Toward The Modernity:the Research Of Shanghai Peking Opera Stage Art In Late Qing Dynasty

This paper discussed the Shanghai Peking opera stage art development,evolution,and the development history of how it is combined and working together with the modern Chinese representative opera,"Peking Opera",over 50 years span,from the late Qing dynasty to the early Republic of China(1866-1917).The inner link of the Shanghai Peking opera stage art,especially the rising and formation of the "scene modeling",can be seen from the discussion chapters in this article.From an overall point of view,the evolution of the Shanghai Peking opera stage art shows a trend of development from "immaterial" to "material".This development trend is the representation of the entire traditional opera art to the modern opera art transformation.The first chapter is the introductory part that starts from criticizing that the current drama research is lack of "integrated research" to point out that the stage art is an important topic in the study of the history of opera.Through the analysis of past research history,it then puts forward the concept emphasizing the importance of"Scene modeling" research as angle of view;confirms using "modernity" visual field as the main research method;and clarified the two basic concepts "Stage art" and"Scene modeling" as well.The second chapter discusses the background of the modern transformation of the traditional opera stage art.In terms of the scene modeling of the stage art,it has experienced a process changing from the traditional "immaterial" to "material".Chinese traditional drama stage art,in comparison with western drama,especially in the modern realistic drama as a reference system,tends to exhibit very distinct artistic characteristics.In this regard,different researchers may describe it by using "spiritual expression","virtual" or "stylization" words.These words pointing to the artistic styles indicate that traditional opera stage art has a conscious pursuit of art.However,from a historical point of view,the survival environment of traditional opera in ancient society,especially the mode of production determined the style of stage art.It is a passive economic choice rather than an active art choice.The third chapter describes the initial occurrence of the drama scene modeling in Shanghai.Influenced by Beijing tea garden and Western culture,traditional stage space in Shanghai gradually changed and formed a unique Shanghai tea garden style,which provides the material preparation for the rise of the colored lantern opera in the late Qing dynasty.The colored lantern opera is the most prominent art phenomenon in the late Qing Dynasty in Shanghai operatic circle and it basically occurred and developed along with the Peking opera's prosperity in Shanghai.The colored lantern opera essentially is the initial stage of the scene modeling.It drove the audience's visual and also contributed to the Shanghai Opera audience's experience change from hearing to seeing.The pursuit of the aesthetic bearing a close resemblance to the realistic first emerged at that time.The fourth chapter begins with the description of the historical and cultural background of the "new stage" in 1908,and emphatically explains the significance of the establishment of the "new stage" for the traditional tea garden.The architectural space and the stage form of "new stage" theatre are coming from three sources.The first source is the scale of westernization,the setting style,and the audience habits(eaves side curtain system stage as the main feature);the second is the Tokyo stage technology,mechanic,and stage effect(turntable stage as the main feature);and the third is the Chinese stage space kernel(three sides extending stage as the main feature).These three factors converged as one and formed the new concept of view space relation of stage which is actually the "compromise" of those three factors.As the representative of the new theater building structure,the "new stage",borrowed the western scale and Japan technology,and at the same time also absorbed the style of traditional opera stage design,is a comprehensive and hybridity of creation.They provide a new and more modern material carrier for the development of Shanghai opera stage art.The fifth chapter describes the new stage of scene modeling under the new theatre condition,which is mainly reflected in the emerging of stage scenography and the innovation method of exhibiting change of time and space on stage.At this time period,colored lantern opera stepped back from the stage of history,and was replaced by painting on the "soft landscape cloth".Quite a few stage settings at that time show the aesthetic tendency of realism.The appearance of the turntable stage and the lighting provides a new technical means for the richness of the scenery,and it changes the way of the traditional opera in a great extent.In particular,the lighting of consciousness,making the creation of the opera stage art become more and more conscious.The sixth chapter mainly summarizes the development progress of Shanghai opera stage art from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,and concludes the rule of "material".This paper discusses the significance of "material" in the transformation of traditional Chinese opera modernization from the angle of the quantity of material,the progress of technology,and the aesthetic consciousness.Finally,through discussing the relationship between the "material" of the stage art and drama literature form,it clarifies that in this time period,the development of Shanghai Opera stage art eventually has laid a solid foundation for the born of the modern drama literature.