Between IIIusion And Reality:A Study Of The Religious Drama In Yuan Zaju

The Yuan Dynasty was established by the Mongolians. This country was vast m territory, which was a country spreading from Asia to Europe. After they ousted the Jin Dynasty and took over the whole of north China, the Mongolians not only continued to believe in Shamanism, but aslo was converted to Tibetan Buddhism when they conquered Tibet. In order to control and manage the society composed by the Han and other nationalities, the Mongolians admited the current situation and treated religions as equals. Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christanity developed quickly in the Yuan Dynasty. Although the Yuan Dynasty did not last so long, the religions inluenced culture and art greatly. The religious drama is an important part of the Yuan Variety Dramas(Zaju). The author made a thorough textual research of all the plays and put forward a new concept which is different from the old one. The dissertationis also concerned for the patterns of the religious dramas relation between religion and drama, and 搕he eight immortals ?drama. At the smae time, there is an interesting discovery that is the drama Pilgrimage to the West (~ ~ i~) is a bridge between original tales and the novel in the Ming Dynasty. By studying the characteristics of the drama, we know that it may be similar to the Indian epic Ramayana. We can fuily explain why so many religious dramas appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. Since the Mongolians?rule was cruel, the people did not know where there was an exit to escape the hard life. The religion constitued an illusory world that the people need. Although the Yuan variety plays later found their way into the Chinese literary canon, and as such become the preserve of the literate class, they were definitely popular entertainment in their own day. In this condition, the religious plays were warmly welcome by the audiences because most of them were peasants, artisans, and traders. They met with many problems in their life. They need religious plays and religious plays also need them. That is why the religious plays were prosperous in the Yuan Dynasty. The dissertation is instructed by Prof. Liu Yinbo. I make a grateful acknowledgement for him.