Peking Opera Musicians:Changes In Social Status And Function

This paper focuses on Jinghu players, a minority group of musicians whom draw little attention from both Peking Opera research community and the music academia, despite the fact that they often possess expertise in multiple areas. This paper will discuss changes in Jinghu players’function and status displayed in both professional and amateur Peking Opera activities. The author attempted to observe these changes through Jinghu players’ specific activities in different historical periods, and scrutinize the possible reasons behind.The author conducted fieldwork in Shanghai to collect information pertaining changes in Jinghu players’ function and status on both regional and national stage. Through comprehensive analysis on their actions and behaviors during performance rehearsal, opera teaching and impartation of skills, the author revealed the common characteristics of today’s development of Peking Opera, depicted Peking Opera players’ changes in function and status, and finally attempted to draw a conclusion on the reasons behind these changes, whether being under the influence of Shanghai Culture or commercialism.