Chinese Drama (From Tradition to Modern)

Author: Dong Jian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Since the late 1980s of the last century, whether it is Chinese local theater or Western transplant drama, both have encountered unprecedented difficulties. Until today, Chinese theater is still lingering in this shadow. Can Chinese theater break free from the and achieve a transformation from tradition to modernity? How should this transformation be realized? Scholars from both classical and modern theater, as well as from domestic and overseas, gather together to explore the characteristics of Chinese theater, investigate the laws of its occurrence and development, and discuss the significant practical issue of transforming Chinese theater from tradition to modernity. The International Academic Conference on "Chinese Theater: From Tradition to Modernity" was jointly organized by Nanjing University and Shanghai Theatre Academy and held in Nanjing and Shanghai from July 16 to 19, 2005. Over 120 scholars and experts from more than 20 domestic universities, research institutions, as well as Japan, South Korea, Russia, the United States, and other countries and regions attended the conference. This conference was one of the grandest events in the field of Chinese theater and drama in recent years, bringing together research teams from both classical and modern theater to exchange ideas and generate positive academic responses. This book selects 39 papers from the 78 papers collected from the conference, which are closely related to the conference theme and have high academic value. They reflect the highest level and research trends in contemporary Chinese classical theater and modern theater research, making the book highly academically significant.
Since the late 1980s of the last century, whether it is Chinese local theater or Western transplant drama, both have encountered unprecedented difficulties. Until today, Chinese theater is still lingering in this shadow. Can Chinese theater break free from the and achieve a transformation from tradition to modernity? How should this transformation be realized? Scholars from both classical and modern theater, as well as from domestic and overseas, gather together to explore the characteristics of Chinese theater, investigate the laws of its occurrence and development, and discuss the significant practical issue of transforming Chinese theater from tradition to modernity. The International Academic Conference on "Chinese Theater: From Tradition to Modernity" was jointly organized by Nanjing University and Shanghai Theatre Academy and held in Nanjing and Shanghai from July 16 to 19, 2005. Over 120 scholars and experts from more than 20 domestic universities, research institutions, as well as Japan, South Korea, Russia, the United States, and other countries and regions attended the conference. This conference was one of the grandest events in the field of Chinese theater and drama in recent years, bringing together research teams from both classical and modern theater to exchange ideas and generate positive academic responses. This book selects 39 papers from the 78 papers collected from the conference, which are closely related to the conference theme and have high academic value. They reflect the highest level and research trends in contemporary Chinese classical theater and modern theater research, making the book highly academically significant.
The paradox of survival in contemporary Chinese theater, when entering this topic, must first confront a harsh theatrical reality: Although the scientific argument that "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth" once took root deeply in China, contemporary Chinese theater has not been completely liberated from the decline of the Cultural Revolution in spirit, and its system has not undergone fundamental changes. The cultural form of the war period, as an intrinsic potential within the body of modern Chinese theater, continues to influence contemporary Chinese theater. In other words, what faces the practitioners of contemporary Chinese theater is the implicit continuation of the war period cultural form since the 1990s. To be more specific and sharp, contemporary Chinese theater is caught in an awkward situation: on one side, there is the call of commercial economy from consumption and the market; on the other side, there is the ideological demand determined by the implicit continuation of the war period cultural form since the 1990s. The almost irreconcilable conflict between the two is the paradox of survival in contemporary Chinese theater.
Chinese theater had a brief period of brilliance from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. However, even during that period, the open contemporary Chinese theater only achieved some advancement and expansion in the level of theatrical concepts and barely touched the issue of reforming the theater troupe system, with few breakthroughs in the philosophical level of the entire theatrical spirit. The implicit continuation of the war period cultural form is particularly evident in the Chinese theater scene from the early 1990s to the present. A careful examination of Chinese theater during this stage reveals the lingering legacy of the critical struggle tradition formed during the war period in modern Chinese theater, as well as the traces left by the war period theater system, which has persisted for decades. Openly advocating "criticism" and explicitly promoting "struggle," especially the works produced under the creative ideology of "class struggle as the guiding principle," are no longer seen. However, the drawbacks caused by the war period theater cultural form and its byproduct—the tradition of critical struggle—have not completely disappeared. Here, a brief discussion is made on a few influential conceptual issues.
Political ideological. This phenomenon was extremely common before and during the Cultural Revolution. In the 1980s, under the wave of the spirit of "emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts," its errors and harms should have been clearly analyzed both theoretically and practically. Currently, although there has been debate over whether art belongs to the superstructure, it is generally agreed that art, as a special form of ideology, is more suspended above the economic base and belongs to the realm of human spiritual life. However, in real life, due to the implicit continuation of the war period cultural form and the potential influence of the critical struggle tradition in modern Chinese theater, some people have developed a cognitive inertia (almost becoming a collective unconscious). Some still equate theater with general ideology, or even with political ideology, or still equate theater with general publicity. They often remember "art should not be divorced from politics" but forget "art should not be subordinate to politics." When examining and identifying theatrical works and performances, whether explicitly or implicitly, intentionally or unintentionally, they still use an old measure: "political standards first, artistic standards second." P74