The West Chamber "communication Research

Using modern spreading theory and method for reference, the author made a thorough description and analysis of the famous Chinese opera "Xixiangji", spreading of "Xixiangji"in Ming and Qing Dynasty after it's publication. The dissertation can be divided into 5 parts: the play, the performance, the adaptation, the evaluation and its cultural influence. Through a systematic study of "Xixiangji"in the background of Ming and Qing culture and the development of traditional opera, the author tried to probe the spreading pattern of Chinese traditional opera in various aspects during the past 600 years. At the beginning of the dissertation, the author explained some main concepts and methods, in addition, the major concerns of the social background of Ming and Qing Dynasty and basic spreading characteristics of "Xixiangji". Social pastime and social position of traditional opera turned from vulgar to elegant formed the direct reason of the prosperity of Ming and Qing traditional opera. During the time the general characteristic of the spreading of "Xixiangji"can be concluded as follows: wide-spreading. Chapter Ⅰ, study of the play. Mainly described the characteristics of hand-copied book, block-printed edition and adapted edition of "Xixiangji"in different times and features of some major editions. It also gave an overview of its spreading methods. Hand-copied book was the main way in ancient times when the countermark technique was relatively backward . A distinct characteristic from Wanli Period(1573-1620)to the end of Ming Dynasty was that many famous critics comment on the play and supplied nice illustrations. While in Qing Dynasty, most editions were the revisions and supplement influenced by Jin ShengTan's( a famous critic) "The Sixth Genius Book of Guan Huatang Hall". Block-printing was the main form in spreading, and centered around Hangzhou, Nanjing, Beijing, Souzhou, Huzhou, Xinan, Yangzhou where printing was well-developed. The development was in accordance with the economic and cultural prosperity. In order to attract readers, printers used nice pictures, famous comments, refined red and black printing form and other methods. At the same time, the selected copies provided us with a vivid history of performance. In Ming and Qing Dynasty the features of the selected copies were that certain acts were often selected but different names were used. ChapterⅡRevision and Spreading. Mainly described the revision of "Xixiangji". Three forms were reviewed.: firstly, changing of artistic form with no altering of its original theme, with an intention of making it easier to perform; secondly, a recreation of the whole play or the last 4 acts because of a dissatisfaction to the theme; thirdly, a continuation due to a dissatisfaction of the ending fourthly. Many revisions were made during the past 600 years, but none had passed the original. On the other hand, these revisions were forms of criticism, which had been very beneficial to the wide spreading of "Xixiangji". Chapter Ⅲperformance spreading. Performance was described from four aspects: form of performance, singing style, place of performance, audience. For the main forms of performance –the whole play and selected acts –we found the whole play had been acting out from the born of the play (at the beginning of Yuan Dynasty) to the end of Qing Dynasty, while for the selected forms, it began at the beginning of WanLi Period and became the main form of performance after QianLong(1736-1795) and JiaQing (1796-1820) Period. The singing styles were various, the North Style, Kunshan Style, Yiyang Style, Haiyun Style and Yuyao Style had all been used to sing Xixingji. It had been acted out throughout China, both in north and south of Yangtze River and had a large audience, ranging from the nobles to the common people, the officials to the scholars. Chapter ⅣCriticism and Spreading. Three points were discussed in this chapter: controversy, comments, ban and blame. Controversy covered an argument on the real author, Dong's "Xixiangji"or Wang's "Xixiangji", the difference among "Xixiangji", "Pipaji"and "Baiyueting". The author studied the reason, essence and influence of the controversy. Comments dealt with the connection of the value of appreciation, academic position, performing availability and their contribution to the spreading of the work. Ban and blame reviewed the history of prohibition and the different voice from the government and the common people. The criticism was open and at the same time rigorous, which formed a great part of the ancient theory of opera criticism. Chapter ⅤInfluence. Mainly discussed the influence of "Xixiangji"upon opera, novel, poetry, ballad-singing and drawing, especially upon "Mudanting"and "Dream of the Red Chambers". It also sorted out the poems about "Xixiangji "and their impact on the evaluation of style performance, the actors'acting skills and its effect as part of the literary criticism. In story-telling and ballad-singing, various writing skills and unique visual angle were employed. In drawing, it greatly influenced carving and New Year pictures, in which the story of Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng contributed a lot in spreading the opera. The last part was a conclusion of the development of the above aspects. New theory, new media and new methods were used in criticizing and evaluating opera, thus new characteristics appeared. So the spreading of "Xixiangji "was a continuous process.