Investigation And Study Of Chinese Ancestral Theater And Related Play Activities

The ancestral theater is one of the most common types of architecture in China's traditional architecture.It contains precious historical and cultural information,and it reflects ethics of the Chinese nation,clan concepts,ancestor worship,architectural arts,and regulations.As a public entertaining place for ancient people,traditional theaters also contain rich social culture,aesthetic spirit,ritual ideas,and moral concepts.In general,Chinese ancestral theater was born in the Ming Dynasty;and itprospered in the Qing Dynasty;then it declined in the Republic of China.The emergence of ancestral theater in the Ming dynasty was closely related to Xia Yan's memorial to the Emperor Jiajing,which was a petition for liberalizing on folk ancestral sacrifices.This memorial played a large role in promoting the construction of folk ancestral halls and the clan development.In addition,Xia Yan's memorial was the external factor of the Ming Dynasty ancestral theater's existence.On one hand,the development of opera art itself had accelerated further improvement of the traditional theater's architectural form.The sacrifice of "inner god" and "outer god" in ancestral halls creates more characteristics.Therefore,the public learned more about the architectural forms of the ancestral halls.On the other hand,the popularity of family owned troupes in the Ming Dynasty made viewers favoring the privatized performance venues,which was the inherent factorofthe Ming Dynasty ancestral theater's existence.Among 36 existing Ming Dynasty ancestral theaters,stage buildings were not decorated with carvings yet simple and elegant.Judging from the construction of ancestral theaters,in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,the concept of people's theaters was indifferent.Many ancestral theatre platforms were repaired in the later period.Based on the distribution of existing ancestral theaters,Jiangxi was accounted for more than half of existing ancestral theaters in the Ming Dynasty,which had a lot to do with the popularity of the Poyang Opera in the Ming Dynasty.The prosperity of the ancestral theater in the Qing Dynasty was mainly due to the rise of "Huabu" in the middle and late Qing Dynasty,which provided new opportunities for development of ancestral theaters.At the same time,the enlightening role ofopera was recognized by ruling classwho acquiesced and even led the construction of a stage in ancestral halls to implement a high-stage education.In addition,with the consolidation of the Qing government's political power,further socio-economicdevelopment provided economic guarantee for the construction of ancestral theaters.In general,the ancestral theater in the Qing Dynasty distributed more in southern China and less in northern China.This was related to the fact that number of ancestral halls was more in the south and less in the north.On the other hand,northern and southern Chinese people had great differences in the belief of deities.The south was dominated by family ancestor worship,while the north was dominated by public deity worship.The development of ancestral theaters in the Qing Dynasty was not only reflected in the increasing number of ancestral theaters,but also the obvious regional characteristics of the opera building.Opera performances were no longer affected by the weather due to the appearance of "Qingyutai".The construction of "Rain Hall"was the result of public's reform after setting upthe "Viewing Building",which meant that the performing activities in ancestral theaters had changed from "entertaining gods" to"entertaining people".Secondly,the architectural form of ancestral theaters in the Qing Dynasty showed a variety of characteristics andpresented improvement of both public's aesthetic ability and architectural technology.During the period of the Republic of China,ancestral theaters were diminishing.Not only did the number of ancestral theaters decreased,but the scale and frequency of performance activities in ancestral hall also dropped.At the same time,there was no obvious improvement or breakthrough in architectural form of the theater.The emergence of modernized production methods was the culprit.To a certain extent,it damaged the economic foundation of existence and development of the clan;and the ethnic fields wereshrinking.With the development of new cultural movement,the clan managing system had been severely criticized.Coupled with continuous wars in the Republic of China,ancestral halls lost effective protection of the government and the law.The confiscation and alienation of ancestral halls were serious;and the function of ancestral theaters was obviously weakened.In terms of architectural form,traditional ancestral theaters advocate "Fengshui"in site selection.It contains the philosophical thought of unity of heaven and man,rigidity and softness.In terms of the layout,it can be divided into two types:"separated" and "integrated",based on relationship between stage inancestral theaters and other buildings in ancestral halls.In the vertical layout,the central axis of ancestral theater is from the south to the north in order of the gate,the stage,the sanctuary and the bedroom,and east and west sides are viewing rooms.The stage base is slightly lower than the sanctuary,which is slightly lower than the bedroom.The second floor of the building is basically on the same level as the stage performance area.This onelevel higher than the other vertical layout reflects the respect and worship of ancestors and the improvement of public's relationship with the audience.The performance activities of ancestral theaters mainly included four types:sacrifice performances,continuation of ancestral hall performances,life ritual performances and punishment performances.The repertoire performedmainly included celebration dramas,historical dramas,public case dramas,love dramas,life dramas and so on.Among them,historical dramas and public case dramas were particularly popular.From the perspective of performances,activities of ancestral theaters had multiple purposes of educating people,entertaining people,and sacrificing ancestors.From the scale of performances,activities in ancestral theaterswere large-scaled and continuous.In addition,from the perspective of performance time,activities of ancestral theaters were obviously restricted by agricultural activities.Different from the fact that people in ancestral theaterswere keen to watch opera performances,in some genealogy and clan rules,there were clear regulations on forbidding women to "burn incense to watch opera" and the taboo of "being elite actors" in their career choices.At the same time,some genealogies also prohibited the performance of "night play".Different from "taboos" of the first two operas,"night play" performanceswere forbidden by official orders and clan rules.The repertoire of"night play" performances was common in the stage inscription of ancestral theater,showing characteristics of the game between the official and the folk,clan rules and reality.