in studying Chinese theatre history from the perspective of sacrificial drama, reconstructing the history of Chinese drama.