Study On The Drama Of Nanjing In Late Ming Dynasty

This dissertation includes seven chapters, and focuses on the activities related with drama in Nanjing in Late Ming dynasty, such as the drama-related activities of the scholars, the writing, performance and theoretical development of drama, as well as the role it plays in the inscription of drama. Based on this, the author tries to review the unique role Nanjing—then the political and cultural center—plays in the development of drama in Ming and Qing dynasties.Chapter one is about the drama-related activities of scholars in Nanjing in Ming dynasty. The drama-related activities of the scholars from the country, especially those from the South of Yangtze River are temporally described, which helps to relive the different stages, such as the first getting-together of scholars in Nanjing, the development to the top form and then the declination of drama in Nanjing in Late Ming dynasty. By this, the important role Nanjing plays in the drama history is revealed.The love affairs between scholars and the singing girls, which are the important origins and motivations of scholar's creative working, which at the same time improved the performance of the singing girls, have been of great importance in Chinese drama writing and performance. The second chapter is on the impact of the love stories between scholars and the singing girls on Qin Huai River on drama development. And the focus of this part is the analysis of the activities between Wang Zhideng and Ma Xianglan, and those between Pan Zhiheng, the Fu She scholars of Chongzhen ruling, and the singing girls in Nanjing.The drama performance in Nanjing in Late Ming dynasty is unique. Qu Yan and Sai Qu Hui (two forms of drama performance) are so large in scale and so profound in influence that they both were popular even with the performance organizers. Nanjing, an important large city of China at that time, is an arena for different operatic tunes. The interesting thing that needs further exploration is that at Late Ming dynasty, the influence of Kunqu Opera covered the whole area of the South Yangtze River, and was in the complete monopolizing position, while Nanjing remained at the same time to be the last arena for operatic tunes from the North of China. This is what is going to be tackled in chapter three.Chapter four is about the life of drama performers, such as those from courtesans' quarters, noble families, and professional organizations, and the life of guest performers. The constitute of performers in Late Ming dynasty is complicated, including both local-born boys and singing girls, as well as professional performers and guest performers. They are huge in numbers and versatile in performing techniques. Among them, the performers from courtesans' quarters are best known. Due to the strict practice from the early childhood and the later-on efforts, these performers who were humble in origin grew to be the exotic flowers in the garden of drama in Nanjing. However, their charms in arts were always short-lived. It is difficult to identify the performers from noble families, while they were at the same time the indispensable factors in drama arena in Nanjing. And with the nurturing of their owners, performers from noble families have also played their roles in the prosperous drama performance. Nanjing is the distributing center for all kinds of professional theatrical troupes, and according to statistics, there were no less than ten troupes came to Nanjing. The getting-together of these troupes promoted the interaction and harmonization between different local drama performance and operatic tunes.In Late Ming dynasty, the Najing local drama writers were not as good as those from other places in drama writing. The Shuang Feng Ji and Shuang Lie Ji were famous for their subjective flavors, for they both wrote of feelings about an unsuccessful career, which were in sharp contrast with the successful stories of historic persons. Za Ju Mo Hua Xuan and Xi Feng Chun were known for their focus on social realities. Among the guest writers, Tang Xianzu and Ruan Dacheng achieved the most. For example, Zi Chai Ji came out first among the Linchuan Si Meng written by Tang Xianzu, and it had great impact on the writer's drama writing in his late years. Three of Shi Chao Si Zhong, written by Ruan Dacheng, were finished at Nanjing and the nearby places, and many stories were about artistic dealing with the writer's experience in Nangjing. They reflected the writer's great artistic talents, strong self-entertainment and reflection.Compared with the prosperity of drama writing and performing, drama theory was lagging behind. In spite of the few summaries from local writers about the techniques of San Qu writing and performing, the evaluating of drama writing and performing was mainly conducted by the guest writers such as He Liangjun, Pan Zhiheng, and Ruan Dacheng. What we should pay special attention to is that the formation of these theories should be attributed to the writers' drama-related practice in Nanjing.For a long time, Nanjing has drawn a lot of attention to itself as the inscription center of drama in Late Ming dynasty, and many research results have come out thereby. This dissertation contributes a large proportion to the reasons and features of drama inscription in Nanjing.In addition, this dissertation makes use of appendix to introduce chronologically the drama development in Nanjing in Late Ming dynasty.