Shandong Local Opera Small Drama Research

Shandong is the birthplace of Qilu Culture,its special location advantage and profound Confucianism has contributed to produce various local operas which are very famous in Shandong,such as Lv Opera,Shandong Clapper opera,Liuzi Opera and some other kinds of operas.Meanwhile,some kinds of small operas which have their own characteristics have spread in every nook and cranny of Shandong Province.These small operas contain a lot of information about Chinese traditional culture.Now,the study and protection of these small operas can help people know more about the ancient lifestyle,Chinese traditional cultural thoughts,and find some rules of the development of literature and art which can be used for reference today.This dissertation focuses on Shandong local operas.Based on extensive and in-depth field investigation as well as a great deal of first-hand resources,combined with academic accumulation relevant to the development of traditional operas and the theory of literary arts,it analyzes the history,aesthetic characteristics,culture value and practical significance of Shandong local operas,it clarifies the relevant concepts,it also analyzes the problems discovered in its development process and the measures on how to solve the problems in order to present a well-rounded landscape of Shandong local small operas systematically from theoretical and practical perspective.This dissertation is made up of seven parts which are interrelated with each other and independent from each other.Introduction At first,this part clarifies the relevant concepts,such as local traditional operas,Shandong local traditional operas,small operas,big operas,etc.As for the concept of local traditional operas,it is quiet different from the national operas,like Peking opera and Kun Opera.Shandong traditional local small operas do not include Peking Opera,Yu Opera,Ping Opera,Hebei Clapper Opera and some other kinds of operas which are still popular in Shandong now.All the operas in this dissertation belong to the small operas except Lv Opera,Shandong Clapper Opera and Liuzi Opera.Generally speaking,according to the quantity of opera troupes andits influence,Lv Opera,Shandong Clapper opera and Liuzi Opera are not in the category of small operas in Shandong Province.How to define small operas or big operas is relatively dynamic,mainly according to the present situation of a certain opera.Small operas and big operas can be interchangeable with each other because its spread area and influence has been changing all the time.Then,it interprets the study of dissertation from the relationship between traditional opera art and people’s well-being,small operas’ unique aesthetic features and distinct local characteristics,and the existence predicament which small operas faces with.Finally,it summarizes former research findings and present research trends and put forward the research ideas,and research methods of this dissertation.Chapter 1 The emergence and development of Shandong traditional local small operas.From the specific and detailed perspective,such as “long history and cultural accumulation”,“excellent geographical position” and “rich cultural and ecological resources”,it analyzes the causes and development process of the local operas in Shandong.Shandong Province is one of the places which have the early opera activities in China because it is abundant in natural resources and is prosperous in every dynasty in history.The birth time of the local operas dates back to late Ming and early Qing Dynasty,when the commodity economy was comparatively advanced,the political environment was relatively stable,social civilization has developed to a certain degree,and their generation often relies on the local superior geographical environment,such as convenient land and sea transportation or commercial activities,which can facilitate the gathering of the audience.All these have laid a solid foundation for the richness and prosperity of the operas.Shandong with its vast territory and abundant resources,has formed different cultural ecological districts,which have their own local characteristics.Chapter 2 The category features’ research of Shandong traditional local small operas.The local operas can be divided into different categories according to relationships between operas and artistic characteristics.There are two standards that are at work.One is the category of systematic tunes which can be divided into Suo systematic tune,Clapper systematic tune,and Zhou Drum systematic tune,the other isthe category of operas which have artistic characteristics,which can be divided into operas evolved from the folk songs and operas evolved from the folk dances.Based on full recognition and respecting the current classification method,as well as a full investigation of the history of opera drama,the author has further modified and perfected the classification methods.Shandong traditional local small operas are divided into five categories: Zhou Drum Systematic Tune,Clapper Systematic Tune,String Systematic Tune,Daoqing Systematic Tune and some others.The first four categories are made up of multiple operas which are interrelated with each other closely.Some other operas don’t common characteristics with the first four categories.At the same time,on the basis of classification,the dissertation also analyzes the common features of different operas and looks into the distribution of different operas and their own unique characteristics.Chapter 3 The aesthetic features of Shandong traditional local small operas.The operas deeply influenced by Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism have their own characteristics of integrity,virtuality and stylization and the content of them are mainly civilizing.Based on the comparison between local operas and Peking Opera and Kun Opera,this dissertation analyzes the aesthetic features of local small operas from there aspects,popular and humorous language,unique performance form,and particular ideological annotations,with an emphasis in flexibility and folk characteristics.Metaphor,symbolism