A Study Of Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera

The present dissertation is composed of three parts: a preface, a body, and an attachedpassage.The preface part elaborates on the basis of subject selection, research significance, thepresent state and the limitations of China's Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera in thepast 40 years. It attempts to bring to light that Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is aparticular political, cultural, and aesthetical phenomenon during the Cultural Revolutionwith an embodiment of various contradiction and confusion knotted in China's pursuit ofits national rebirth. Only when the study of Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is basedon overall academic perspective can we find an answer to a series of complicated problemslike its productive mechanism and artistic representation including its prevalence, declineand recurrence. Consequently, its artistic value can be evaluated fairly and rationally.The body part is composed of four chapters, mainly elaborating the constructiverelations between the exploration of traditional and modern opera with proletariaterevolutionary literature experience. It also makes an objective analysis of the specialartistic achievement and the complicated structural connotation of the RevolutionaryModern Beijing Opera.The first chapter, placing the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera in the course ofChina's opera modernization during the 1940s and 1960s, traces back to the hard pursuit ofthe opera modernization course, explains the three stages of opera reform achievements inthree periods. It is followed by an explanation of the close relationship between theRevolutionary Modern Beijing Opera and the national Beijing opera performanceachievements in 1964 and an overall interpretation of its pre-issue tempering, naming andthe nation-wide publicity. It aims to reveal that the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera isthe final outcome of the modernization experiment of the traditional opera from 1940 to1960 and a part of China's overall cultural modernization folded in the process of nationalmodernization with its publicity embodying the prints of Chinese nation's particularmodernness. Although the constructive model of Revolutionary Modern Beijing Operarepresents fully the essence of the nation's ideology, it activates vitality of the traditional opera and provides an exemplary approach to the modernizational turn of the traditionalopera and especially serves as a profound admonishment and implication of today'slonesome opera stage.Chapter two of the paper explores the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera in thegenerating relations of the proletariate revolutionary literature. It goes back to the origin ofthe evolution and shaping of the leading literature experience of the proletariaterevolutionary literature, making clear the inner relations between left-wing literature,liberation zone literature and the "17-year literature" with a detailed observation of therefined integration between the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera and 17-year literature.In order to cut the inner composition of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera creationtheory, chapter two, beginning with its historic perspective, makes an argument from thefour aspects represented by the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera: historic movementpattern, historic truthfulness, historic resultant. It not only points out the politicalimportance imposed on it, but makes a rational analysis of the theoretical shortcomings ofcruel academic criticism of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera. It concludes that theleft-wing literature, the liberation zone literature and the 17-year literature and theRevolutionary Modern Beijing Opera are four dynamic segments with increasinglyconfined connotation and well-organized structure. The four stages are only different interms of aesthetical representation, conforming to the literary-political ties of differenthistorical situations. The Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is nothing but a highintegration of the 17-year literature experience which is closest in relation to it. Thisintegration is closely connected with the rational Cultural Revolution politics. However, itis not to be neglected that it has a particular law of representation as a form of opera and itsspecial historical needs and the mass psychology. Therefore, this integration is also modern,strategic and practical in a sense.Chapter three explores the great artistic breakthrough of the traditional Beijing operafrom its historical substitution of the traditional art of Beijing opera and its localizedrewriting of the ballet artistic character. Based on this, it points out that the RevolutionaryModern Beijing Opera, despite its great artistic achievement, has the shortcomings inmelody, performance, procedure, libretto and music. This chapter also gives a rational analysis of the traditional Beijing opera's artistic implication on the present day playperformance and makes clear the relations between the traditional Beijing opera and theCultural Revolution. Therefore, it is a special artistic form harnessed by the CulturalRevolution politics and does not correspond logically and mechanically to the CulturalRevolution catastrophe and Jiang Qin's political ambition. The Revolutionary ModernBeijing Opera is the collective efforts by the then prosperous political upper class, artisticworkers at various stages and the mass population. As an experimental national artisticform, it makes a brave breakthrough and constructive innovation of the Beijing opera andballet. Limited by the then political situation, the reforming momentum of theRevolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is inevitably linked to the rational ideologicalrevolution. However, in terms of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera's role in theintegration of the tradition and the reality, the alien culture and the national art, it deserveshigher evaluation. After all, the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera represents thehighest level of the time.Chapter four elaborates on the particular structural connotation of the RevolutionaryModern Beijing Opera with two sections of overt political significance order and covertnational cultural quality. The first section reveals the outer layer of its strong politicalsignificance order, while the second section points out its coincidence and projection to thenational narrating tradition and cultural psychology from a narration pattern. It makes atheoretical discussion of the reasons for the forming of the Revolutionary Modern BeijingOpera's multi structure. Starting from the recipient's cultural psychology, the chapterreexamines the popularity of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera in the CulturalRevolution and its resurgence in the 1990s. It proves that the Revolutionary ModernBeijing Opera is a typical representation of people's mental psychology and is embodied instructure as a deep connection between political afterbirth and national cultural essence.The artistic pattern with a great pulling force serves as a logic starting point for the nationalpsychological acceptance of the then prevalence and the resurgence of the RevolutionaryModern Beijing Opera. The present day popularity of the Revolutionary Modern BeijingOpera is nothing but a historical encountering of its special structural form and thehumanity calamity of 1990s. The audience's intoxication of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is more a passion of ambition pursuit and a psychological thirst against aninsipid life.The emergence of the Revolutionary Modern Beijing Opera is directly linked with TheFebruary Summery issued in 1966. To reflect that part of history, the paper studies thewhole story of The February Summery in an attached passage, making a clearorganization of its ideological characteristics and the information conforming to artisticcreation with an aim to illustrate the complication and the contradiction of the history andpioneer a possibly useful approach to the overall view of the Revolutionary ModernBeijing Opera study.