A Study On Sanqu Of The Late Qing Dynasty And The Period Of The Republic Of China

China had experienced many mishaps in the late Qing Dynasty. It was a period in which Chinese culture was influenced by the western culture and the old thought replaced by the new. As a result, Chinese traditional literature underwent a great transformation, in which sanqu was included.Qu, a type of verse for singing, emerged in the Southern Song and Jin Dynasties and became popular in the Yuan Dynasty. Sanqu was a branch of Qu. As their creative experience gradually matured and their study in this field went deeper, researchers distinguish sanqu from poetic drama and made it an independent subject including xiao ling and san tao. Although Chinese traditional culture rose on its springtide of prosperity in Ming and Qing Dynasties, sanqu turned out contrary and eventually faded away since the late Qing Dynasty. Under the influence of "Preserving the Quintessence of Chinese Culture", an ideological trend, and the Vernacular Movement, researches and writing of sanqu yielded a rich harvest during the period of the Republic of China, which didn't twist the fate of sanqu, however.One of the most important features of sanqu writers during late Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China was that they were engaged in both theory and study as well as writing of sanqu. They finally established modern study of sanqu and worked for the promotion of writing of it.Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China was a time when the society was in the process of transition, because of which Sanqu writers in this period were of specific features. Most of them were college professors in modern education system, editors and reporters, disseminating modern culture and ideology. They had solid foundation of traditional Chinese literature and hoped to inherit sanqu when the country was in peril. Since they were affected by western cultures, they had their ideas changed as well as the style and features of Sanqu art. Due to the contribution they made in terms of tunes, languages, themes, artistic connotation, writing techniques and innovation of aesthetic customs, sanqu revealed unique artistic features, that is, its modern and contemporary characteristics. As a result, researches of sanqu of late Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China (including lives of sanqu writers, literature ecology and new changes of sanqu) could mirror the development course of Chinese literature in the 20th century.On the basis of research results of this field achieved in recent years, this paper aims at making an overview as well as showing the course of development of sanqu of late Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China; decoding the cultural gene of Sanqu of this period and deepening the knowledge of traditional literature by researching the works of this time.