Study Of Shuotang Drum Words Series

Drum words is one of the old Chinese folk performances,in which a man tells a story,speaking one moment,singing the next with drum accompaniment.Many Shuotang stories are contained,long and short,with rich contents and distinctive art form.I called them Shuotang drum words series.Drum words was first studied in China since the 1940s,while it had come into being hundreds of years ago.Few have been interested in studying it and few accompliments have been achieved. So far no systematic research has been carried out on a certain special kind of drum words. Common knowledge.on drum words is introduced in this paper followed by the history of drum words evolution.Then the scale and conception of objects to be researched is defined,the origin and development of Shuotang stories included in this scale is clearly combed in detail so that we can see its value and distinction among the whole story system.In this way we can get a macroscopic picture of Shuotang drum words series in our mind.All the versions fall in three categries based on their author and text style.Three text samples are respectively presented and analyzed.in detail.Art form characteristics and thought of these Shuotang drum words are analyzed based on the work done above.This is the focus of the paper.Distinguishing art feature include: character type and mehods of portraying,technic of managing plot.In this section,typical characters are selected and analyzed to find out the transformation from historic hero to guci portrait.Focus is on how the folk authors have modified and processed historic figures.To do it well,the author has consulted lots of materials including history books,classical Chinese novels,drama texts as well as many theoretical essays. Such technics of managing plot as adoping the frame of other stories, creating coincidence and misunderstanding ,taking advantage of the same model having been used to form new stories,and adding new stories to old characters are wisely and widely used.Unique belief and concept are expressed in these stories: praising and longing for martial art virtue and justice, chasing and yearning for happiness,appreciating and advocating wisdom. Power and violence,ghosts and gods,as well as terrible chaos are found everywhere.Heaven and destiny is worshipped and believed too.All in all, drum words is not only fit for reading but for performing. Shuotang drum word words series are among the oldest and most wonderful portions.It is made out of the wisdom of both literates and folk actors.It expresses the desire and call of low-class people and embodies the appreciation taste of Chinese people. Power and violence,weird and chaotic stories,fatalism exist side by side in the same series.