and some other writing skills are seldom used in local operas,dialects,slang,puns and proverbs are often used to express the wonderful ideas,which also demonstrate the obvious Shandong local characteristics.Shui Words that are often civilizing can extend the performance time.As for the performance form,Shandong local small operas prefer the bright red and bright green to attract the audience’s attention which also reflects the aesthetic interests of local people.The music of local operas fits for playing in the open air which can create a cheerful performance atmosphere.The materials of local operas are various ranging from historical plays to dramas to myths which are closely relevant to people’s lives in real world and reflect local people’s real thoughts.Chapter 4 The culture value and practical significance of Shandong traditional local small operas.This part analyzes the cultural value and practical significance of local operas from the relationships between cultural ecology and local small operas.There are abundant small operas’ resources in Shandong Province.The local small operas that mainly serve the local people have formed strong local characteristics of Shandong in the process of inheritance and development.They are performed in the form of entertaining the local people to satisfy their spiritual and cultural life.The local small operas once played an active and irreplaceable role in economically undeveloped areas,which are lagging behind and lacking other forms of entertainment.Small local operas are an essential part of the rural cultural ecological environment for the most rural areas at that time,and are also an important part of the same cultural memory for those people who live there from generation to generation.These operas which have linguistic and documentary value are precious and valuable traditional Chinese cultural wealth.All kinds of folk activities are involved in the local operas which benefit from a fruitful interaction with each other.As for the practical significance of local operas,they imply the need of human being’s existence and development of China which can contribute to improve the aesthetic appreciation level and moral standard of audience,so that they can help to maintain the simple kind folk customs which can contribute to solve the present confusion in spiritual and real world.Chapter 5 The existence predicament of Shandong traditional local small operas.According to Cultural Department Census statistic data of Shandong province as well as the first-hand data of the author’s fieldwork,13% of Shandong troupes are state-owned or entrepreneurial and 87% are private-owned or folk societies.The fate of local small operas is closely related to the survival of private-owned troupes or the loose folk societies.This dissertation takes Tianzhuang Chuiqiang Opera Troupe in Linqing City,Halitun Xiaodiaozi Opera Troupe,and Panzhuang Xianghui(Luantan)as examples to analyze the survival status of the inheritors in Shandong folk societies of local small operas,and takes Wuyinxi Theater in Zibo City,Liuqin Troupe in Linyi City and Maoqiang Yangge Art at Jiaozhou Art Inheritance Center as examples toanalyze the survival status of the inheritors in Shandong state-owned troupes of local small operas.The findings indicate that the inheritors are usually old people,there are not enough young people to sign up for the opera force,and the types of role are not sufficiently enough as well.In order to solve these problems,the theaters must find ways to foster their own actors,producers,directors and the audience who really likes the small operas.This is the essence of the survival and long-term development of local small operas.Chapter 6 The protection and inheritance of Shandong traditional local small operas.In this part,some protection measures are put forward from the perspective of diversity,homogenization,creation and inheritance of local small operas.It indicates that people should absorb from the classical opera works,try to improve the quality of local small operas,have their own classical arias and representative actors to develop local small operas,which are also an effective ways to solve the pressing the convergence problem of current local small operas.At the same time,people should also utilize available modern elements resources to enrich traditional local small operas.This is a fusion and a collision that provides the creation of opera with a kind of thinking,and also brings a wide range of thinking.It is required that people make efforts to protect and preserve the integrity of cultural ecology and diversity of local small operas,strengthen the research of opera document and history of local small operas and call for more people to participate in the activities of promoting the operas to improve the sustainable development of local small operas.Conclusion The development path of Shandong traditional local small operas under the new media environment.The spread of Shandong traditional local small operas also need marketing strategies in such an era of super media to strengthen its own brand effect and make more people accept and enjoy them.For a long time,we pay more attention to the feat of an actor and the importance of creating quality opera.In reality,packaging,promotion and marketing of quality operas are equally important to the rejuvenation of local small operas.The concept of traditional consumer has completely changed in the new consumption times.The internet has changed people’s lifestyle,We-media offers everyone an opportunity to postinformation on the internet at any time,it also provides an opportunity for the information to go viral on the internet while traditional media can’t have such benefits.Consequently,we should objectively realize the current status and role of local small operas in society and the differentiation and aesthetics choice of audience in the new era and make full use of the advantages of new media to broaden the survival path of local small operas and protect the sustainable development of local small operas in the context of new media.