| This paper studies the modern drama actor culture in "The SeventeenYears", which is the period from1949to1966after the founding of thePeople Republic of China in1949----the first historical period of thedevelopment of modern drama of New China. The reason for choosingthe topic for the dissertation is that the spirit and values in the moderndrama actor culture of "The Seventeen Years" embodied and influencedthe spirit formation and the art style of the modern drama development inP.R.C. And the purpose for the study of the important issue is tore-decode the spirituality of the development of modern drama in "TheSeventeen Years" from the point of view of the actor culture in this paper.Under the new historical context of radical changes, the actor groupas an important element in modern drama, though coming from differentsources, with different cultural and artistic backgrounds, created manyclassic images on the stage of New China with their common effort. Theresearch of actor cultural studies should not only concern about theperformance, but also the performers, the infinite historical space behindthe stage so as to go beyond the mere criticism for its own sake, andbeyond the superficial comprehension, and thus, a broader culturalperspective closer to the human nature and with Chinese characteristicscould be gained, and finally the comprehensive, integrate academicframework could be established.The paper is divided into six chapters:Chapter IThe unquestionable leading role played by the state ideology is thekey factor in "The Seventeen Years" social transformation, and thereforeany aspect of the research in this era must be based on the political, socialand historical dialogues of the time. So this chapter focuses on theoverview of development of the modern drama under such conditions in1949-1966which is the logical starting point to expand the study of theactor cultural issues of modern drama series of New China. Chapter IIAlong with the specialization and standardization of the moderndrama of New China, Beijing People’s Art Theatre, as the representativeof actor groups, gradually improved, and formed distinctive culture of itsown in practice. Indeed, each actor as an individual showed his or herspecial quality because of the differences in family backgrounds, culturalbackgrounds, professional experiences, social status, etc., yet they didhave something in common because they were all working in the samespecial era. It was these individualities and the commonalities constructedthe unique spirit and artistic qualities of the actor group in the period.Starting with the cultural source, this chapter explores the personality andthe common features of the actor group of modern drama of New China.Chapter IIIThe actors of "The Seventeen Years" experienced unprecedentedpolitical, social, ideological transformation and change, which causedactors to have to keep with the times. While in line with the newaesthetics, playing the politically oriented new roles, they also struggle totransform their own world view and outlook on life. This chapter focuseson the artists’ identity change and identity as a group in a new contextfrom the actors’perspective.Chapter IVIn term of the achievements in performance arts of modern drama,"The Seventeen Years" are undoubtedly the "golden age" in the history ofthe development of it. The performance concept of the actors, just as theoutlook on life for an individual, is the very vitality for an actor. Thischapter focuses on a retrospective view of the historical source of theperformance concept of the actors of New China, exploring how theunique performance concept of the actors was formed in this complexcultural ecology,Chapter VDue to the environmental impact, the modern drama developed intoseveral large groups, such as " Capital Taste " modern drama whichprevailed in Beijing cultural environment;" Shanghai School " moderndrama as the representatives of colonial culture; and " Northern School " modern drama which represent "black soil " culture in the Northern partof China. Actors, as modern drama performers, preserved thoseinevitable geopolitical cultural identities. This chapter focuses on theanalysis of the performance genres from the local cultures of each majormodern drama group as well as their formation from a geopolitical pointof view.Chapter VIThe importance of "The Seventeen Years" actor culture studies liesnot just in the introduction of it to the context of today’s reality as aspiritual resource, but rather as the reflection at a deeper level. Thischapter focuses on the solutions to a number of problems existing in thedevelopment of modern drama now by the exploration of the underlyingcauses of how the actors of "The Seventeen Years" have become mastersof the performance arts of the modern drama. The aim of this study is toserve our spiritual construction today.
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